How should we understand the digital economy in Asia? Critical assessment and research agenda

Structural effects of provincial digital economy on carbon emissions within China: A multi-region input-output based structural decomposition analysis

The digital economy, serving as a new engine to boost China's economic growth, inevitably affects carbon emissions given both its green features and its potential demands for energy inputs. To investigate the province-level impacts of the digital economy on carbon emissions, this study splits the digital industry from the multi-regional input-output table, and adopts a downscale structural decomposition analysis to reveal the technological, structural, and scale effects of the digital economy on carbon emissions. The results show that: (1) the expansion of digital economy increased 186.3 Mt of carbon emissions at the aggregate level during the investigated period (2012-2017) and that, therefore, the direct structural effects of the digital economy played a leading role in emission reduction (-156 Mt); (2) in terms of heterogeneity, most provinces presented a U distribution with the structural mitigation effect at the bottom and highly-developed provinces generated significant negative spillover effects; (3) from a regional coordination perspective, digital production achieved greater carbon emission reductions in the eastern and western areas of the country, while the northeastern and central regions gained environmental benefits via digital applications. The main conclusions thus enhance existent understanding of China's digital economy and low-carbon development, and the paper also proffers corresponding policy recommendations, e.g., accelerating the convergence of digital economy and traditional industries to promote carbon emissions reduction.

Systematic evaluation of integration between China's digital economy and sports industry: Two-stage grey relational analysis and vector autoregressive model

OBJECTIVES

The development of the digital economy constitutes a key component of China's endeavors to advance towards "Digital China." The sports industry functions as a new catalyst for high-quality economic growth. This study systematically evaluated the integration between these two sectors.

METHODS

First, we conducted two levels of grey relational analysis to assess their integration between 2016 and 2021. Second, we conducted a VAR analysis to determine whether their integration between 2009 and 2021 represents a causal relationship.

RESULTS

At the macro level, the grey relational analysis reveals that the sports industry (grade = 0.770) ranked second among China's eight key economic sectors in terms of digital economy integration. At the meso level, a wide variation (ranging from 0.606 to 0.789) existed in the grade of integration between the digital economy and the sub-sectors of the sports industry. According to the VAR model, the digital economy does not Granger cause (p = 0.344) the growth of the sports industry.

CONCLUSIONS

This study yielded two added values to the existing literature: First, there exists a sectoral imbalance in the digitization process; second, the explosive growth of the sports industry was not primarily caused by the digital economy. Accordingly, the "sports + digital" complex is still in the first wave of technological integration. We propose three policy recommendations, namely, sectoral synergistic development, overtaking via esports IP, and new economy and new regulation. Collectively, these findings provide updated insights for the digital transformation towards "building a leading sports nation" and "Digital China."

Digital economy and carbon emission: The coupling effects of the economy in Qinghai region of China

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the complex relationship between the digital economy and carbon emissions, fully drawing on essential principles of environmental economics, coupled economics, and sustainable development theory. Focusing on the Qinghai region in the western province of China, the study employs highly sophisticated methods such as multiple regression analysis and system dynamics modeling to reveal the multidimensional coupling effects between digital economy development and carbon emission dynamics. The study's results clearly show that in the Qinghai region of China, the booming growth of the digital economy is related to carbon emissions. Of particular interest, the study finds that this relationship exhibits a high degree of complexity and non-linearity and evolves gradually over time. Initially, the rapid expansion of the digital economy, accompanied by high energy consumption and increased carbon emissions, posed a significant challenge to environmental protection. However, a clear inverted "U"-shaped relationship has emerged as the digital economy evolves. This key inflection point signals a shift in the landscape as the digital economy begins to deliver some ecological benefits, potentially reducing the trend of carbon emissions in the future. The findings of this study go beyond simple causality and reveal a complex and evolving dynamic relationship between the digital economy and carbon emissions. Through such insights, this study provides a solid academic foundation and carefully constructs actionable policy recommendations to drive sustainable development. These insights apply to the Qinghai region of China and provide valuable references and lessons for other areas facing similar challenges.

Will pay-per-view in the advanced charging model recover the business losses for online video companies in China?

The evolution of Internet technology is closely mirrored by the innovative business and profit models emerging within the platform economy. Integrating this economic framework, online video platforms are dynamically refining their pricing strategies to optimize profit margins. This paper, anchored in the theoretical construct of second-degree price discrimination, selects the Chinese online video platforms iQiyi and Tencent Video for in-depth case studies. It charts the progression of its pricing strategies and juxtaposes these with those of prominent international online video sites to highlight both congruities and divergences. The synthesis of theoretical models with real-world case studies culminates in strategic recommendations to foster the growth of Chinese online video platforms in the global Internet arena.

