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During the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the implementation of an unbalanced enhancement strategy has led to severe resource misallocation, making the mitigation and rectification of this misallocation an urgent issue. This paper utilizes urban data from China between 2006 and 2020 to examine the impact of two-way foreign direct investment (FDI) on resource misallocation, as well as the pathways through which coordinated advancement of two-way FDI affects resource misallocation. After undergoing a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, the conclusion remains stable. Mechanism testing reveals that coordinated advancement of two-way FDI improves capital resource misallocation by enhancing the enhancement level of the financial industry, while exacerbating labor misallocation by increasing labor costs. This paper integrates the coordinated advancement of two-way FDI and resource misallocation into the same analytical framework, proposing policy recommendations to alleviate China's resource misallocation issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is a significant indicator of city progress, and as urbanization advances, carbon emissions exhibit an increasing trend that must not be disregarded. Therefore, it is imperative to thoroughly examine the spatial and temporal variations as well as the factors influencing carbon emissions during the urbanization process. In this paper, based on the 2009–2019 PRD region, carbon emissions are measured from energy consumption, industrial production process, solid waste, and wastewater according to the IPCC coefficients, and spatial and spatial differences in carbon emissions are combined with spatial analysis and the drivers analyzed using the gray correlation scale. The results show that: (1) The total carbon emissions in the PRD region have been increasing over the study period, and the distribution of total carbon emissions shows a pattern of "strong in the east and weak in the west", with energy consumption accounting for the highest proportion of carbon emissions. (2) The global Moran Index of carbon emissions in the PRD has been decreasing, with low and low clustering concentrated in Shaoguan and Zhaoqing, high and high clustering concentrated in Dongguan and Shenzhen, and low and high clustering concentrated in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, with cold spots mainly concentrated in Zhaoqing and hot spots mainly distributed in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Dongguan. (3) The degree of economic growth has a substantial influence on carbon emissions in the PRD cities, and the influence of technical advancement has intensified. Guangzhou City is propelled by low-carbon regulations that have a more equitable influence on all elements. Zhuhai City has a more significant influence on energy intensity, while Foshan City has a more noticeable decrease in the effect of foreign investment. To address the issue of carbon emissions, the government should establish appropriate rules to regulate carbon emissions in areas with high emissions, foster collaborative efforts across cities, and encourage the growth of environmentally friendly enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many methods exist for solving the problem of evaluating efficiency in different processes. They are divided into two basic groups, parametric and non-parametric methods, which can have significant differences in the results. In this study, the authors consider the process of assessing the business climate depending on realized foreign investments. Due to the expected difference in efficiency assessment using different approaches, the goal of this paper is to create an optimization model of an ensemble for efficiency assessment that uses both types of methods with the aim of creating a symmetrical approach that achieves better results than each type of method individually. The proposed solution simultaneously analyzes the impact of different factors on foreign investments in order to determine the most important factors and thus enable each local government to ensure the best possible efficiency in this process. The innovative idea of this study is in the inclusion of classification and feature selection methods of machine learning to fulfill the set goal. Our research, focused on a specific case study in various cities across the Republic of Serbia, evaluated the effectiveness of that process. This study extends previous research and confirms the published results, highlighting the advantages of the newly proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the semi-peripheral-dependent market economies (DME) of East Central Europe (ECE), foreign investors are major contributors to economic growth and tend to establish low value-added operations. At the same time, they enjoy superior bargaining power over central governments. The domination of FDI constrains domestic agency in shaping economic outcomes, thereby locking DMEs into the semi-periphery. Moving to the sub-national level, this paper challenges these views by arguing that there is considerably more scope for local development agency in DMEs than the comparative political economy literature suggests. Moreover, FDI-led upgrading, defined as multinational companies engaging in high value-added activities, can take place at the local level even without the direct involvement of the state. The paper draws on fieldwork conducted in two formerly declining industrial cities in ECE (Cluj and Gdańsk) that have recently emerged as knowledge-intensive hubs targeted by high value-added FDI. The paper shows that FDI-led upgrading in Gdańsk occurred with the active contribution and cooperation of both local private and public economic actors, whereas in Cluj, upgrading took place with the contribution of local universities and through the forging of business links between foreign capital and local firms established by expatriates and local engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the personal-environment matching theory and urban comfort theory, the paper constructs an evaluation index system for urban talent ecological environment. The entropy-weighted-TOPSIS method was used to measure the urban talent ecological environment in Shandong Province from 2018 to 2021, the Gini coefficient was used to explore regional differences in the urban talent ecological environment, and the obstacle factor model was used to determine the obstacle factors affecting the urban talent ecological environment. The results show that the talent ecological environment of cities in Shandong Province can be divided into 4 tiers. Qingdao city is in the leading tier, Jinan city is in the challenging tier, Yantai city and other 4 cities are in the catching up tier, and Dezhou city and other 10 cities are in the improving tier. The urban talent ecological environment shows the spatial distribution of " East Shandong > Central Shandong > Southwest Shandong > Northwest Shandong ". Per capita gross regional product, foreign direct investment, general public budget income, per capita urban road area, number of patent applications granted, number of research and experimental development personnel, education expenditure, housing expenditure and other indicators are the main obstacles factors affecting urban talent ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The study used the NDDF model to measure the efficiency of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance. • We