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To ensure development sustainability, the linear economic approach is being transformed into a cyclical model. For the pulp and paper industry (PPI), which occupies a significant place in the Russian economy, the shift of circular principles to the field of bioeconomics is becoming more important. This requires the development of basic biotechnological approaches implemented in closed cycles (biorefining). The aim of this study was to develop the biotechnological foundations of the circular economic system of the pulp and paper industry. To achieve the goal, the factors for the implementation of the circular mechanism in the pulp and paper industry were established. The composition of pulp and paper waste was systematized, taking into account the places of their occurrence; the directions and forms of the biorefining of pulp and paper secondary renewable resources were determined; and the principal possibility of obtaining bioethanol, based on the whole complex of sugars from cellulose production wastes, is shown. A wide range of general scientific methods was involved (analysis, synthesis, classification, modeling, etc.). Statistical methods were used to process experimental results in the field of pulp and paper waste bioconversion. The biotechnologies involved included methods of destruction, detoxification, and conversion of useful resources into secondary raw materials and final products. From the standpoint of the environmental approach, there are serious efficiency imbalances in the pulp and paper industry, which justify the implementation of circular mechanisms for organizing economic systems. The overall efficiency is ensured by the use of renewable resources and obtaining environmental effects. Algorithms and parameters of green biotechnological regulations for pulp and paper industry waste recycling provide the possibility of microbiological production of a complex of products: biocomposites, bioplastics, medical products, fertilizers, feed additives, vitamin supplements, and bioenergy resources. A strategy for the efficient biochemical processing of pulp and paper waste into green ethanol was determined. The possibility of increasing the efficiency of alcoholic fermentation using various biocatalysts was experimentally confirmed. The technological features of this method, associated with the need for microaerobic fermentation modes, were determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper integrates two theoretical frameworks to explore optimal resource allocation and the dynamics of the money cycle in a hypothetical economy. It examined the theoretical background of the problems of choice. The first framework considers an economy governed by an omniscient authority responsible for production and distribution decisions, focusing on the logic of choice and efficient resource allocation. The second framework introduces the concept of the new economic system of Economocracy, emphasizing the role of the Money Cycle theory in economic management and governance. By combining these frameworks, the paper provides a comprehensive understanding of productive and distributive efficiency and examines the impact of the money cycle on economic stability and growth. A mathematical modeling of the money cycle is presented to highlight the relationship between money distribution, economic capacity, and overall economic health. The integrated approach offers valuable insights for optimizing resource allocation and enhancing economic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present paper is to put a milestone on the roadmap toward a global economic system of professional sport, at least as regards its financial dimension, i.e., its model of finance, its ownership, and some new trends in global sport finance. Professional sport went through a radical change during the 1990s when switching from gate receipts to TV rights revenues as its major source of finance and from local/domestic to internationalised/globalised sources of revenue. This change was more marked in European soccer (football) before spreading throughout other professional sport disciplines. In fact, the whole distribution of sport financing was restructured as shown in this paper. Starting from this evidence of the first stage of sport finance globalisation, it appears that new transformations have been at work in sport finance more recently. In particular, soccer moved from globalisation of flows (revenues, finance) to asset globalisation in terms of club ownership. At last, this paper discusses the emergence of new trends in global sport finance such as treating professional (soccer) players as financial assets and crypto-assets penetrating the sports business. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable management in high-tech enterprises is a key aspect of successfully operating modern companies, especially under conditions of risk and uncertainty. This study reviews the field of sustainable management and interval analysis and identifies the main trends and challenges facing high-tech enterprises in the modern world. This study emphasizes the importance of applying interval analysis in making strategic decisions and developing sustainable business models that can adapt to variable environments. This paper presents empirical data, illustrating the practical application of interval analysis tools in the management in high-tech enterprises. It analyzes the effectiveness and potential of this approach to increase the levels of sustainability and competitiveness of organizations in constantly changing business environments. In general, this article is a valuable contribution to the development of sustainable management theory and practice for high-tech enterprises, enriching the existing knowledge in this area and offering new perspectives for research and practical application. Our research has been validated and is presented in the results section. The purpose of this study is to present current developments in methodologies and tools for risk measurement within the probabilistic paradigm of uncertainty, which are supposed to be used in relation to the economic evaluation of real investment projects. The methodological directions or approaches to risk measurement formed in this context are (1) based on quantile measures, within which the quantitative aspect of risk is modeled using quantile quantiles of the distribution of a random variable describing the possible (predicted) results of economic activity; (2) the Monte Carlo method, which is a tool for evaluating the indicators of economic efficiency and risk in justifying real investments, taking into account different distribution laws and mutual relations for the financial and economic parameters of the investment project, as well as its computational and instrumental elaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on economic feasibility, renewable generators can use pumped hydro storage (PHS) to improve their profitability by performing energy arbitrage under real-time pricing (RTP) schemes. In this paper, we present a new method to optimise the size of and manage utility-scale wind–PV systems using PHS with energy arbitrage under RTP. PHS is used to supply load consumption and/or energy arbitrage. Further, both load-supply and power-generating systems are considered, and a genetic algorithm metaheuristic technique is used to perform the optimisation efficiently. Irradiance, wind speed, temperature, hourly electricity price, component characteristics, and financial data are used as data, and the system is simulated in 15 min time steps during the system lifetime for each combination of components and control variables. Uncertainty is considered for the meteorological data and electricity prices. The pump and turbine efficiencies and available head and penstock losses are considered as variables (not fixed values) to obtain accurate simulations. A sample application in Spain is demonstrated by performing a sensitivity analysis of different locations, electricity prices, and costs. PHS is not worth considering with the present cost of components. In load-supply systems in Zaragoza (Spain), we found that PHS would be worth considering if its cost was lower than 850 EUR/kW (considering all PHS components except reservoirs) +20 EUR/m3 for reservoirs (equivalent to 105 EUR/kWh with a 70 m head), whereas in Gran Canaria Island (with a considerably higher irradiation and wind speed), the required PHS cost is considerably lower (~350 EUR/kW + 10 EUR/m3). For power-generating systems, PHS required costs ranging from 400–700 EUR/kW + 15–20 EUR/m3 for obtaining the optimal PV–wind–PHS system with economic results similar to those of the optimal power-generating system without PHS. Thus, the renewable–PHS system with energy arbitrage under RTP could be profitable for many locations globally given the wide range of the PHS cost; however, each case is different and must be evaluated individually. The presented model can be used for optimising the renewable–PHS system in any location with any costs and RTP schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to explore the intrinsic mechanism of green finance's role in widening the green development space for China, in order to optimize the structure of green financial development and accelerate the construction of a modernized economic system. Taking ecological environment improvement as a new research