The impact of digital transformation and earnings management on ESG performance: evidence from Chinese listed enterprises

The improvement of enterprise ESG performance is one of the key driving forces to achieve the goal of economic and social green development. There is a gap between knowledge and practice in the ESG performance of Chinese enterprises, and digital transformation (DT) provides new ideas for ESG development. The research purpose of this paper is to explore the impact mechanism of DT on ESG and the specific path of DT to drive ESG. It provides a reference for listed enterprises to rely on DT to empower their sustainable development capability. This paper takes the panel data of A-share listed enterprises from 2011 to 2021 as the sample and measures the core indicators using the text mining method, modified Jones model, and Roy-Chowdhury model. On this basis, using a combination of econometric models and qualitative comparative analysis, we empirically analyze the impact mechanisms of DT on ESG as well as the specific grouping paths that drive ESG performance. The main conclusions are shown as follows. First, DT can significantly reduce ESG, with an impact coefficient of - 0.013, which is significant at the 5% level. It reflects that the DT of enterprises at this stage has certain deficiencies. There is a matching lag in the enterprise's internal organizational resources. The entry of digital technology will have a certain impact on traditional operations, and the high uncertainty of DT adds some hidden costs to the enterprise. Secondly, there is an indirect suppression effect of accrued earnings management (AEM) in the transmission mechanism of DT affecting ESG. It is verified that DT can reduce information asymmetry and inhibit EM activities, thus reducing the impact on ESG. Finally, a total of six configurations achieved high ESG valuations. High technology practice-low performance manipulation; digital intelligence-low performance manipulation; digital intelligence-digital resources; digital resources-inadequate digital infrastructure.; high technology practice-bottom technology deficiency; digital intelligence-high performance manipulation. Through configuration analysis, the suppression effect of EM is further verified. The lack of AEM is usually the core condition of the high-valuation group. Meanwhile, digital intelligence, digital resources, and digital technology practice can drive the improvement of enterprise ESG. The instrumental variables approach and robustness tests support these findings.

Impact of the digital economy on total factor energy efficiency: evidence from 268 Chinese cities

Due to the advancement of digital technology, the digital economy has developed rapidly, profoundly changing human production and lifestyles, thereby promoting the dual digital transformation of the energy supply and demand sides and having a profound impact on energy utilization efficiency. Based on measuring the total factor energy efficiency (TFEE) of 268 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, we analyze the total and indirect effects of the digital economy on TFEE using a mediated effects model and examine the effects of urban heterogeneity from the perspectives of geographical location, city size, and resource endowment. The results show that the digital economy has a significant positive contribution to TFEE. In addition, the digital economy can promote TFEE through industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation, and environmental regulation. The test results of the subsample show that there is significant heterogeneity in the impact and mechanism of action of the digital economy on TFEE in different geographical locations, city sizes, and resource endowments. By understanding how the digital economy impacts TFEE, policymakers can formulate effective policies to simultaneously accelerate digital economy development and improve TFEE.

Cultivated alien plants with high invasion potential are more likely to be traded online in China

Biological invasions have become a worldwide problem, and measures to efficiently prevent and control invasions are still in development. Like many other parts of the world, China is undergoing a dramatic increase in plant invasions. Most of the currently 933 established (i.e., naturalized) plant species, of which 214 are categorized as invasive, have been introduced into China for cultivation. It is likely that many of those species are still being traded, particularly online, by plant nurseries. However, studies assessing whether naturalized and invasive species are currently being traded more or less than nonnaturalized aliens are rare. We extracted online-trade information for 13,718 cultivated alien plant taxa on 1688.com, the largest website for domestic B2B in China. We analyzed how the presence in online-nursery catalogs, the number of online nurseries that offerred the species for sale, and the product type (i.e., seeds, live plants and vegetative organs) differed among nonnaturalized, naturalized noninvasive, and invasive species. Compared to nonnaturalized taxa, naturalized noninvasive and invasive taxa were 3.7-5.2 times more likely to be available for purchase. Naturalized noninvasive and invasive taxa were more frequently offered as seeds by online nurseries, whereas nonnaturalized taxa were more frequently offered as live plants. Based on these findings, we propose that, to reduce the further spread of invasive and potentially invasive plants, implementation of plant-trade regulations and a monitoring system of the online horticultural supply chain will be essential.

The impact of digital economy on high-quality economic development: Research based on the consumption expansion

Studies have found that the digital economy plays a positive role in promoting high-quality economic development. Meanwhile, the digital industrialization and industrial digitalization have given rise to new demands and supply modes of consumption. It is necessary to analyze the role of consumption expansion in the impact of digital economy on high-quality economic development. Based on Chinese provincial panel data, we first applied the entropy weight method to construct the digital economy index and the high-quality economic development index. And on this basis, it was verified that the digital economy can positively promote the high-quality development of the inverted U-shaped structural economy. Then we separately used the mediation and the threshold effect models to analyze the role of consumption expansion in empowering high-quality development in the digital economy. Regional heterogeneity was further taken into account. The results dedicate that consumer demand and the digital economy have a partial or complete mediating effect. The promotion of high-quality development by the digital economy can be affected by the threshold of consumption expansion, which is manifested in the marginal incremental effect due to the growth of consumption supply. On the contrary, the growth of consumer demand has led to the inverted U-shape of the digital economy to promote high-quality economic development. In the heterogeneity analysis, the threshold effect also varied greatly. This research enriches the theoretical achievements and reveals the impact of consumption expansion on the digital economy affecting the high-quality development, which may provide certain reference for other countries and regions.

