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• Decoupling of GDP from all energy sources under multiple principles are examined. • World economy achieved weak energy decoupling in most years during 2000–2011. • World economy coupled with coal use and tended to couple with cleaner energy use. • None of studied economies achieved long-term GDP-embodied energy decoupling. • Decoupling delusions occurred when only considering direct and total energy use. Decoupling indicators are widely used to understand links between economic growth and energy use. However, traditional decoupling analyses mostly focus on domestic energy consumption (i.e., the production-based principle) and neglect off-site energy use across global supply chains to satisfy an economy's final consumption (i.e., the consumption-based principle). Moreover, analyses for total primary energy conceal an economy's preference for different energy sources. Therefore, this paper evaluates decoupling states of GDP from all types of primary energy use under consumption-based principle, for world economy and eight typical economies during 2000–2011. Regarding total primary energy, world economy witnessed weak decoupling in most years, and most economies studied (e.g., USA, Japan and China) achieved decoupling initially but performed negative decoupling finally. For EU, USA, Japan, Russia and India, production-based decoupling performances were generally better than consumption-based ones. Decoupling phenomena detected under production-based principle even became coupling or negative decoupling under consumption-based principle in some cases. As for each energy source, world economy decoupled from oil use, but still coupled with coal use, and gradually showed a trend to couple with natural gas and renewables use. Different energy sources showed distinct decoupling degrees from GDP, affected by individual embodied energy requirement structure. This paper uncovers potential energy decoupling delusions to deepen the understanding of relationships between energy use and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a nuclear power plant closes, its host community often faces a number of negative economic impacts, such as the loss of skilled jobs and a major source of tax revenue. Even after decommissioning is completed, many former plant sites remain undeveloped, further inhibiting economic recovery. In this paper, we use data from seven decommissioned and decommissioning plants as well as estimates from industry professionals to calculate an approximate opportunity cost for each host community. This cost represents how much potential revenue has been lost while the plant site has remained undeveloped as compared to an alternate scenario in which it has been redeveloped into a solar power plant. Additionally, this paper discusses the presence of spent nuclear fuel and the challenges this presents for the redevelopment of former nuclear plant sites. This paper demonstrates the importance of efficient decommissioning and post-decommissioning redevelopment and examines solar power generation as one potential redevelopment pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The internal relationship between decoupling theory and EKC hypothesis was studied. • A two-dimensional decoupling theory was established. • China and US were taken as a case to study. Abstract The current decoupling theory cannot distinguish the decoupling state of a region with different economic development level. To overcome this problem, this paper first studies the internal relationship between decoupling theory and EKC hypothesis. Furthermore, we establish a two-dimensional decoupling theory of economic development and CO 2 emissions. Finally, taking China and US as a case, this theory is used to explore the decoupling relationship between economic development and CO 2 emissions over the period 1965–2016. If the EKC curve satisfies the inverted U type characteristic, the critical point between strong decoupling and weak decoupling can be approximately obtained at the extreme point of EKC curve. Based on the Tapio decoupling theory and extreme point of EKC curve, the two-dimensional decoupling model with 16 kinds of decoupling sates is established. For China and the United States, the EKC curve of carbon emissions and per capita GDP satisfies the inverted U type characteristic. The threshold value of per capita GDP for China and the United States are $7999.5 and $50980.52, respectively. At present, China's economy is experiencing a low level of economic development. The development of the United States in 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 presented strong decoupling with high level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We use dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965–2009. • We find that patent rights have no effect on productivity growth. • We offer an alternative explanation, finding the ECI positive and significant. • Our results lend evidence that patent rights are insufficient for the inducement of productivity. • We argue it is not discovery that increases productivity, but the ability to adapt. Abstract Does the rigorous protection of patents advance or retard economic development? Two decades ago, a new global standard of intellectual property swept across developing and industrialized nations through the implementation of the WTO's TRIPS Agreement. Many years later, the issue of patent rights remains contentious. In this paper, we focus on the effects of patent rights systems on total factor productivity growth, using dynamic panel regression analysis for 70 countries from 1965 to 2009. We show that the effects of stronger or more rigorous patent systems are insignificant for productivity growth in both developing and industrialized countries. Why does the strength of patents appear to have no impact on productivity? Classic economic theory suggests that stronger patent systems incentive innovative output with important spill-over effects for productivity and growth. We offer an alternative explanation using data from the Economic Complexity Index. We find that while patents rights are increasingly irrelevant to productivity, the relationship between economic complexity and productivity is highly positive and significant. Our results are consistent with the contributions of the absorptive capacity theory in that they suggest it is not the discovery and ownership of novel products and processes at the innovative frontier that induces productive growth, but the ability to adapt, replicate and diffuse along the international productive chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper examines the transportation-growth nexus for the USA by taking monthly data for the period of 2000–2017. The Quantile-on-Quantile (QQ) approach introduced by Sim and Zhou (2015) is applied for empirical analysis. The empirical results show that the effect of economic growth (transportation services with sub-indices) on transportation services with sub-indices (economic growth) is positive for the USA during the pre-post crisis period. Overall, the results have shown the positive effect of transportation on economic growth, however the magnitude of the effect is intensified in the post crisis period. On the other hand, the effect of economic growth on transportation tends to reflect no apparent change displaying the strong positive association in the entire time period. Therefore, this study proposed the policy guidelines considering the links between transportation and economic growth enduring the changes transpired in pre and post period of the global crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract In the photovoltaic (PV) industrial chain, polysilicon is the most vital product affecting the scale of the entire industry. Polysilicon trade holds the highest profit margin, and the technological developments among countries is unbalanced, promoting international trade among countries. Therefore, analysis of the international polysilicon trade is crucial for understanding the development of the global PV industry. In this paper, we use a social network analysis (SNA) method to study the structure of the global polysilicon trade network and each country's characteristics in the network based on international trade data from 2006 to 2016. Our results show that the network is very concentrated and shows an obvious core-periphery structure. The United States of America (USA), China, Germany and Japan are the most powerful countries in the trade network. We also find that the development of polysilicon trade can represent progress of the PV industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis (EKC) which argues that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between economic growth and environmental degradation has been examined by numerous studies for different countries or country groups. However, the validity of the EKC hypothesis at the sectoral level is mostly ignored. In addition, most of these studies have modeled the nexus between per capita income and CO 2 emissions based on the assumption of non-linearity. Unlike previous studies, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of EKC hypothesis for sub-elements of carbon dioxide emissions (i.e. total CO 2 emission, commercial CO 2 emission, electrical CO 2 emission, industrial CO 2 emission, residential CO 2 emission and transportation CO 2 emission) in the United States for the annual data of 1973–2015. In doing so, the rolling window estimation procedure is employed to observe the effect of per capita income on sectoral CO 2 emission for each sub-sample period instead of the non-linear assumption. The results of the rolling window coefficients show that inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis is valid for total CO 2 emission, industrial CO 2 emission, electrical CO 2 emission and residential CO 2 emission. However, the inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and CO 2 emission is not supported for commercial and transport sector of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) was designed to reveal the economic, social, and environmental trade-offs associated with conventional economic growth as traditionally measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although originally designed for use at the national scale, an interest has developed in the United States in a state-level uptake of the GPI to inform and guide policy. This study presents the first fifty-state estimate for U.S. GPI in order to address questions over its design, implementation, and ultimate potential as a tool to guide state-level economic policy. Following a review of the current state of analysis and critique of GPI, we provide an overview of methodology and database development. Results are then presented, including discussion of lessons learned through a fifty-state application. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research and next steps to consolidating a consistent methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for the United States both at a country and at a sectoral level (Industry, Residential, Electric Power and Transportation) using an asymmetric threshold cointegration approach and monthly data from January 1991 to May 2016. Granger causality tests support a neutrality hypothesis for all sectors, except for the case of total consumption at the country level where a unidirectional causality is running from energy consumption to economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a comprehensive dataset on social spending covering the period 1984–2010 for developing countries, and the unique cross-country database on poverty to explore the poverty-reducing role of social protection during financial crises. The results indicate that financial crises are associated with increases in the rates of growth of the poverty headcount and the poverty gap of 12% and 7%, respectively. These detrimental poverty effects of financial crises are significantly lower in countries with higher social spending, suggesting the importance of social protection for poverty reduction in times of crisis and potential gains from policy intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, distributed renewable energy-generation technologies, such as wind and solar, have developed rapidly. Nevertheless, the utilization of ultra-low-head (ULH) water energy (i.e., situations where the hydraulic head is less than 3 m or the water flow is more than 0.5 m/s with zero head) has received little attention. We believe that, through technological innovations and cost reductions, ULH hydropower has the potential to become an attractive, renewable, and sustainable resource. This paper investigates potential sites for ULH energy resources, the selection of relevant turbines and generators, simplification of civil works, and project costs. This review introduces the current achievements on ULH hydroelectric technology to stimulate discussions and participation of stakeholders to develop related technologies for further expanding its utilization as an important form of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis argues that the relationship between the pollutant and