The influence of AI on the economic growth of different regions in China

High-quality development plays a crucial role in China's economic progress in the new era. It represents a new concept of advancement and mirrors the increasing aspirations of the populace for an improved standard of living. In this context, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in promoting sustainable development cannot be overemphasized. This paper explores how AI technologies can drive the transition to a green, low-carbon and circular economy. We have established an index system to measure the development level of the artificial intelligence industry and the high-quality development of the economy, which is relevant to the current state of the artificial intelligence industry and the advancement of the economy. Panel data from 2008 to 2017 has been utilized for this purpose. Global principal component analysis method and entropy value method are employed in the evaluation. Through in-depth analysis of the application of artificial intelligence and environmental protection in various provinces and cities, we clarify that artificial intelligence promotes innovation, saves resources, and is conducive to the development of green economy in the new era.

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.

Technological achievements in regional economic development: An econometrics analysis based on DEA

"Double circulation" is an important strategic choice under the development of the new situation. The transformation of university scientific and technological achievements and the coordinated development of regional economy are of great significance to the construction and development of the new paradigm. In this paper, DEA method is used to measure the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements of universities in 31 provinces and autonomous regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), and the entropy weight-Topsis model is used to evaluate the quality of regional economic development. The comprehensive scores of the two systems are coupled and coordinated finally. It is found that the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements of universities in 31 provinces and autonomous regions (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) is mostly DEA effective, and the transformation ability of scientific and technological achievements of universities is strong in the regions where university resources are concentrated and the economically developed regions, meanwhile there is a big gap between regions. The transformation ability of scientific and technological achievements in the central and western regions has a big room for improvement. The transformation level of scientific and technological achievements of universities in most provinces is still at a middle level of coordination with the level of regional economic development. In view of the above research conclusions, some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward in order to promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and regional economic development can be more coordinated.

Income inequality, carbon emissions, and green development efficiency

Income inequality affects not only social well-being, health, and carbon emissions but also the strategy for green development in China. Based on the panel data of 205 cities in China from 2010 to 2020, a panel model with partial linear functional coefficient is used to analyze and test the relationship between income inequality, carbon emissions, and green development efficiency under different regional economic development levels. The empirical results show that the impact of income inequality on carbon emissions and green development efficiency is significant. The worsening of income inequality could aggravate carbon emissions, but the effect of income inequality on carbon emissions shows an increase-decrease-flattening with the continuous improvement of regional economic development. In terms of affecting the green development efficiency, the effect of income inequality on the efficiency of green development presents an inverted U shape. However, the number of cities where income inequality has an inhibitory effect on carbon emissions and green development efficiency has increased over time, and the impact of income inequality in a few cities on green development efficiency is not significant. These findings provide new insights into the understanding of shared prosperity and the strategy of carbon peaking and carbon neutralization in China.

Does the Running Variable Matter? A Second Look at Discontinuity Designs for Evaluating Regional Economic Development and Business Incentive Policies

In recent years, a growing number of studies have applied regression discontinuity designs (RDDs) to the analysis of prominent regional economic development and business incentive policies. As a result, impact evaluations of these policy interventions are being increasingly commissioned under the assumption that local linear regressions have superior impact identification properties in the cases in which an eligibility boundary, geographical border or application cutoff is identifiable as a source of treatment assignment. This paper shows that in a number of frequently encountered cases, however, economic development and business incentive programs pose peculiar impact identification conditions in terms of violations of main assumptions for the validity of RDDs and of running variables that have little or no influence of the outcome variable. Under these circumstances, that bear generalizable relevance also for the analysis of other public programs at large, no adequate testing to support the internal validity of the applied discontinuity design is often performed in the literature and the use of local linear/polynomial regressions, or cross-border comparisons, becomes an inadequate choice. When these conditions apply, adopting instead other quasi-experimental methods to achieve an actual adequate treatment-control balance of the relevant baseline characteristic will often be a better approach.JEL classification; O1; R5; C23.

Regional economic development, household income, gender and hypertension: evidence from half a million Chinese

BACKGROUND

Hypertension may be influenced by multiple factors, including social and individual determinants. Regional and individual economic disparity in China is closely associated with such factors that may give rise to diverse health outcomes. This study examines the relationship between regional economic development, household income, gender and hypertension prevalence in China.

METHODS

This study utilized data from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB), a population-based study on half a million Chinese adults from 10 geographically distinct regions. Hypertension was identified by a measured systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg or receiving treatment. Regional economic development was inferred from GDP per capita at the time of the study. A logistic regression based method was used in calculating the prevalence of hypertension in different household income, regional economic development, and gender groups, adjusting for demographic, social-economic and lifestyle factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of hypertension was the lowest in the medium GDP per capita areas in both male (31.62, 95% CI: 31.26-31.98%) and female (22.85, 95% CI: 22.50-23.19%) as compared to that in the low GDP per capita regions (male: 32.75, 95% CI 32.41-33.08%; female: 32.12, 95% CI: 31.78-32.47%) and high GDP per capita areas (male: 39.74, 95% CI: 39.33-40.16%; female: 35.19, 95% CI: 34.74-35.65%). There was an inverse relationship between hypertension and household income in the low and high GDP areas and an U-shaped association in the medium GDP per capita areas. Higher hypertension prevalence was observed in males across all GDP per capita areas. The negative correlation between hypertension and household income (across all GDP per captia areas) was stronger in females than in males.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study underlined the important influence of regional economic development, household income and gender on hypertension. Interventions for hypertension prevention and management should take into consideration the influence of sex difference and socioeconomic disparities at both micro- and macro- levels, in addition to a person-centered approach.

Socioeconomic determinants of pediatric asthma emergency department visits under regional economic development in western New York

Although the links between asthma in children and physical environmental factors have been well established, the role of community-level socioeconomic status remains inconclusive. Consequently, little attention has been paid to the dynamic changes in the associations between socioeconomic status and asthma outcomes due to structural changes in the community, such as an influx of financial resources. This study examined the relationship between community-level socioeconomic status indicators and asthma-related emergency department utilization for school-aged children in 2011 and 2015, assessing the early impact of a large-scale regional economic development project in western New York, United States. Our analyses controlled for other community-level health risk factors, such as environmental exposure, and spatial correlation of the emergency department usage data. Results indicated that both median household income and health insurance coverage were key socioeconomic predictors of the children's asthma-related emergency department utilization over the study period. We also found that the risk of emergency department utilization for asthma decreased significantly in the area in which regional economic development projects were completed during the initial stage of the project. Through a comparison study we demonstrated that the spatial correlation present in asthma-related ED utilization improved model fit and corrected biases in the estimates. Although our findings suggest that improving the socioeconomic status of communities contributes to a reduction in emergency department utilization for pediatric asthma, more empirical studies are warranted for evaluating the comprehensive effects of regional economic development on public health.