perspective, this paper presents the impacts and mechanisms of green finance on the green development space of the economy and society through the fixed-effect model and moderating-effect model, based on panel data from 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2011 to 2020. The findings show that green finance development in China significantly expands the green development space of the economy and society, and this conclusion did not change after robustness tests such as replacing the main variables, adjusting the study interval, and considering endogeneity. In terms of its mechanism of action, ecological environment improvement plays an important mediating and regulating role in the process of green finance, essentially magnifying the green development space of the economy and society. In terms of a heterogeneity analysis, the effect of green finance on the expansion of the green development space is the largest in the eastern region, followed by the northeastern region, and the smallest in the central and western regions. In addition, the positive effect of green finance is relatively larger in regions with a higher urbanization level, government fiscal expenditure level, foreign investment level, and advanced industrial structure. The main contribution of this paper is to the field of green development, revealing the important role of the ecological benefits of green finance, which can help to achieve high-quality sustainable development in the economy and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of Islamic economic and social systems within a democratic environment on the causal relationships among uncertainty, informal economy, corruption, and economic growth. For this purpose, we considered a set of Middle East/North Africa MENA countries considered to be in economic difficulty and undergoing the democratic transition process (Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Iraq) for the period of 2000–2018. Our contribution is to use the social index that measures the degree of Islamicity in each country in terms of economic and political matters. We examine the effects of Islamicity and democracy on uncertainty, informal economy, corruption, and economic growth using a vector autoregression (VAR) model. Our empirical findings show that, if a theoretical Islamic system is applied in practice, it must be accompanied by a democratic regime to effectively mitigate uncertainty, informal economy, and corruption and contribute to economic growth. Democracy is a necessary component for achieving an optimal level of Islamicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the theoretical foundation for developing renewable geothermal resources locally. For this reason, we pay attention to the role of communities in geothermal development. We derive it from the integral characteristics of geothermal energy next to the shift in the energy transition policies to focus on managing green resources locally. This study presents arguments for a framework that approaches geothermal resources as an endogenous factor of community development. To analyse it, we create a model that explains the local economic characteristics of geothermal exploitation beyond its geological conditions. It aims to conceptualise a community-based geothermal development standard referring to the endogeneity principle. Geothermal energy is given attention since the characteristics of this resource determine its use locally. This induces the internalisation of labour and technology in the local economic system, a specific condition for local geothermal projects where a community remains a prime beneficiary. We argue that the role of communities in geothermal exploitation is pivotal in the process of green growth for further expansion of geothermal energy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load forecast is the foundation of power system operation and planning. The forecast results can guide the power system economic dispatch and security analysis. In order to improve the accuracy of load forecast, this paper proposes a forecasting model based on the combination of the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm and the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network. Load data are specific data with time series characteristics and periodicity, and the LSTM algorithm can control the information added or discarded through the forgetting gate, so as to realize the function of forgetting or memorizing. Therefore, the use of the LSTM algorithm for load forecast is more effective. The CS algorithm can perform global search better and does not easily fall into local optima. The CS-LSTM forecasting model, where CS algorithm is used to optimize the hyper-parameters of the LSTM model, has a better forecasting effect and is more feasible. Simulation results show that the CS-LSTM model has higher forecasting accuracy than the standard LSTM model, the PSO-LSTM model, and the GA-LSTM model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protection and management of important agricultural heritage systems (IAHS) are essential to the sustainable economic and social development of heritage sites. Using the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model, this paper analyzes the influence of the identification of IAHS on economic growth and compares the difference between Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) and China's Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (China-NIAHS). The results show that the identification of IAHS can significantly promote the economic growth of heritage sites, and the identification of GIAHS has a stronger role. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the economic driving effect of IAHS identification on heritage sites is affected by geographical location and poverty. The economic driving effect is stronger in Western China and in relatively poor areas. In addition, the influencing mechanism of regional economic growth after IAHS identification is discussed. The results show that IAHS identification can promote the development of the grain processing industry and the improvement of infrastructure construction, so as to increase the added value of secondary industries at heritage sites. Moreover, the level of heritage recognition leads to different policy tendencies. Among these, GIAHS identification significantly promotes investment growth, while China-NIAHS identification significantly promotes the population agglomeration of heritage sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a new global Mittag-Leffler synchronization criterion with regard to fractional-order hyper-chaotic financial systems by designing the suitable impulsive control and the state feedback controller. The significance of this impulsive synchronization lies in the fact that the backward economic system can synchronize asymptotically with the advanced economic system under effective impulse macroeconomic management means. Matlab's LMI toolbox is utilized to deduce the feasible solution in a numerical example, which shows the effectiveness of the proposed methods. It is worth mentioning that the LMI-based criterion usually requires the activation function of the system to be Lipschitz, but the activation function in this paper is fixed and truly nonlinear, which cannot be assumed to be Lipschitz continuous. This is another mathematical difficulty overcome in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central European countries are strategic wood exporters in the European and international wood trade. In the context of wood exporters, Czechia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, and Austria are the important countries providing the development and stability of the forestry and wood sector. The share of these countries' exports in total EU exports represents more than 52% of the volume of wood exported over 5 years. After the Netherlands, the five mentioned countries recorded the highest increase in roundwood production of all EU and EFTA countries in the years 2000–2022 (from 46% (AT)–126% (CZ)), and the European average is 26%. The last decade has been characterised by a significant destabilisation of the Central European timber market as a result of natural disturbances linked to climate change, which also threatens the long-term competitiveness and preservation of this sector in the economic systems of national economies. The article provides an analytical insight into the historical development of natural calamities and their macroeconomic consequences in Central European countries. The data forecast an unfavourable development of the timber market in Europe caused by the ongoing calamity situation, the pricing policy of the timber trade, the oversaturation of the market with lower-quality calamity timber, insufficient processing capacities for primary processing of wood and its use in secondary processing, and, last but not least, the limited stock of timber in the coming years in selected Central European countries (due to an extreme increase in harvesting plans within the last 5 years, with consequences that will be felt in the coming decade). For the continued economic function of forests and the availability of wood supply for future generations, the current evolution of calamities in forest ecosystems is critical, and long-term strategic measures based on empirical data are necessary. The information presented in this paper can serve as a