output is inverted U-shaped, implying that environmental degradation increases with output during the early stages of economic growth, but declines with output after reaching a specified threshold. For the first time in the literature on the EKC hypothesis, this paper assesses the validity of the hypothesis across 48 US States, using the Common Correlated Effects (CCE) estimation procedure by Pesaran (2006) which allows us to obtain results in the presence of cointegration in the relationship between carbon emissions and a measure of output, and its squared value – which captures the inverted U-shaped relationship postulated by the EKC hypothesis. The panel data approach allows the study individual members of the panel, also resulting in efficiency gains that would not be associated with time series approaches based on the small sample size of 51 observations (1960–2010). The findings postulate that the EKC hypothesis holds in only 10 States, with the remaining 38 States should be reforming their environmental regulatory policies to prevent environmental degradation coming only at the expense of production and economic growth. As for the other 10 states, given that a threshold has been achieved, higher growth would be accompanied with lower emissions, and hence, no additional environmental policies are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much attention has been given to the effects of migration and remittances on agricultural activities in the communities of origin, the relationship between remittances and rural households' use of natural resources remains understudied. This paper contributes in filling this gap by using a Mexican data set that contains detailed information on both remittances and use of natural resources at the household level. The data set is representative of the rural population of Mexico at the national level, which allows us to move beyond case studies overcoming one of the main challenges for understanding the relationship between livelihoods and the environment. Results show that remittances have significant effects on the use of natural resources by the receiving households. We find that a) remittances decrease the likelihood that a household will participate in natural resource extraction, and b) households that receive remittances and extract natural resources have lower environmental income and lower environmental reliance than households not receiving remittances. By reducing participation in extraction as well as reliance on natural resources, remittances reduce the pressure that local populations put on the natural resource base that surrounds them. This could mean good news for the conservation of natural resources. However, it also shows the vulnerability of Mexico's natural resource to periods of low or negative economic growth in the United States inasmuch as they affect the amount of remittances that migrants send back home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a new perspective on the energy efficiency literature by bringing evidence of political contextual factors as the predictors of energy efficiency. Specifically, we posit that the Democrat administration is more energy-efficient considering the reduction of environmental impact, in contrast, the Republican administration is more efficient considering only financial expenditures leading to the production of economic growth. In addition, we predict that political administration tenure is negatively correlated with green energy efficiency and that political distancing moderates the relationship between political party administration and energy efficiency. This study sheds light on these matters by performing an efficiency analysis of fifty North American states through a bootstrap DEA non-parametric model, followed by Tobit regressions to evaluate our hypotheses concerning the effect of the contextual factors on the calculated efficiency scores. • We investigate the impact of political factors on energy efficiency in the United States. • We perform a two-stage DEA-Tobit bootstrapped regression analysis. • The Democrats consistently demonstrated higher energy efficiency scores. • The political tenure as a feature had mild or mixed impact on energy efficiency. • We confirmed the positive time-passage effect on energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STEM-related industries are a major driver of U.S. economic growth and possessing mathematics skills is a central component of success in STEM fields. Thus, it is important to identify predictors of mathematics achievement in high school students. Some previous research has shown that students' beliefs and attitudes are important predictors of their mathematics grades and achievement. In the present paper, we examined the ability of mathematics beliefs and attitudes to predict ACT mathematics test scores by analyzing data from a questionnaire designed using the Theory of Planned Behavior framework given to high school juniors and seniors who had recently taken the ACT. Results revealed that mathematics attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, and intentions were all significantly correlated with mathematics course grades and ACT mathematics scores. Attitudes also incrementally predicted ACT mathematics scores over several key variables. The article concludes with a discussion of limitations and future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers more than 2000 dust explosion accidents that occurred worldwide between 1785 and 2012. The statistical features of these cases are first examined spatially and temporally. Accident frequencies at different levels of economic development are further discussed. China and the United States are chosen as examples to represent the differences in distribution features of dust explosions in countries with different economic development levels. Data for combustible dusts leading to dust explosions in both China and the United States are also collected and categorized. The features of ignition sources for dust explosions, the types of enterprises with high risk, and the critical equipment in such enterprises are also analyzed. The results could help identify hazards of dust explosions in various industries, monitor the critical equipment, and further suggest safety improvement procedures to reduce the probability and damage of dust explosions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the global financial crisis (GFC) in 2007, questions have been raised regarding the prospect of the US dollar continuing its dominance as the principal reserve currency. The increased volatility of the US