Digital economy impact on inclusive green growth: intermediary and spatial spillover effects in China

As a new economic form that has emerged from the technological and digital revolution, the digital economy has great benefits to the green development of the economy, protection of the ecological environment, and improvement in social well-being. This study examines whether the digital economy affects the inclusive green growth (IGG). Measurement index system for the digital economy and IGG from 2013 to 2020 in China was constructed and the entropy evaluation method and super-efficiency epsilon-based measure (Super-EBM) model was used to evaluate them. We examined the direct effect, mediation effect, and spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on IGG using the basic regression model, mediating effect model, and the spatial Durbin model. Our results revealed that the development of the digital economy has clear regional differences. The role of digital economy on IGG has positive direct effects and positive spatial spillover effects. The digital economy affects IGG through industrial structure upgrading, so industrial structure upgrading has a significant intermediary effect. By comparing the coefficients, we found that the spatial spillover effects are stronger than the direct effects. Absorbing the spillover of the digital economy in surrounding areas is particularly important for promoting IGG. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the digital economy is better for IGG and releases more digital dividends in eastern China. Finally, the research conclusions of this paper provide reference for the Chinese government to formulate relevant policies to deepen the integration of digital information technology and IGG, and promote the coordinated development of regional digital economy and IGG.

Does the digital economy empower the green development of foreign trade?

The digital economy has become a new driving force for China's economic development in recent years, and it may contribute to solving the corresponding problems of resource and environmental pressure. Therefore, this study strives to explore whether the digital economy contributes to the green development of foreign trade. First, this study measures the digital economy development in China. Second, this study presents a list of environmental and polluting products and examines the impact of digital economy development on exports of representative products based on an extended gravity model. The main findings are as follows. First, the digital economy significantly promotes the green development of foreign trade. Second, the signing of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the income level of importing countries and regions strengthen the role of the digital economy in promoting the green development of foreign trade. Third, the digital economy promotes the green development of foreign trade through green technological innovation. Finally, some policy implications are proposed based on the findings of this study.

How does the digital economy affect the development of the green economy? Evidence from Chinese cities

The digital economy may accelerate the upgrading of industrial structures and boost regional innovation output, effectively contributing to China's green economic transformation. The impact of the digital economy on developing the urban green economy is analyzed using data from 280 cities across China from 2010-2019. Using a fixed-effects model and the Spatial Durbin model, the digital economy is found to have a significant impact on urban green economy development. This result is shown to be robust to various factors. There is significant regional variability in the impact of the digital economy on green economic growth, with the strongest impact in the northeast, followed by the central and western regions. Meanwhile, non-resource-based cities and policy pilot cities have a more pronounced role in promoting the digital economy. The intermediate transmission chain of industrial structural upgrading and regional innovation output fosters the growth of the urban green economy via the digital economy. Regional innovation production is responsible for 30.848% of this growth, with the intermediate effect of industrial structural upgrading contributing to 38.155%.

The nonlinear effects of digital economy on the low-carbon green total factor productivity: Evidence from China

The production process has undergone significant changes due to the exponential expansion of digital economy, leading to implications for carbon emissions. This study aims to establish the digital economy (DE) index and measures low-carbon green total factor productivity (CTFP) in 30 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2020. Utilizing the panel fixed-effects model and the spatial model, it examines the nonlinear effects of DE on CTFP and investigates its underlying mechanism. The results reveal the following findings: (1) CTFP has experienced a decline over the past decade, while DE has exhibited significant growth. (2) the contribution of DE to CTFP follows a U-shaped pattern, indicating that CTFP experiences a significant increase once DE reaches a specific turning point. (3) DE affects CTFP by influencing technological innovation progress. (4) The impact of DE on CTFP exhibits regional heterogeneity, with the eastern region experiencing a spatial spillover effect. These rigorous empirical findings provide valuable insights for national policymakers, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing the digital economy and technological innovation when formulating policies to facilitate sustainable economic growth and reduce carbon emissions.

The impact of digital economy on regional technological innovation capability: An analysis based on China's provincial panel data

The development of the digital economy in China facilitates the transformation of old and new growth drivers. It can greatly promote the upgrading of technological innovation capacity, realize economies of scale and scope, and constantly promote the generation of new industries and new forms of business with the deep integration of digital economy and traditional industries, thereby promoting the high-quality development of China's economy. This paper uses inter-provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020 and a dynamic spatial Durbin model to quantify the impact of the digital economy on regional technological innovation capability (RTIC). The results show that: (1) the digital economy has positive spatial spillover effect and can boost the province's and neighboring provinces' regional technological innovation capability; (2) regional technological innovation capability has obvious spatial and temporal aggregation effects; (3) the impact of the digital economy on RTIC is mainly short-term effects, and there is regional heterogeneity, with the western region experiencing the highest effects and the eastern region experiencing less. Therefore, it is urgent to accelerate the development speed of the digital economy, grasp the law of dynamic economic development, identify the regional heterogeneity of the digital economy development, and deepen inter-regional digital technology cooperation to comprehensively drive the improvement of regional technological innovation capability.

