The impact of urban integration on the intention of settlement and residence among migrants: The empirical evidence from China.

Promoting urban integration is the key to improving the efficiency of labor allocation in developing countries and promoting coordinated regional development. Using the data of the migrants' observation sample in 2012-2017 released by China Migrants Dynamic Survey, this paper draws on theories related to urban integration and labor migration to study the urban integration status, intention of settlement and residence in China's agricultural household labor force in depth, as well as the correlation between the two. The study finds a significant decline in the intention of settlement and a gradual increase in the intention of residence among the migrants. The empirical regressions suggest that good urban integration, especially psychological integration, mainly contributes to their intention of settlement and residence, while the intention of residence is also more influenced by the social and economic integration dimensions. The mediating effect tests reveal that income level and housing stability are key pathways to economic integration, public medical participation and accessibility to medical services are key pathways to health integration, social status and local attachment are key pathways to social integration, and identity affiliation and psychological assimilation are key pathways to psychological integration. Future urbanization in developing countries requires not only further reform of the household registration system but also government, business, and social organizations at all levels to reduce the difficulties of urban integration in economic, health, social, and psychological aspects, enhance the degree of urban integration of the migrants, increase the intention of the migrants to settle and stay in different places and avoid the "migratory bird" migration of labor between regions. The "migratory bird" migration between regions is avoided.

Study on the China's real interest rate after including housing price factor into CPI.

The Chinese economy has undergone a long-term transition reform, but there is still a planned economy characteristic in the financial sector, which is financial repression. Due to the existence of financial repression, China's actual interest rate level should be lower than the Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, based on official China's interest rates and CPI, over half of the years China's actual interest rate remained higher than CPI by our calculation from 1999 to 2022. This is inconsistent with the financial repression that exists in China, and the main reason is the calculation methods of China's CPI. China's CPI measurement system originated from the planned economy era, which did not fully consider the rise in housing purchase prices, so the current CPI measurement system can be more realistically presented by taking the rise in housing prices into consider. The core idea of this study is to mining relevant official statistical data and calculate the proportion of Chinese residents' expenditure on purchasing houses to their total expenditure. By taking the proportion of house purchases as the weight of house price factor, and taking the proportion of other consumption as the weight of official CPI, the Generalized CPI (GCPI) is formulated. The GCPI is then compared with market interest rates to determine the actual interest rate situation in China over the past 20 years. This study has found that if GCPI is used as a measure, China's real interest rates have been negative for most years since 1999. Chinese residents have suffered the negative effects of financial repression over the past 20 years, and their property income cannot keep up with the actual losses caused by inflation. Therefore, it is believed that China's CPI calculation method should be adjusted to take into account the rise in housing prices, so China's actual inflation level could be more accurately reflected. In view of the above, deepening interest rate marketization reform and expand channels for financial investment are the future development goals of China's financial system.

Valuing and significance of eco-tourism parks across eastern arid regions of Pakistan.

The green spaces preserve natural heritage, spectacular landscapes, and wildlife habitats. By incorporating national parks, it leads to economic growth, environmental sustainability, social involvement, and provides a protected area for endangered wildlife. Nature-dependent tourism indicates a critical place within the national economy. Pakistan is tackling the tourism industry and implementing nature-related approaches using national parks. The main objective of the proposed study is to appraise the economic value of the eastern arid regions of Pakistan and determine their environmental importance. For the assessment of recreational value, the travel cost method (TCM) and the zero truncated negative binomial regression models were chosen. Recreation demand was negatively linked to salary and had a significant positive association with the place of residence, age, and length of stay. The total estimated annual consumer surplus of the parks was Rs. 3317/person, while outsider consumer surplus was Rs. 3032/person/visit, and consumer surplus native annual value was Rs. 3289/person/visit. The results show that visitors have fewer tendencies towards the recreational site, as they are restricted to paying the entrance fee. This study contributes to environmental content reservations, such as a clean atmosphere, soil protection, and a stable ecosystem. It also improves economic valuation and sends a thought-provoking signal to native authorities to effectively manage the supervision of national parks.

Consumer-perceived risks of genetically modified food in China.

This paper analyses the factors influencing consumer-perceived risks of genetically modified (GM) food by using a structural equation model and survey data of urban residents in China. The sample is divided into the acquainted and unacquainted groups according to consumers' objective knowledge level. An integrated analytical framework is developed. The results show that consumers' positive attitude towards GM technology has a significant negative effect on consumer-perceived risks and that more information reaching consumers significantly reduces consumer-perceived risks of GM food only for the unacquainted group. Consumers' trust in government, biotechnology scientists, press media and food companies does not significantly influence consumer-perceived risks of GM food. This is likely because consumers have low trust in the abovementioned stakeholders of GM food. Consumers think that the information reaching them is limited and does not clearly show the advantages and disadvantages of GM food. Consumers' objective knowledge of GM food is also limited. The health risks of GM food are of high concern for both consumer groups. These findings imply that the commercialization of GM crops in China is dependent on providing consumers with adequate and understandable information about GM food and strict supervision measures for food safety.