tool for the objectification of strategic decisions in the development of forestry policies in selected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new concept for systematically evaluating ecosystem services, Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) provides an effective means to comprehensively reveal the overall status of the ecosystem, the impact of economic activities on the ecological environment, and the effectiveness of ecological protection efforts. GEP accounting has been conducted in various regions; however, GEP's application in natural reserves still requires further exploration. Taking the Qinling Mountains as the research area, this paper aims to assess the relationship between GEP and economic development on the basis of the GEP accounting system. The results indicated that: (1) From 2010 to 2020, GEP tended to increase continuously and exhibited a distribution pattern with high value regions in the east and west, and low value regions in the north and south. (2) Over the years, the coupling coordination degree between GEP and GDP was in a consistent upward trend. In 2020, a good coupling coordination state between GEP and GDP was achieved in most districts and counties. (3) With the relative development between GEP and GDP, the social economy of most districts and counties lagged behind GEP in 2010. The number of districts and counties lagging in GEP in 2020 increased, while the number of regions with a balanced development of GEP and GDP was still relatively discouraging. (4) In general, elevation, contagion, temperature, population density, and precipitation were the main drivers of coupling coordination degree between GEP and GDP. If the relationship between economic development and ecological environmental protection can be reasonably balanced, it will further promote the sustainable development of nature reserves, and provide a scientific basis for sustainable policy-making in other similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each practical action in rural areas should be based on a comprehensive, new, and innovative theoretical paradigm. For nearly three decades, the global economic system has embraced rural entrepreneurship as a "productive" and innovative strategy in rural development in many countries, including both underdeveloped and developed countries. At present, we have large companies, which due to government development interventions, are replaced with small- and medium-sized businesses under inflexible and extreme entrepreneurialism. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to shed light on the prevailing entrepreneurship practice and discourse, criticize them, and finally introduce a new paradigm known as "paradigm of rural prosperity" (PRP). In this work, Aram Ziai's theory of skeptical post-development was used, along with Campbell Jones and André Spicer's critical theory of entrepreneurship and Rosenqvist's theory of the conceptualization of rurality and rural environment called "hermeneutical realism". The present paper attempts to base the paradigm of rural prosperity on three pillars of analysis and explanation: (a) rural embodiment, (b) neoliberalism, and (c) concept of sustainability. Although some case studies in Iran have been used as empirical evidence, this paper argues that the paradigm of rural prosperity is universal in nature and can be used in any geographical and cultural context to provide new rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines ways in which human values toward surface water, especially large rivers, are relevant to land-use decisions in the watersheds. The study's focus is the symbolic riverscape constructed by residents local to the Susquehanna River at the confluence of its branches in central Pennsylvania. The main analytical tool is the cultural landscape, a conceptualization of the ways in which alteration of the physical world is the product of human value systems. The paper traces the symbolic weights apparent in discourses about the Susquehanna River with regard to environmental use and abuse in the watershed, through qualitative analysis of public expressions of meaning and valuation. The conclusions emphasize an evolution of the meaning of the river toward a central role as an integral and intricate part of the human experience on the landscape, rather than its earlier role as one functional part of the economic system. Land-use actions consonant with that new value are now favored. This work is offered to suggest that land system science, which is highly effective in understanding altered natural systems and their consequences, can benefit from a fuller engagement with more-intimate human aspects of landscape such as symbols, meaning, and narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current global economic system undermines sustainability efforts such as green infrastructure and circularity, while jeopardizing social and environmental values in rich and poor countries alike. These chronic failures stem in part from a poor understanding of an economy's structure. While many scientists view economic and ecological systems as homologous to one another (i.e., similar structures and processes), an understanding of the foundational components of these systems is lacking. A primary objective of this paper is to refine the understanding of those foundational components, and their interactions. Dozens of ecological processes have functional equivalents in economies, such as succession, evolution, symbiosis, and competition. The central hypothesis here is that three components—diversity, energy, and trade (i.e., resource transfers)—constitute the foundational components of self-regulating economies and ecosystems. A secondary hypothesis is that the interaction of these components regionally, rather than at a global scale, is a limiting factor to the long-term success of sustainability elements such as circularity, green infrastructure, and others. This article evaluates diversity, energy, and trade relative to measures such as net productivity, stability, resource-use efficiency, and biomass (i.e., capital) accumulation. In closing, the concept of economic restoration is summarized, as informed by principles of ecological restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, the 19th CPC National Congress proposed to "establish a sound economic system of green, low-carbon and circular development", which indicates the direction of high-quality economic development in the new era of China. Clean power investment is a powerful way to promote high-quality economic development by adopting non-fossil-energy utilization and low-emission technologies, as well as creating new jobs. Meanwhile, large-scale investment and a long investment return period result in negative effects on local economies. To better understand the effect of clean power investment, this paper selects panel data of thirty provinces in China from 2010 to 2019 to establish a spatial Durbin model to explore the impact of clean power investment on regional high-quality economic development. The results show that inter-regional high-quality economic development shows significant spatial auto-correlation characteristics. Clean power investment has not only a positive direct effect on high-quality economic development but also generates positive spatial spillover effects. Human capital, degree of government intervention, and urbanization rate have positive effects on regional high-quality economic development, while they play a suppressed role on neighboring regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether China's economy can maintain sustainable growth has been debated both in China and internationally, and the most representative critique has been summarized in the "Krugman Query". Faced with such doubts, how to achieve a "win-win" for economic growth and environmental protection has become one of the central objectives of local government work while striving for the new vision of development. Taking China's carbon trading pilot policy as an example, and based on panel data of 30 provincial administrative regions in China from 2001 to 2018, this paper uses the Data Envelopment Analysis-Malmquist index model and the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Difference method to measure the level of green economic growth from two aspects: green development mode and economic growth effect, and further explore the impact of China's carbon trading system on green economic growth. The results show that the implementation of the carbon trading system promoted both the green development level and economic growth of pilot cities, and positively affected green total factor productivity, refuting the "Krugman Query". Finally, the study puts forward a series of recommendations in strengthening environmental regulation, improving green technology innovation, and developing low-carbon industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is directly linked to a broad array of changes because of disorganized activities within the economic system and human intervention. Climate change affects the well-being status of both non-living and living things. Relevant policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change conditions concentrate on solutions that intend to use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels or other conventional energy sources. This study aims to process a review focused on how renewables advance environmental quality and create relevant benefits within severe economic activities. This study elaborates on the case of China for two main reasons. First, China has a pivotal role in the economic system worldwide. Second, China is making serious attempts to transition into a low-carbon economy. An integrative review was processed to receive selected publications. The advantage of this process is that it considers empirical and non-empirical studies, policy papers, and conceptual frameworks. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied to retrieve the final number of publications. Review results from 39 well-acknowledged Journals provided 180 selected publications categorized into seven study groups: data analyses, model optimization studies, market issues, renewable energy technology publications, nuclear energy publications, ocean energy publications, and policy-related studies. Policy implications concern China's efforts to accelerate the integration of renewables in the energy mix. Hence, the country should increase energy efficiency in consumption and process investment plans based on robust research and development efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital rural development has become an emerging dynamic force for high-quality rural development in China. This paper constructs the "environmental-economic-social" analysis framework for digital rural development, analyzes the spatial variation of the digital rural development level (DRDL) in Chinese counties in 2020, and conducts the factor detection and interaction detection of its influencing factors. It is found that: (1) digital rural development has its own unique spatial differentiation mechanism, which can be analyzed from three dimensions: environmental system, economic system, and social system, which play a fundamental role, decisive role, and a magnifying effect on digital rural development, respectively. (2) The DRDL in China's counties has significant spatial distribution, spatial correlation, and spatial clustering characteristics. The DRDL in general shows a decreasing distribution trend from coastal to inland regions, and the overall differences in DRDL mainly come from intra-regional differences rather than inter-regional differences. The rural infrastructure digitalization dimension has stronger spatial correlation while the spatial correlation of the rural governance digitalization dimension is weaker. There are obvious hotspot and coldspot areas in the DRDL, with large differences between the coldspot and hotspot areas of different sub-dimensions. (3) The spatial divergence of the DRDL is closely related to geographical elements and is the result of the combined effect of several geographical factors. The factor detection results show that the dominant factors within the four regions are significant different. The interaction detection results show that the driving force of the two-factor interaction is stronger than that of the single-factor interaction and that the interaction among the factors further deepens the spatial differentiation of the DRDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with privatization processes in five selected countries of the communist regime and their comparative analysis. Most countries have historically encountered the need to privatize state-owned enterprises. A closed and inefficient economic system would reach the brink of resilience and change was necessary. Privatization was a conceptual solution. Due to diversified economic systems, internal social and political differences, as well as the complexity of the privatization process itself, the ways in which it has been implemented vary greatly from country to country. However, the aspiration has generally always meant overall economic improvement, and the implementation of rapid, formal, as painless as possible, preferably spontaneous, and transparent privatization. Still, everything took place in several stages and there was a mass, and most often coupon, privatization in one of the phases. It was concluded that each privatization process is specific, but there are still some overlaps. The main distinguishing criteria are related to the approach towards privatization (modular or inflexible) as well as centralization (Croatia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland) and decentralization (Slovenia and Hungary) of the system that implements and controls privatization. In addition, in some countries there has been a lack of public support due to numerous embezzlements, frauds and attempts to exploit positions of power at a given time, while on the other hand orderliness, legitimacy, and innovation have resulted in an in-flow of foreign capital and successful privatization supported by the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sectoral structures are one of the critical and dynamic components of any social system subjected to either external or internal factors. The purpose of the paper is to reveal and validate characteristic features of transformation regarding economic sectoral structures during the crisis of the socio-economic system and the period of its coordinated development in order to determine the most stable industry sectors. This paper reveals the specificity of sectoral transformations in European countries during the crisis of 2008–2009 and the stable growth of 2010–2019. The analysis is premised on Robert B. Reich's sectoral structure, comprising production, in-person, intellectual, and communication services sectors. To conduct the research, statistical data analysis using the Gatev coefficient, and correlation and comparative analysis are applied. It is concluded that the mutable nature of sectoral dynamics depends on the planned changes resulting either from business expectations and interests, or state intervention. Yet, transformation is likely due to external and internal shocks (economic upheavals and wars), and unexpected events (natural disasters, epidemics, and pandemics). Over the last 15 years, the sectoral structure has been subjected to most of the above collisions. In-person, intellectual, and communication services sectors are least affected during the economic crisis. In the European countries, the period of economic growth is characterized by the growing dominance of intellectual and communication services sectors. There is a trend of decreasing the share of mining and quarrying in the sectoral production structure in favor of manufacturing industries and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with an imperative operational problem, called the optimal power flow (OPF), which has several technical and economic points of view with respect the environmental concerns. This paper proposes a multiple-objective optimizer NSWOA (non-dominated sorting whale optimization algorithm) for resolving single-objective OPFs, as well as multi-objective frameworks. With a variety of technical and economic power system objectives, the OPF can be formulated. These objectives are treated as single- and multi-objective OPF issues that are deployed with the aid of the proposed NSWOA to solve these OPF formulations. The proposed algorithm modifies the Pareto ranking and analyzes the optimum compromise solution based on the optimal Euclidian distances. This proposed strategy ensures high convergence speed and improves search capabilities. To achieve this study, an IEEE 30-bus (sixth-generation unit system) is investigated, with eight scenarios studied that highlight technical and environmental operational needs. When compared to previous optimization approaches, the suggested NSWOA achieves considerable techno-economic improvements. Additionally, the statical analyses are carried out for 20 separate runs. This analysis proves the high robustness of the proposed NSWOA at low levels of standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of investigating the dynamics of an economic system with chaotic behavior and a suboptimal control proposal to suppress the chaotic behavior. Numerical results using phase portraits, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents, and 0-1 testing confirmed chaotic and hyperchaotic behavior. The results also proved the effectiveness of the control, showing errors below 1%, even in cases where the control design is subject to parametric errors. Additionally, an investigation of the system in fractional order is included, demonstrating that the system has periodic, constant, or chaotic behavior for specific values of the order of the derivative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk analysis in control problems is a critical but often overlooked issue in this research area. The main goal of this analysis is to assess the reliability of designed controllers and their impact on applied systems. The chaotic behavior of fractional-order economical systems has been extensively investigated in previous studies, leading to advancements in such systems. However, this chaotic behavior poses unpredictable risks to the economic system. This paper specifically investigates the reliability and risk analysis of chaotic fractional-order systems synchronization. Furthermore, we present a technique as a new mechanism to evaluate controller performance in the presence of obvious effects. Through a series of simulation studies, the reliability and risk associated with the proposed controllers are illustrated. Ultimately, we show that the suggested technique