Effects of digital economy on social entrepreneurship: Evidence from China

Social entrepreneurship provides novel entrepreneurial solutions for complex social and environmental problems. Research on the antecedents of social entrepreneurship has emphasized the importance of sociocultural and economic factors; however, little is known about the influence of the digital economy in this context. Integrating the digital economy studies and social entrepreneurship studies for the first time, we propose that the development of the digital economy contributes to the growth of regional social enterprises. We further predict that the effect of the digital economy on social entrepreneurship is mediated by the improvement of regional government activism and regional innovation capability. This study contributes to the literature about the antecedents of social entrepreneurship and effect of the digital economy. This study also provides some practical recommendations for promoting digital technology for the good and stimulating social entrepreneurship with the power of the digital economy.

The environmental effects of digital economy: evidence from province-level empirical data in China

The environment is the foundation for human existence, and the digital economy has exacerbated the impact of human beings on the environment. Based on data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, we used the spatial Durbin model to research the impact of the digital economy on the environment and its spatiotemporal characteristics. We found that the digital economy has a significant positive impact on the environmental effects of the region, and also has a positive spatial overflow. This conclusion still holds after robustness test and endogenous treatment (changing the space weight matrix, applying the instrumental variables, and two-stage least-squares method). Second, we found that environmental effects of the digital economy have a time lag, and the lag decreases gradually over time. Third, we used geographically and temporally weighted regression model and K-means clustering, which shows that digital economy has a strong effect on the environment in western region. The western region may need to increase digital infrastructure construction to achieve better environmental effects. In addition, China needs to upgrade its industrial structure as soon as possible, accelerate technological innovation, and advocate a green lifestyle, so as to realize the coordinated development of human beings and nature.

A fine-grained task scheduling mechanism for digital economy services based on intelligent edge and cloud computing

Digital economy is regarded countries as an inevitable choice to promote economic growth and provides new opportunities and new paths for the high-quality development of economy. For the Chinese market, the strong base behind cloud computing is the unstoppable development trend of the digital economy. In digital economy, the cloud as infrastructure becomes the base of the pyramid to build the digital economy. To relieve the pressure on the servers of the digital economy and develop a reasonable scheduling scheme, this paper proposes a fine-grained task scheduling method for cloud and edge computing based on a hybrid ant colony optimization algorithm. The edge computing task scheduling problem is described, and assumptions are set to simplify the difficulty of a scheduling solution. The multi-objective function is solved by using a hybrid ant colony optimization algorithm which solves computational problems by finding the optimal solution with the help of graphs. Ant colony optimization algorithm is easy to use and effective in scheduling problems. The proposed scheduling model includes an end-device layer and an edge layer. A terminal device layer consists of devices used by the clients that may generate computationally intensive tasks and are sometime uncapable to complete the tasks. The proposed scheduling policy migrates these tasks to a suitable place where they can be completed while meeting the latency requirements. The CPUs of the idle users on the end-device layer are used for other CPU-overloaded terminals. The simulation results, in terms of energy consumptions, and task scheduling delays, show that the task scheduling performance is better under the application of this method and the obtained scheduling scheme is more reasonable.

How does digital economy affect green total factor productivity? Evidence from China

To date, digital economy has become an emerging driving force of economic growth in various countries. To further explore the green value of digital economy, full array polygon graphic index method and Global Malmquist productivity index are used to evaluate China's digital economy development and green total factor productivity respectively. Based on a comprehensive explanation of the influence mechanism, spatial econometric model and intermediary effect model are constructed to test the spatial spillover effect and transmission mechanism between digital economy and green total factor productivity. The results show that digital economy has a positive direct impact and spatial spillover effect on green total factor productivity with the significant U-shaped characteristics, and these effects mainly come from the promotion of green technology progress by digital economy. Industrial structure upgrading and factor market distortion respectively account for 22 % and 5.875 % of the impact of digital economy on green total factor efficiency, which means that they are the two primary channels for digital economy to influence green total factor productivity. Results of heterogeneity analysis show that digital economy is the key factor for resource-based cities to break the "resource curse", but the unbalanced development of digital economy leads to the "digital gap" between the central and peripheral cities.

Research on the impact mechanism of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity from the perspective of innovative human capital

Green total factor productivity (GTFP) improvement is an important way to achieve sustainable development, and how to improve GTFP has become the focus of attention of governments and scholars. This paper constructs a GTFP evaluation index system to characterize social, economic, ecological, cultural, and politically sustainable development, and analyzes the impact of environmental regulations on GTFP in the context of increasing innovative labor force. The results of the study are as follows: Firstly, China's GTFP continues to improve, with a decrease in low-value provinces and an increase in high-value provinces; there is an agglomeration effect of GTFP in the eastern and western regions. Secondly, under the role of innovative human capital, the threshold effect of China and the eastern and western regions is significantly positive in the first stage and insignificant in the second stage. The threshold effect of the central region is not significant in the first stage, but significantly negative in the second stage (- 11.650); the effect of environmental regulation in the eastern region is the strongest. Thirdly, the control variables in the upper period GTFP, national and eastern R&D investment, level of foreign openness, local fiscal expenditure, central and western information construction, western tertiary industry development, urbanization, foreign direct investment, level of foreign openness, and local fiscal expenditure can increase GTFP. In this regard, the government should adhere to innovative talent cultivation and investment in science and technology to build a talent ecological environment for regional sustainable development, adjust environmental regulations in time to meet the demand for sustainable development to realize the GTFP regional linkage enhancement.