identified the spatial aggregation patterns of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance efficiency. • We compared the magnitude of the drivers of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance efficiency. • There is an east-high and west-low development pattern of carbon mitigation. • The findings suggest enhancement of the capability of urban coordinated governance in carbon mitigation. This paper is based on the construction of the evaluation system of urban pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergistic governance efficiency indicators. Firstly, we used the NDDF model to measure the efficiency of urban pollution reduction and carbon reduction synergistic governance. We then used the ArcGIS technology and spatial autocorrelation method to explore its spatial distribution pattern, and the spatial econometric model is used to explore its driving factors. The results show that from 2006 to 2020, the synergistic governance efficiency of Chinese cities in terms of pollution reduction and carbon reduction is in a state of continuous improvement, with an increase of 38.07 per cent in 2020 compared with 2006, and overall the synergistic governance efficiency of cities in terms of pollution reduction and carbon reduction shows a pattern of development in which the east is high and the west is low, but there is a tendency for the gap to narrow from one year to the next. There is a positive spatial aggregation of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance efficiency, which is further shown by the Lisa aggregation diagram that the spatial aggregation of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance efficiency in China is characterized by urban agglomerations, with the high and high aggregation zones being concentrated in the central and eastern urban agglomerations, such as the urban agglomerations of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and Guangdong-Fujian-Zhejiang, and the low and low aggregation zones being concentrated in the western urban agglomerations, such as the Lanzhou-Western urban agglomerations and the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomerations. The results of the SDM model indicate that the efficiency of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance can significantly promote the process of pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance in neighboring areas. The six drivers, namely, industrial structure, economic development level, innovation level, urbanization rate, population size and foreign direct investment, all have a significant impact on the efficiency of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance in a local area. The spatial spillover effects of the remaining variables, except for urbanization rate, on the efficiency of urban pollution reduction and carbon synergistic governance are significantly negative. Based on this, corresponding countermeasures are proposed to improve the synergistic governance of urban pollution reduction and carbon reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inward foreign direct investment (FDI) has generally been linked to higher wages, but evidence remains sparse on the overall effects of FDI on average wages, the wage gap between skilled and unskilled labour, and inter‐industry heterogeneity. We address these issues for Mexican municipalities and industries for a period of increasing FDI and sectoral change that saw growing wage inequality. By combining two non‐experimental techniques we find that FDI in Mexico was associated with higher wages, mostly for skilled workers—but also for unskilled ones—and a widening gap between them. Effects vary both between and within industries depending on location, and they either wax or wane when the initial or incremental effects are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many municipalities and cities face certain problems in attracting local and foreign investors and one of them is ineffective local administration, as well as the lack of transparency of rules and procedures start-ups and enterprises, branches and the like. Many local governments are not even aware of what is causing the problem and the lack of investment and investor preferences for other municipalities and cities. To be able to clearly state the causes of the problem, a program of certification of cities and municipalities has been initiated in many countries, including Serbia. This program involves evaluating the quality of services of municipalities and cities in terms of those elements that are particularly relevant to existing and potential investors. On the basis of the data on the level of quality of certain elements, one can realize what the local government of a city or municipality must change in order to be a convenient area for investment, and that would provide a friendly environment for potential investors. In addition, the program ends with a certification in case the municipality or city meets the minimum requirements in each of the elements of assessment. Since the evaluation of the conditions represents the basis for gaining the certificate confirming that the city or municipality is a favorable environment for investors, a very important issue is to determine the significance of the elements, and appropriate criteria, bearing in mind that not all elements are equally important from the perspective of investors. The aim of this paper is to establish a link between the level of fulfillment of the criteria in the process of certification of cities and municipalities and the ability to attract investors, and the acceleration of investment activity at the local level. The paper presents the current way of conducting the procedure of certification of cities and municipalities, and based on the results of the correlation analysis and DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) method an insufficient influence on the fulfillment of these criteria to attract and activate investments at the local level was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly investigates how 2008's Beijing Olympic Games affects environmental efficiency of China's cities. First, we evaluate environmental efficiency through metafrontier directional distance function (DDF), and compare environmental efficiency in different region from static and dynamic perspectives. We also analyze the different treatment of before Olympic Games, during Olympic Games, after Olympic Games on different groups. We find that TGR in the east is the highest, which indicates that environmental production technology in the east has relatively less difference than other three regions. During Olympic Games positively affected environmental efficiency in Beijing, which negatively affected on environmental efficiency under metafrontier in neighbor cities. After Olympic Games positively affected environmental efficiency in Beijing and co-host cities, however, which has insignificant effect on environmental efficiency in neighbor cities. We try to propose some policy implication. First, it is import to develop high-end industry and lengthen value chain of China's secondary industry. Furthermore, it is necessary to improve environmental threshold of FDI and attract clean FDI, which can decrease environmental pollution. Last, China will host 2022 Winter Olympic Games. It is important to use more environmental-soundly building material, and increase clean renewable energy public bus, which can promote green Olympic Games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]