effectively reduces the risks associated with designed controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses dynamical growth models predicting the cyclic development of investigated economic factors. The provided research deals with an optimal control problem based on the economic growth model with the production function of Cobb–Douglas type. Following the Pontryagin maximum principle, we derived the Hamiltonian system and conducted its qualitative analysis, which reveals conditions for the cyclic behaviour of the optimal solutions around the isolate steady state. Numerical experiments visually illustrated the obtained results by demonstrating a phase portrait corresponding to a steady state of the focal type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exports are a crucial driving force of China's economic growth; however, researchers have yet to verify whether they can effectively improve the high-quality economic development. Based on interprovincial panel data from 2000 to 2019, in this study, we constructed a high-quality economic development indicator system through the entropy weight method, and we adopted the linear regression model and dynamic panel threshold model to empirically test the export trade effect on the high-quality economic development as well as its mechanism. We also probed the impact of the heterogeneous absorptive capacity on the high-quality economic development. According to our research findings, China's export trade has substantially promoted the high-quality economic development level by, from the viewpoint of the action path, positively influencing the economic, open, and coordination subsystems. The influence of the export trade on the high-quality economic development has a substantial single-threshold effect on the heterogeneous absorptive capacity; that is, when the threshold variables that represent the regional absorptive capacity (the economic level, R&D intensity, and technological gap) are all higher than the threshold value, the export trade has a substantial positive impact on the high-quality economic development level. The research conclusions of this paper provide new ideas for the development of high-quality economic systems as well as a useful reference for China in its formulation of more targeted foreign trade policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the growing penetration of behind-the-meter (BTM) photovoltaic (PV) installations, accurate solar energy forecasts are required for a reliable economic energy system operation. A new hybrid methodology is proposed in this paper with a sequence of one-step ahead models to accumulate 144 h for a small-scale BTM PV site. Three groups of models with different inputs are developed to cover 6 days of forecasting horizon, with each group trained for each hour of the above zero irradiance. In addition, a novel dataset preselection is proposed, and neighboring solar farms' power predictions are used as a feature to boost the accuracy of the model. Two techniques are selected: XGBoost and CatBoost. An extensive assessment for 1 year is conducted to evaluate the proposed method. Numerical results highlight that training the models with the previous, current, and 1 month ahead from the previous year referenced by the target month can improve the model's accuracy. Finally, when solar energy predictions from neighboring solar farms are incorporated, this further increases the overall forecast accuracy. The proposed method is compared with the complete-history persistence ensemble (CH-PeEn) model as a benchmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate that the energy transition as part of prosumer capitalism is a socio-economic process whose complexity increases over time, which makes it an example of a super wicked problem. It comprises many new phenomena emerging spontaneously, and often unpredictably, in the energy markets. The main contemporary challenge involves such an energy sector transformation which will prevent climate change and will ensure the sustainable development of the global economy. However, this requires solving a large number of sub-problems in areas such as legislation, energy distribution, democracy, and cybersecurity. Therefore, this is a multidisciplinary issue. Moreover, the situation is complicated by the frequently omitted fact that energy transition is not part of the standard capitalism model, extensively described in handbooks and scientific literature, but it is conducted as part of a new economic system—prosumer capitalism, which has not been properly explored yet. However, a solution to this super wicked problem has to be found soon, as the energy system may be threatened with complexity catastrophe, which denotes exceeding the upper complexity limit associated with the breakdown of its adaptability. Therefore, developing effective techniques for alleviating the complexity catastrophe, including redefining the change management and complexity management methods to the global scale, becomes the top priority among the tasks faced by science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of a distributed economic dispatch system include significant resilience, uniform processing and communication pressure, and good scalability, but, currently, there is limited in-depth research on the impact of packet loss on the communication links of a distributed economic dispatch system. To analyze how communication packet loss affects a distributed economic dispatch system and to develop appropriate scheduling approaches, in this paper, we design a fully distributed economic dispatch strategy for an active distribution network (ADN) in leader-follower mode, we use the Bernoulli stochastic process to describe the communication packet loss phenomenon, and we give sufficient conditions for the system in the form of linear matrix inequality (LMI) to be able to achieve stochastic stability. The communication packet loss probability affects the convergence performance of the system, and a high packet loss probability can cause the system to lose stability. By simulating various situations in the IEEE-14 and IEEE-39 systems, in this study, we confirm the validity and efficacy of the distributed economic dispatch control strategy and the system stability analysis method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic and its rapid spread throughout the world in 2020 shed a new light on mathematic models describing the nature of epidemics. However, as the pandemic shocked economies to a much greater extent than earlier epidemics, the recovery potential of economies was emphasized and its inclusion in epidemic models is becoming more important. The present paper deals with the issues of modeling the recovery of economic systems that have undergone severe medical shocks, such as COVID-19. The proposed mathematical model considers the close relationship between the dynamics of pandemics and economic development. This distinguishes it from purely "medical" models, which are used exclusively to study the dynamics of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike standard SIR models, the present approach involves the introduction of the "vaccine" equation to the SIR model and introduces correction components that include the possibility of re-infection and other nuances such as the number of people at risk of infection (not sick with COVID but not vaccinated); sick with COVID; recovered; fully vaccinated (two doses) citizens; the rate of COVID infection; the rate of recovery of infected individuals; the vaccination coefficients, respectively, for those who have not been ill and recovered from COVID; the coefficient of revaccination; the COVID re-infection rate; and the population fluctuation coefficient, which takes into account the effect of population change as a result of births and deaths and due to the departure and return of citizens. The present model contains governance so that it not only generates scenario projections but also models specific governance measures as well to include the pandemic and restore economic growth. The model also adds management issues, so that it not only generates scenario forecasts but simultaneously models specific management measures as well, aiming to suppress the pandemic and restoring economic growth. The model was implemented on specific data on the dynamics of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in selected developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) is an important way to assess the state of the ecosystem and to clarify the coupling and coordination between the ecosystem and the economic system, which can be a scientific basis for achieving the synergistic development of economic society and ecological civilization. In this paper, 11 prefectural cities in Jiangxi Province are taken as research areas. Based on the data of land use, normalized difference vegetation index, net primary productivity, soil, meteorology, elevation and statistics, the study accounts for the GEP in Jiangxi Province in 2010 and 2020 based on a biophysical model, and analyzes the changes of its ecosystem's state. Based on the economic data obtained from the Jiangxi Statistical Yearbook, a regional economic index system was established; the levels of GEP and the regional economy were measured with the help of entropy-weight-TOPSIS method, and the interaction mechanism and coupling coordination dynamics between them were explored based on the coupling coordination degree model. It was found that during 2010–2020, the GEP in Jiangxi Province increased by 0.35%, and the value of material goods and cultural services increased by 49.57% and 414.03%, respectively, but the value of regulating services decreased by 9.89%; the main coupled and coordinated development characteristics of ecosystem and economic system in Jiangxi Province developed from basic coordination-economic lagging to moderate coordination-ecological lagging, and the coupled coordinated development continues to improve, but the development of gross ecosystem product lags behind the level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to examine the factors that influence the adoption of ISAs, intending to stimulate establishing a responsible and efficient auditing regime in Libyan auditing practice, shedding light on challenges in auditing practices in the North African region. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 43 participants that represented 5 key actors from within the auditing field in Libya, including preparers and users of annual reports. Regarding ISAs adoption, the study focused on those institutional isomorphism drivers that are found to produce a greater impact on the experience of auditing practice in Libya. The identified factors are (a) foreign corporations, such as accountancy firms, (b) economic systems and the stock market, (c) international financial institutions (IFIs), and (d) the legal system. The research demonstrated that these drivers systematically and consistently predict the level of ISAs adoption commitment and associated harmonisation. Given the growing interest in harmonising auditing practice not only by scholars but also by policy and decision-makers, the relevance of this research cannot be questioned since it addresses significant concerns and contributes to the development of an under-researched topic in Africa. This paper expands the literature on the importance of harmonising auditing practices and provides fresh insights into auditing practices in a politically unstable country. Awareness is also raised about the most relevant drivers of adopting ISAs and several implications for policymakers and regulators in pursuing international harmonisation of auditing standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the significance of environmental aspects, the modeling of hybrid systems should be performed with the lowest cost and environmental pollution. Therefore, an effective and optimum sizing method can ensure acceptable performance. This paper implements a "technique for order performance by similarity to the ideal solution" (TOPSIS) method combined with the "analytic hierarchy process (AHP)" method to size a standalone system based on techno-economic parameters. For this reason, a survey was conducted to collect local load data on Monpura Island, located in Bhola, Bangladesh. Visible and design faults of the existing PV/diesel mini-grid have also been identified. Five alternative hybrid configurations have been considered as to evaluate the best optimum system. Two economic and one environmental criterion was used to size the system. Two experts specialized in energy systems evaluated the criteria and proposed the suitable system. Battery, wind and PV capital cost multipliers have been considered as to perform sensitivity analysis. According to techno-economic analysis and expert opinion, PV/biogas/wind has been found to be the most appropriate system among these configurations. The system has a cost of electricity (COE) of 0.691 (USD/kWh) and emits only 4.43 kg of CO2 per year. The net present cost of the proposed system is 18% lower than the existing microgrid, and the model has lower emissions due to high renewable penetration. It was also found that integrating wind can significantly reduce battery capacity in the mini-grid. The proposed system consumes 34% less batteries than the existing system. Implementing this optimum system can result in greater benefit to the local people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various mathematical frameworks play an essential role in understanding the economic systems and the emergence of crises in them. Understanding the relation between the structure of connections between the system's constituents and the emergence of a crisis is of great importance. In this paper, we propose a novel method for the inference of economic systems' structures based on complex networks theory utilizing the time series of prices. Our network is obtained from the correlation matrix between the time series of companies' prices by imposing a threshold on the values of the correlation coefficients. The optimal value of the threshold is determined by comparing the spectral properties of the threshold network and the correlation matrix. We analyze the community structure of the obtained networks and the relation between communities' inter and intra-connectivity as indicators of systemic risk. Our results show how an economic system's behavior is related to its structure and how the crisis is reflected in changes in the structure. We show how regulation and deregulation affect the structure of the system. We demonstrate that our method can identify high systemic risks and measure the impact of the actions taken to increase the system's stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that the role of energy storage systems in human life is increasing day by day. Therefore, this research aims to study the latest progress and technologies used to produce energy storage systems. It also discusses and compares the most recent methods used by researchers to model and optimize the size of these tools and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each. Investigations have shown that using energy storage systems in hybrid stand-alone power generation systems based on renewable energy increases the reliability of the power generation systems and increases their efficiency. It has also reduced the cost of transmitting the power grid to remote areas. Furthermore, this study showed that advances in energy storage technology in recent years have led to the development and promotion of clean microgrids. In addition, this review paper also addresses energy storage technology issues and proposes practical and applied solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integrated demand response strategy participates in the coordinated operation of the integrated energy system, which can effectively improve the flexibility and stability of the system operation. This paper adopts a multiple load demand response strategy to guide users' energy consumption habits. Firstly, the cooperative operation structure of integrated energy system considering comprehensive demand response is designed by analyzing the characteristics of multiple loads. Secondly, according to the interactive relationship between the output exchange power and the demand response adjustment of units, a two-stage collaborative optimization model is established. Finally, results show that considering the demand response of electricity-heat-gas load requires higher output power flexibility of the generators and enhances the ability of the system to participate in the demand response. The overall economic benefit of the system can be improved, but the comprehensive satisfaction of users will be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of urbanism is changing rapidly. The context for working in the field of urban design and planning is influenced by the pace of change; uncertainty; and massive transitions. The urban professional, however, is still used to planning for small changes and repeating traditional approaches. In this paper, we have investigated major future tasks and problems that require rethinking the skills required from people working in the urban arena. By conducting in-depth conversation with leading thinkers in the field, the tension between idealism and the urgency to act versus realism and the trust in current systems dominated by economic laws is present. This results in the conclusion that a different skillset is required in order to face future complexities and to be able to connect design creativity with process sensitivity in short- and long-term periods and at small and large scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the deepening of the reform of rural economic systems, the demand for disaster risk governance in land production and management is increasing, and it is urgent for the state to develop agricultural insurance to improve land production recovery capacity and ensure national food security. The study develops a quantitative model to determine the agricultural premium rate for each county in China based on disaster risk level in order to refine agricultural insurance. The results show that: (a) in terms of the disaster situation, most of northeast and central China, part of southwest, north, and northwest China are seriously affected; (b) regarding the integrated natural disaster risk level, there are 129 counties with extremely high disaster risk in China; (c) as for agricultural premium rates based on the integrated natural disaster risk index, some counties in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hubei, and Hunan Province had extremely high rates, out of a total of 63 counties. The above results reveal regional differences in disaster risk levels and premium rates between counties, providing