A hybrid MCDM model combining Fuzzy-Delphi, AEW, BWM, and MARCOS for digital economy development comprehensive evaluation of 31 provincial level regions in China

With the deepening of a new round of technological revolution and industrial reform, digital technology has been continuously innovated and widely penetrated into various economic fields. The digital economy (DE) is gradually becoming the focus of China's economic development planning and a new engine to enhance national strength. Evaluating the development level of DE in various regions is conducive to timely discover the shortcomings in China's DE development, as well as provide an important basis for putting forward corresponding policy suggestions. This investigation established a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model for evaluating DE development of 31 provincial level regions in China ranging from 2015 to 2020. Firstly, the evaluation indicator system is established from digital infrastructure, integrated development, social benefits, innovation ability, and electronic-commerce dimensions containing 17 quantitative sub-criteria based on Fuzzy-Delphi method. Secondly, integrated weights of 17 sub-criteria from 2015 to 2020 are computed in terms of objective weights calculated by the anti-entropy weight (AEW) approach from 2015 to 2020 and subjective weights obtained via the best-worst method (BWM). Thirdly, MARCOS model is applied to evaluate the DE development degree of various regions in China ranging from 2015 to 2020. Case analysis illustrates that the DE development of Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Beijing always maintain in the top four from 2015 to 2020, while the southwest and northwest regions in China are obviously fall behind others. And the DE development degree of various regions is primarily affected under the integrated development performance, innovation ability performance, and social benefits performance. Therefore, the backward regions should emphasize the development of software industry and information technology industry. The robustness of the proposed MCDM model combining Fuzzy-Delphi, AEW, BWM and MARCOS is discussed employing three similarity coefficients of rankings. And it is verified that the proposed MCDM model has superior robustness and validity in evaluating DE development.

The Impact of Information and Communication Technology Industrial Co-Agglomeration on Carbon Productivity with the Background of the Digital Economy: Empirical Evidence from China

In the era of the digital economy, the information and communication technology (ICT) industry has opened up a new round of expansion, while forming co-located development in the space. ICT industrial co-agglomeration has tremendous advantages in promoting economic development and achieving carbon neutrality goals. This paper analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics of ICT industrial co-agglomeration and carbon productivity from 2009 to 2019 in China. It empirically explores the impact of ICT industrial co-agglomeration on carbon productivity using a systematic GMM model. Additionally, it analyses the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of ICT industrial co-agglomeration and other factors affecting carbon productivity using a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model. The findings are as follows: (1) China's ICT industrial co-agglomeration and carbon productivity show an upward trend. Additionally, their characteristic of regional distribution is east-high and west-low. (2) ICT industrial co-agglomeration has a positive association with carbon productivity. (3) The impact of ICT industrial co-agglomeration on carbon productivity has significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. The regression coefficient of ICT industrial co-agglomeration increases continuously during the study period, and the degree of impact is relatively larger in Northern China. As the degree of ICT industrial co-agglomeration continues to increase, its positive impact on carbon productivity across China is deepening. The findings of this paper complete the research on the impact of ICT industrial co-agglomeration on carbon productivity, and the related policy recommendations provide useful references for the digital economy and sustainable development.

How does digital economy affect green total factor productivity at the industry level in China: from a perspective of global value chain

The digital economy is an important way to relieve current pressure on resources and the environment. Based on ecological modernization theory and global value chain theory, this paper adopts panel data of 17 manufacturing industries from 2000 to 2014, uses the non-radial directional distance function and the meta-frontier method to measure China's green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its sub-indices, and takes the embedding degree and embedding position as moderating variables and threshold variables to construct an econometric model to explore the relationship among the digital economy, global value chain, and GTFP. The results show that (1) the digital economy has a positive effect on GTFP in both time and space. And in terms of time, the digital economy mainly enhances GTFP by improving technical efficiency and narrowing the technology gap. (2) Global value chain embedding position positively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and GTFP; In terms of sub-samples, labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries show the same impact characteristics as the total sample. (3) Further, it is found that the digital economy and GTFP have nonlinear characteristics. There is a single threshold effect on the embedding position. When the embedding position is low, the digital economy is positively correlated with GTFP but not significant; when the threshold value is crossed, the digital economy can significantly promote GTFP. The conclusions of this paper are helpful to realize the digital economy to promote the green development of the manufacturing industry, and provide an effective reference for the realization mechanism of China's green economy transformation and ecological civilization construction in the post-pandemic era.

The effect of social sphere digitalization on green total factor productivity in China: Evidence from a dynamic spatial Durbin model

Digitalization has been the new engine of development that drives the regional economy, but scant empirical studies investigate the linkage between the social sphere digitalization and green total factor productivity (GTFP). Based on the quantitative and comprehensive index of digitalization development, the study calculates the digital economy from the social sphere in China's 279 cities between 2011 and 2019. Besides, the impact of social sphere digitalization on GTFP is examined using the dynamic spatial Durbin model (SDM). The basic results show that the development of the digital economy in the social sphere positively influences the growth of GTFP, and there is a spatial spillover effect. Specifically, the 1% increase in social sphere digitalization will bring a 0.0705% increase in GTFP. Furthermore, influencing mechanisms of the digital economy on GTFP are examined, namely industrial structure upgrading, human capital, and technological invention effects. Last, the heterogeneity analyses show that the influencing intensity is different in Eastern, Middle, and Western cities as well as in resource-based and non-resource-based cities. Our findings provide new evidence for the relationship between the social sphere digitalization and green development, and also give managerial implications for other cities or countries that are seeking energy and emission-reduction measures.