dollar exchange rate and the uncertain sustainability of the US economic growth since that time have created pressure for central banks around the globe to shift their US dollar reserve holdings to other currencies. Amongst the major reserve currencies, the euro has been considered by a number of central banks to be an alternative currency to the US dollar. In light of the above considerations, this paper aims to present an empirical analysis on the different transaction factors that affect the currency composition holding of the reserve currencies held by the central bank of Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arts policy at the local level in the United States has taken a turn toward emphasis on economic development. In particular, a lively cultural scene is held to be an attractor of mobile, skilled workers, entrepreneurs, and businesses, both in providing a location with interesting opportunities for consumption of culture, and as providing an ambiance that could lead to greater productivity in all industries that rely upon creativity and innovation. This paper assesses the hypothesis that public investments in the arts can spur local development, and the implication for the choices over which are the most effective public investments if the hypothesis is true. It critically examines changes in state and federal arts policy that have shifted focus toward creative places and cultural districts, rather than just artists or nonprofit arts organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the relationship between public investments in agricultural R&D and the productivity enhancing benefits they produce is critical to informing the public funding of agricultural R&D and insuring future increases in agricultural productivity. This paper describes a method of estimating the relationship between research investments, productivity growth, and the resulting economic benefits generated. The data requirements include indexes of multi-factor productivity, investments in R&D, and the value of agricultural output. The real rate of return to public investments in agricultural R&D in the United States is estimated to be 10.5% per annum; however, a reduction in the growth of spending on public agricultural R&D in recent decades raises concerns about productivity growth in coming decades, which is required to insure an adequate supply of food to meet increasing demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, the industrial sector is the driving engine of economic development, and energy consumption in this sector may be considered as the fuel for this engine. In order to keep this sector sustainable (diverse and productive over the time), energy planning should be carried out comprehensively and precisely. This paper describes the development of two types of numerical energy models which are able to predict the United States' future industrial energy-demand. One model uses an ANN (artificial neural network) technique, and the other model uses a MLR (multiple linear regression) technique. Various independent variables (GDP, price of energy carriers) are tested. The future industrial energy demand can then be forecasted based on a defined scenario. The ANN model anticipates a 16% increase in energy demand from 2012 by 2030. In this forecast, the model assumes that the effective independent parameters remain constant during this period and only GDP grows with a second-order polynomial trend. The forecast result, which shows consistency with published predictions, may be considered as an indication of the need for development of new and low-cost energy sources. This study suggests that the ANN technique is a reliable and powerful technique which can effectively perform input/output mapping. In order to validate the performance of the models, the results of the ANN model is compared to the projections from the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Rural small towns have unique challenges when faced with regeneration efforts. • Successful practices include placemaking, a champion, and public/private partnerships. • These practices make up a theoretical framework for regeneration called Catalytic Community Development. • Kinston's efforts, analyzed through the lens of Catalytic Community Development, employ the arts/entertainment to encourage rural tourism. • These regenerative efforts are showing signs of success. There is a paucity of research into small and rural town regeneration in the United States. This paper examines regenerative efforts in Kinston, NC using the lens of Catalytic Community Development, a framework that focuses on local efforts that bring new economic capacities to regenerative efforts. Kinston has seen decades of decline as traditional industries migrated to other regions. A group of local changemakers have combined efforts with city staff and non-profits to catalyze economic growth through the arts and cultural tourism. Several events provided the spark of regeneration that this local network is keen to capitalize on. These efforts support findings that Catalytic Community Development can serve as a viable framework for rural small-town regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between CO 2 emissions and economic growth is well-examined. However, there is a gap in the literature to examine the nexus by regime-switching models. For this purpose, this paper examines the interdependence relations between CO 2 emissions and the industrial production index as a measure of business cycles at the monthly frequency in the United States. We use a new approach to modeling dependence between the underlying variables over time, combining the time-varying copula and the Markov switching models. We find that there is a significant dependence structure between business cycles and CO 2 emissions, which has a regime-switching feature, for the period from January 1973 to January 2017. Specifically, during the recession episodes, we deduce that until 1982, the high dependence regime with the Gaussian copula is valid. Since the beginning of 1983, the low dependence structure regime becomes prominent. • We analyze the interdependence relations between CO 2 emissions and business cycles in the U.S. • We use the time-varying copula and the Markov switching models. • We find that the significant dependence structure between business cycles and CO 2 emissions. • We observe that the high dependence regime with the Gaussian copula is valid until 1982. • We find that the low dependence structure regime becomes prominent since the beginning of 1983. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]