a reference for improving the accuracy of agricultural premium rates. This contributes to the creation of security for further improving land production capacity and promoting the intensification and sustainable development of agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land allotment was embraced by the U.S. Government in the late 1800s and early 1900s as part of a solution to the "Indian problem", the goal of which was assimilation into the Euro-American cultural and economic system. As a progressivist program, it was imposed with enthusiasm and confidence, dividing reservations into rectangular land parcels (allotments) in the belief that the allotment recipients would become yeoman farmers of the Jeffersonian mold. Tribes were unable to thwart the imposition of allotment, despite their best efforts, and its devastating long-term effects are now well known. Much less is understood, however, about the efforts of various tribes, sometimes successful and sometimes not, to obtain modifications to the terms of allotment imposed on them. We describe how the people of the Standing Rock Reservation in North and South Dakota successfully advocated for modifications which worked to their significant advantage. We draw heavily from the outgoing correspondence and allotment records of the Special Allotting Agent, Carl Gunderson, along with contemporaneous records of legislative proceedings and other documents. The successful efforts of the people of Standing Rock resulted not only in equitable access to scarce timber, but in allotments to numerous individuals who otherwise would have been ineligible. The net impact was the additional allotment of nearly 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) to over 1800 individuals who otherwise would have received nothing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the financial interconnections among Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), sukuk (Islamic bonds), and oil in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. The study sample comprises S&P GCC Composite Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Shariah, the S&P GCC Bond and Sukuk Index, and the OPEC crude oil basket on a daily basis. The duration of coverage spans from 2014 until the beginning of 2024. The TVP-VAR methodology is utilized to examine the interrelationship among the assets. The results indicate that Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and oil are sources of volatility transmission, whereas sukuk is a recipient of volatility within the network. Examining the net pairwise directional linkages of two assets, namely REITs and oil markets, reveals that they transfer their volatility to the sukuk market. Moreover, a reciprocal relationship exists between REITs and oil regarding volatility spillover. It means that REITs act as transmitters to the oil markets during specific periods, while the influence is reversed at other times. This study implies that portfolio managers and investors can discern the volatility patterns of assets in order to enhance their risk-management techniques. For policymakers, comprehending the interdependence of certain asset classes provides valuable knowledge for formulating regulations that might stabilize the financial system and foster economic growth. From a research and academic perspective, this study enhances understanding of the interconnections between different financial asset classes and pricing dynamics in financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this work is to examine the nature of the historically observed and empirically described by the Pareto law inequality in the distribution of wealth and income in an economic system. This inequality is presumed to be the result of unequal opportunity by its members. An analytical model of the economic system consisting of a large number of actors, all having equal access to its total wealth (or income) has been developed that is formally represented by a scale-free network comprised of nodes (actors) and links (states of wealth or income). The dynamic evolution of the complex network can be mapped in turn, as is known, into a system of quantum particles (links) distributed among various energy levels (nodes) in thermodynamic equilibrium. The distribution of quantum particles (photons) at different energy levels in the physical system is then derived based on statistical thermodynamics with the attainment of maximal entropy for the system to be in a dynamic equilibrium. The resulting Planck-type distribution of the physical system mapped into a scale-free network leads naturally into the Pareto law distribution of the economic system. The conclusions of the scale-free complex network model leading to the analytical derivation of the empirical Pareto law are multifold. First, any complex economic system behaves akin to a scale-free complex network. Second, equal access or opportunity leads to unequal outcomes. Third, the optimal value for the Pareto index is obtained that ensures the optimal, albeit unequal, outcome of wealth and income distribution. Fourth, the optimal value for the Gini coefficient can then be calculated and be compared to the empirical values of that coefficient for wealth and income to ascertain how close an economic system is to its optimal distribution of income and wealth among its members. Fifth, in an economic system with equal opportunity for all its members there should be no difference between the resulting income and wealth distributions. Examination of the wealth and income distributions described by the Gini coefficient of national economies suggests that income and particularly wealth are far off from their optimal value. We conclude that the equality of opportunity should be the fundamental guiding principle of any economic system for the optimal distribution of wealth and income. The practical application of this conclusion is that societies ought to shift focus from policies such as taxation and payment transfers purporting to produce equal outcomes for all, a goal which is unattainable and wasteful, to policies advancing among others education, health care, and affordable housing for all as well as the re-evaluation of rules and institutions such that all members in the economic system have equal opportunity for the optimal utilization of resources and the distribution of wealth and income. Future research efforts should develop the scale-free complex network model of the economy as a complement to the current standard models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermodynamics is based on its Four Laws structure. Based on Thermodynamics and its Four Laws structure, this work presents and explores its economic counterpart, proposing an economic Four Laws structure to look at Economics through the eyes of Thermodynamics. The Economic Zeroth Law is based on the merchandise economic thermal equilibrium, thus defining the economic temperature. The Economic First Law is based on balance equations for the units of merchandise and monetary species. The economic Second Law is based on the observation that the traded merchandise units are transferred in the increasing unit price direction (in the decreasing economic temperature direction). This allows economic entropy to be defined through a differential equation, as well as the definition of economic irreversibility and economic entropy generation. The economic Third Law states that the merchandise economic entropy of an economic system at the null economic temperature (at an infinite merchandise unit price) is null. Conjugation of the economic Second and Third Laws sets how to evaluate the absolute value of the economic entropy of an economic system. The presented developments setting the proposed economic Four Laws structure introduce and explore a large set of concepts, variables, and relations that are of major relevance for looking at Economics through the eyes of Thermodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the interplay between innovation, economic systems, governance structures, and law, and how they interact with one another in the context of China and Ethiopia's investments in the Digital Silk Road. The way cutting-edge methods related to governance and economic systems might help lower the risks involved in major infrastructure projects, like the Digital Silk Road, particularly in light of law and 5G developments, is investigated. China–Africa connections are to be strengthened, sustainable development is to be encouraged, and healthy economic progress is the goal of the partnership between Ethiopia and the Hainan Free Trade Port. The impact of these transnational investments on fair growth and sustainable development is assessed, while exploring the evolving agendas and procedures governing investments. This research draws attention to how the law and legal cooperation between Ethiopia and China may promote mutually advantageous outcomes, promote transparency and governance mechanisms, and lessen the likelihood of disputes. This research on the factors influencing the future of the Digital Silk Road and its consequences for long-term, sustainable economic growth, and business in the area, aims to provide valuable insights for policymakers, development professionals, and academics, and for the copromotion of China and Ethiopia in terms of digital investment. This research relates to the promotion of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in terms