Reviewer reliability and XGboost whale optimized sentiment analysis for online product recommendation

Nowadays, people always use online promotions to know about best shops to buy the best products. This shopping experience and shopper’s opinion about the shop can be observed by the customer-experience shared on social media. A new customer when searching a shop needs information about manufacturing date (MRD) and manufacturing price (MRP), offers, quality, and suggestions which are only provided by the previous customer experience. Several approaches were used previously for predicting the product details, but no one approach provides accurate information. To overcome these issues, Reviewer Reliability and XGboost whale Optimized Sentiment Analysis for Online Product Recommendation is proposed in this manuscript.Initially, Amazon Product recommendation datathe data are preprocessed and given to XGboost Classifier that classifies the product recommendation result as, good, bad and average. Generally the XGboost Classifier does not reveal any adoption of optimization techniques for computing the optimal parameters for assuring accurate classification of product recommendation. Therefore in this work, proposed Whale optimization algorithm utilized to optimize the weight parameters of the XGboost. Then the proposed model is implemented in MATLAB. The proposed method attains 18.31%, 12.81%, 45.75%, 26.97% and 25.55% lower Mean Absolute error, 18.31%, 12.81%, 27.97%, 25.97%, and 25.55% higher Mean absolute percentage error and 15.31%, 10.33%, 25.86%, 22.86% and 15.22% lower Mean Square Error than the existing methods.

Towards Sustainable Development: How Digitalization, Technological Innovation, and Green Economic Development Interact with Each Other

Green technological innovation is one of the endogenous drivers of green economic growth, and digitalization can promote green economic development in the form of industrial empowerment. The interactive relationship and the degree of influence between digitalization, technological innovation, and green economic development is thus an urgent issue to be addressed. Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2019, we measured digitalization, technological innovation, and green economic development for the first time using the entropy method and included them in the same analytical framework by constructing a PVAR model to empirically test their interrelationship and degree of influence. Our findings suggest that: (1) There is an inertial development and self-reinforcing mechanism among the three variables. (2) The impact of digitalization on green economic development has a positive promotion effect, while the impact of technological innovation on green economic development is not significant. (3) The impact of green economic development on technological innovation has a positive promotion effect in the short term, but this effect gradually declines and tends to zero in the long term. Finally, based on the findings, several practical suggestions are made.

Nonlinear and spatial spillover effects of the digital economy on green total factor energy efficiency: evidence from 281 cities in China

Although the digital economy has become a new driving force for development worldwide, it is still unclear how digital economy development affects green total factor energy efficiency (GTFEE). Using panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018, this study empirically analyzes the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE by adopting a dynamic panel model, a mediation effect model, a dynamic threshold panel model, and a spatial Durbin model. The empirical results show that digital economy development has a significantly negative direct effect on GTFEE. The digital economy can impact GTFEE by the mechanisms of electrification, hollowing out of industrial scale, and hollowing out of industrial efficiency. Neither innovation nor environmental regulations significantly change this negative impact. The dynamic threshold panel model shows a nonlinear relationship between digital economy development and GTFEE, which indicates that the effect of digital economy development on GTFEE significantly inverts from negative to positive as the digital economy develops. In addition, GTFEE has a significantly positive spatial correlation, and the digital economy has a positive spatial spillover effect on GTFEE.

Trends and Perspectives of Romanian E-Commerce Sector Based on Mathematical Simulation

The current economic environment characterized by the implementation of new ICT technologies, globalization, and the pandemic period has determined the growth of online communication, the development of the e-commerce sector, and the change in online consumer behavior. The research aims to analyze online Romanian consumer behavior trends and perspectives. In order to observe the current position of Romanian online commerce, a comparison was made between the Romanian e-commerce market and three other e-commerce groups: the average for EU-27 countries, the group of four countries with the highest e-commerce values (called 4gc—Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Norway) and the country with the lowest values in e-commerce. A comparison was made using mathematical simulation to predict the potential of e-commerce in the future and identify possible risks. Based on the simulation, the results show that the Romanian e-commerce market can continue to grow, becoming mature, and will provide opportunities for sustainable growth. In order to observe and analyze a possible future for 2021–2026, the regression function, correlation matrix, time series analysis, variable maximization, and QM for the Windows program have been implemented. The graphical representation indicates a positive and growing forecasted future trend for Romanian e-commerce.

