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Environmental influence on the economy can be enhanced by consumption upgrading, transforming the key driver of economic development from supply to demand. This study constructs a model for consumption upgrading and applies threshold regression based on the susceptible–infectious–recovered (SIR) model, to explore the role of carbon emissions on high-quality economic development. The results reveal that the environmental input characterized by carbon emissions has an inverted U-shaped effect on high-quality economic development. A diminishing marginal rate of substitution of economic output demand to environment demand is observed during consumption upgrading. This study proves that environmental resources can assume both supply and demand roles for economic output and customers, which gradually emerge during consumption upgrading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper explores the inter-firm linkages of China''s 3G market players by applying the strategic network paradigm. The 3G strategic network mainly consists of mobile operators, content/application providers, service providers, handset manufacturers, mobile phone dealers, network equipment manufacturers, chipmakers, the government, and customers. Building from the strategic network concept, this paper identifies some of the features of China''s 3G market. More new inter-firm ties have been established in the 3G era, while some old ties have been reshaped. Some firms have multiple positions or roles in one strategic network, which results in competition between former partners in the 3G market. Many firms choose to participate in more than one strategic network to exploit scope economies and mitigate the risks of being stranded on a sinking ship. China''s government not only determines the initial status of the strategic networks, but also makes policies that affect the evolution of the 3G strategic networks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In data envelopment analysis (DEA), it is usually assumed that all data are continuous and not restricted by upper and/or lower bounds. However, there are situations where data are discrete and/or bounded, and where projections arising from DEA models are required to fall within those bounds. Such situations can be found, for example, in cases where percentage data are present and where projected percentages must not exceed the requisite 100 % limit. Other examples include Likert scale data. Using existing integer DEA approaches as a backdrop, the current paper presents models for dealing with bounded and discrete data. Our proposed models address the issue of constraining DEA projections to fall within imposed bounds. It is shown that Likert scale data can be modeled using the proposed approach. The proposed DEA models are used to evaluate the energy efficiency of 29 provinces in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]