The Determinants of the Environmental Performance of EU Financial Institutions: An Empirical Study with a GLM Model

Within the last few decades, the issue of the environmental performance of European financial institutions has become a significant feature of their strategic plans. Financial institutions can contribute through their own activities and investments, and also through their relationship with economic sectors and consumers, in decreasing environmental footprint. The purpose of this research is to investigate the determinants that affect the environmental performance of European financial institutions. Financial markets have been selected as the main research field for this study, as it presents an opportunity for environmental policy and is useful in view of the need for a wider range of policy instruments. Moreover, on a more practical level, financial institutions can interact with the environment in several ways, such as investors, innovators, valuers, powerful stakeholders, and polluters. The study is based on a mixed methodology approach, which integrates: (i) bibliometric analysis based on R package and (ii) panel data analysis with the assistance of a generalized linear model (GLM). Findings show that socioeconomic, governance, and technology factors positively affect the environmental performance of European financial institutions. Moreover, the incorporation of alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy in the corporate function, is a requirement for greening the financial institutions. The above can guide financial institutions to develop the appropriate strategies for decreasing their environmental footprint, improving their operational efficiency, and becoming more attractive and competitive in the market.

Analyzing Performance in Wholesale Trade Romanian SMEs: Framing Circular Economy Business Scenarios

The study analyzes the performance levels achieved by Romanian wholesaler SMEs from Hunedoara County and to advance some practical courses of action designed to support local entrepreneurs in improving efficiency and in embracing circular economy (CE) practices. We employed cluster and discriminant analyses with a focus on providing an accurate classification of trade SMEs, according to their performance. Three distinct classifications of SMEs resulted in: (i) a class of enterprises displaying high levels of the rates of return, whose business owners exhibited an increased risk appetite and applied investment policies focusing on future development by means of incorporating digital instruments; (ii) a class of SMEs displaying average levels of rates of return, which manage to survive in situations of crisis through maintaining the position previously gained on the market; and (iii) a class of SMEs exhibiting a precarious financial position and employing defensive strategies, with managers who are reluctant to take risks in the innovation processes. Furthermore, we present a cloud computing solution which was tailored for one of the companies from our sample that appeared to be the most likely to carry out the transition from the average SME performance class to the higher class. The main advantages that are brought about by the IT solution in terms of environmental sustainability consist of: improvements in energy efficiency, the decrease in carbon footprints, the lowering of operational costs and the diminishing of the amount of e-waste.

Dynamic Coupling Trajectory and Spatial-Temporal Characteristics of High-Quality Economic Development and the Digital Economy

This paper takes China’s 2014–2019 provincial data as the observation sample to explore the dynamic coupling law of the digital economy and high-quality economic development. First, using the coupling coordination model, it is found that the coupling coordination degree of the digital economy and high-quality economic growth is on an upward trend, and the coupling coordination degree in the eastern region is higher than that in other regions; then, using Markov chain algorithm, it is found that the coupling coordination degree in the east of region achieves a two-level leap of “antagonism stage-running-in stage-coordination stage”, while the central and western regions accomplish a single level of “antagonism stage-running-in stage” leap. Finally, using the Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method, it was found that the mean values of inter-regional, intra-regional, and supervariate density differences in coupling coordination contributed 67.60%, 24.03%, and 8.36% to the overall differences, respectively, with highly moderate fluctuations. The general, inter-regional and intra-regional differences all show a decreasing trend, but there is heterogeneity in their corresponding variation characteristics. This paper provides substantial empirical evidence for exploring the inherent laws and provides an essential guarantee for China’s regional economy’s comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable development.

Does Digital Transformation Promote Enterprise Development?

With the aim of exploring how digital transformation impacts enterprise development in China, this study takes Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2007 to 2020 as the research sample and constructs a digital transformation index and an enterprise development index. The impact of digital transformation on enterprise development and its mechanisms are investigated. The empirical results show the following findings. First, digital transformation can significantly promote enterprise development. Second, the effect of digital transformation on enterprise development is stronger in enterprises located in inland regions compared to in coastal regions, and is more powerful in enterprises with high levels of development than in those lagging in development. Third, digital transformation can benefit enterprise development by alleviating financing constraints, effectively reducing business risks, and driving technological innovation. Fourth, China’s economic policy uncertainty is an important external factor weakening the role of digital transformation in driving enterprise development.

How Healthy Aging and Contact With Children Are Associated With Satisfaction in Middle-Aged and Older Parents in China: A Mediation Analysis

Objectives

This study aims to examine the mediation role of satisfaction with children on the association between contact with children (CCT) and healthy aging among middle-aged and older parents in China.

Methods

Data from 9,575 parents over 45 years old were obtained from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey. A multinomial logistic regression model was applied to measure the association between contact, satisfaction, and healthy aging with potential confounders controlled. We used the Sobel-Goodman Mediation test to analyze the mediation role of satisfaction on the association between types of CCT and healthy aging.

Results

Parents with contact with adult children had higher satisfaction with children [for contact weekly (satisfied/unsatisfied): relative risk ratio (RRR) = 2.44, CI = 1.92-3.10] and higher healthy aging [for contact weekly (Q5/Q1): RRR = 1.41, CI = 1.13-1.77]. Satisfaction was strongly related to healthy aging [for satisfied (Q5/Q1): RRR = 3.44, CI = 2.14-5.51], and mediated 19.05% of healthy aging for weekly contact (Sobel test z = 4.338; indirect role = 0.014, CI = 0.011-0.018; direct role = 0.061, CI = 0.029-0.094). Subgroup analysis further revealed that satisfaction with contact played a partial mediating role between monthly contact and healthy aging in female and rural groups.

Conclusions

Monthly CCT is more appropriate for older parents. Satisfaction with children in older parents seems to act as a significant and partial mediator of the relationship between contact and healthy aging. The contribution of satisfaction to healthy aging could be important to be considered and promoted in women and rural older parents, independent of CCT.

Changes in consumer dynamics on general e-commerce platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic: An exploratory study of the Japanese market

This study analyzed the changes in consumers' use dynamics of general e-commerce (EC) platforms (e.g., Amazon.com) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We initially supposed that the significance of consumer benefits, including pricing, product variety, and delivery services, on the platforms would decrease and the value of using an EC platform itself would increase due to the pandemic, based on which we conducted a comparative analysis of questionnaire data from 2,119 Japanese consumers who use general EC platforms. The data were obtained in November 2018 and January 2021. Our analysis has two parts, the first designed as a conjoint analysis to statistically analyze the changes in consumers' sense of values for pricing, variety of goods, stability and quality of delivery services, and basic benefits of using EC platforms; and the second part designed to statistically analyze the changes in comprehensive items when using EC platforms. We categorized the dataset into men and women and further clustered them based on the patterns of consumers' sense of factors when using EC platform. The analysis results were inconsistent with our initial supposition, in that a non-negligible proportion of consumer clusters showed an increase in the significance of factors, including pricing, product variety, and delivery service, and a decrease in the basic benefits of using EC platforms. Regarding the results of the analysis of comprehensive items, the only commonly observed change for most clusters of both men and women was an increase in the use of package drop. The results indicate that changes in consumers’ sense of using EC platforms due to the pandemic were not as simple as supposed because the pandemic caused various changes in the need mechanism of consumers of EC platforms.

Peran Jurusan Green Economy Dapat Mewujudkan Pembangunan Lingkungan Berkelanjutan

This study aims to provide solutions and references in handling sustainable environmental development. this research method uses a qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach with a literature approach. The results of this study reveal that indonesia cannot be separated from the development of the manufacturing sector which has the function of driving the economy. This must also be balanced with an understanding of the green economy to save the surrounding environment. Experts and literature also reveal that the concept of a green economy is very helpful for the state to preserve natural resources (SDA). The role of the green economy major is very helpful in realizing the welfare of natural resources that can contribute to science. therefore, a green economy major is very much needed in southeast asia, especially the unitary state of the republic of indonesia, Especially Human Resources (HR) who do not understand the importance of a green economy. One of the efforts to save a country is to improve the quality of human resources, especially in this case, human resources who understand the green economy in a sustainable manner. The curriculum that supports this program is the green curriculum, where the curriculum encourages the realization of the indonesian green movement. this scheme builds sustainability through a green economy by realizing various roles. The role of academics aims to create competent human resources in providing scientific literacy and application in the environmental field. Organizations that are directly involved in the green economy, especially environmental issues, are the government, research institutions, and educational institutions.

Digital Economy and Environmental Quality: Evidence from 217 Cities in China

With the rapid development of the digital economy, understanding the relationship between the digital economy and the environment is increasingly important for sustainable development. This study mainly studies the nexus of digital economy development and environmental quality for 217 cities in China from 2003 to 2018. Specifically, this study first evaluates the degree of coupling coordination between the digital economy system and the environmental system. Results show that the coupling coordination degree between the digital economy system and the environmental system shows a fluctuating rise from 2003 to 2018. Furthermore, this study empirically investigates the impact of digital economy development on PM2.5, which represents environmental quality, and results show that digital economy development significantly reduces PM2.5. The above finding is still valid by using the quasi-natural experiment of broadband China for the robustness test. Urbanization, population density, and economic development have caused threshold effects. When the urbanization rate and population density exceed a certain threshold, the digital economy significantly inhibits PM2.5. In contrast, when the per capita GDP exceeds a certain threshold, the digital economy significantly promotes PM2.5. The digital economy mainly affects pollutant emissions through direct and technological effects.

Analysis on the Development of Digital Economy in Guangdong Province Based on Improved Entropy Method and Multivariate Statistical Analysis

The lack of adequate indicators in the research of digital economy may lead to the shortage of data support on decision making for governments. To solve this problem, first we establish a digital economy indicator evaluation system by dividing the digital economy into four types: “basic type”, “technology type”, “integration type” and “service type” and select 5 indicators for each type. On this basis, the weight of each indicator is calculated to find the deficiencies in the development of some digital economic fields by the improved entropy method. By drawing on the empowerment idea of Analytic Hierarchy Process, the improved entropy method firstly compares the difference coefficient of indicators in pairs and maps the comparison results to the scales 1–9. Then, the judgment matrix is constructed based on the information entropy, which can solve as much as possible the problem that the difference among the weight of each indicator is too large in traditional entropy method. The results indicate that: the development of digital economy in Guangdong Province was relatively balanced from 2015 to 2018 and will be better in the future while the development of rural e-commerce in Guangdong Province is relatively backward, and there is an obvious digital gap between urban and rural areas. Next we extract two new variables respectively to replace the 20 indicators we select through principal component analysis and factor analysis methods in multivariate statistical analysis, which can retain the original information to the greatest extent and provide convenience for further research in the future. Finally, we and provide constructive comments of digital economy in Guangdong Province from 2015 to 2018.