of construction and economic development. It also examines how the DSR raises concerns about data security and privacy, cross-border transactions, technology transfer, and cyberterrorism, as well as encourages digital investment, such as through enhancing digital governance regulations, modernizing international investment agreements (IIAs), and bolstering global health, coordination, and cooperation; the article concludes by analyzing the implications for Africa. The findings show that such cooperation would support Africa's digital transformation and sustainable development, while strengthening China–Africa cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of coordination between cultural, ecological, and economic systems directly affects the sustainable development of the Yellow River Basin (YRB). However, researchers have neglected the importance of cultural elements in the social-ecological system and have paid insufficient attention to the interaction of cultural, ecological, and economic systems in the YRB. Therefore, a framework of coupled cultural-ecological-economic (CEE) systems was constructed based on service-dominant logic, and the spatiotemporal distribution, evolutionary trends, and factors influencing the coupled coordination of different systems in 76 major cities in the YRB were analyzed by using an entropy-weighted TOPSIS model, coupled coordination model, spatial Markov chain, and panel spatial Dubin model. The results were as follows: (1) the cultural, ecological, and economic systems of the YRB showed a growing trend, the economic system grew faster than the cultural system and the ecosystem, and the ecosystems dominated sustainable development in the YRB. (2) From 2011 to 2022, the type of coupled CEE system coordination in the YRB was mainly in a state of slight incongruity, with the different regions showing temporal consistency and synchronized growth, with the upstream area mainly in a state of moderate incongruity, the midstream area mainly in a state of slight incongruity, and the downstream area concentrating in general coordination. (3) The spatial coordination level of CEE system coupling in the YRB showed the characteristic of "gradually converging to coordination from upstream to downstream" and exhibited upstream low-value agglomeration and downstream high-value agglomeration. Meanwhile, there was a clear trend of spatial spillover in terms of balanced regional development, and 67.11% of the cities in the region and neighboring areas maintained stable development. (4) Tourism development (TD), foreign trade (FT), the human environment (HE), government control (GC), and other factors significantly positively impacted the sustainable development in the YRB. In the future, the focus should be on improving the transregional infrastructure and transportation service systems in the YRB, to enhance cooperation and exchanges between different regions. This research provides new insights and methods for the coordinated development of cultural, ecological, and economic systems at a watershed scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals are significantly increasing investments in the production of energy from renewable sources (RESs). To this end, the supply of monetary incentives by public institutions has increased sharply. This flow of money inevitably attracts the attention of criminal organizations (henceforth COs) that use their power to increase the volumes of investments, while public authorities might react by deciding not to make investments in RESs in areas at risk of distorted use of incentives. In this context, the research question is as follows: does the presence of COs slow down or encourage investment in RESs? Until now, this topic has received little attention from researchers, at least in the European Union. In particular, the presence of COs is particularly pervasive in the economic system of Italy. Given the heterogeneity of this country, a spatial econometric approach was used, taking into account geographical dependency relationships and their impact on the relevant variables. The main result of the research shows a negative relationship between Italian areas with higher CO levels and RES investments. In other words, investments are discouraged in these regions. This situation is detrimental to the target regions in terms of sustainable development and increasing the gross national product (GNP). Furthermore, we found that micro-crime cannot in any way influence investments in RESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debt is a fundamental component of modern economic systems. It serves as a source of financing for government, business, and individual projects. Many earlier studies concentrated on the direct relationship between debt and economic performance using different econometric methodologies. This work investigates the effect of debt on production efficiency, extracted from the estimated production function. Unlike previous econometric approaches, we employ a production stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) on data for 18 OECD countries spanning from Quarter 1, 2015, to Quarter 3, 2021, to capture the short-run effect of debt on the production efficiency and, thus, output growth. The results show that, in the short run, as debt increases by $1 billion, efficiency increases by 0.04%. Additionally, we found that the most indebted countries are the most efficient countries. In our sample, those were the UK and France. Furthermore, the average efficiency for the 18 OECD countries was 70.07. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between macroeconomic variables and the financial liquidity of companies. In this context, two main research questions were formulated. Firstly, which macroeconomic variables impact the financial liquidity of companies? Secondly, what is the direction and strength of the influence of these macroeconomic variables on the financial liquidity of companies? This study employed panel data analysis conducted on an unbalanced panel of 5327 Polish enterprises over the period 2003–2021. The primary research method employed was linear regression (pooled OLS) with robust standard errors clustered at the firm level. The main results of this study indicate that (1) the majority of macroeconomic variables, which illustrate the overall efficiency of the economic system (GDP per capita, ratio of foreign trade goods balance to GDP, CPI, and money supply), demonstrate a positive relationship with corporate liquidity; only the consumption-to-GDP ratio exhibits a negative relationship; (2) a positive relationship was observed between the number of building permits for housing and financial liquidity; (3) variables from the informal institutional environment indicate a positive relationship for the employment rate and a negative relationship for the share of the pre-working age population in the overall population; (4) the relationship between the ratio of internal expenditures on research and development to GDP and corporate liquidity is positive. This study addresses limitations of previous research by examining the impact of macroeconomic factors, particularly those from the institutional and technical environment, on corporate financial liquidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy policy affects the functioning of the economic and financial systems of countries worldwide. This paper provides a theoretical overview of the economy–energy nexus and discusses the particular cases of the energy policy dynamics amid the sustainability goals. This paper integrates multiple perspectives on the energy–economy nexus, with a particular focus on the energy trilemma, 4As of energy security and PESTEL approach. This allows the development of a comprehensive framework for the analysis of energy security and the sustainability interaction. A review of manifestations of the different dimensions of energy security and sustainability is carried out to identify the most topical facets of the issue. Then, the cases of the selected European Union countries (Ireland, Greece, Denmark and Lithuania) are presented to highlight the effects and features of the recent energy policy changes there. Indeed, these countries apply a PSO levy mechanism on electricity tariffs and are diverse in their geopolitical situation, economic development, geographical situation and energy dependency level. The analysis of the situations of such different countries applying the PSO levy mechanism makes it possible to perform a broader and more in-depth assessment and comparison of electricity tariff regulations. Thus, the developed theoretical model is applied to identify the major outcomes of the energy policy regimes (with a focus on tariff regulation) in the selected countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic system has experienced heavy consequences caused by the recent pandemic. This paper investigates the interaction between the crisis and organization reaction, focusing on the female managerial role and contribution to overcoming the crisis in male-owned and managed companies. To achieve the research objectives, we used a qualitative research method based on an explorative case study. The results show that female managerial skills have fostered organizational resilience in terms of: (i) the attitude to change; (ii) the ability to promote new initiatives; and (iii) the ability to have initiated, consolidated, and managed solid formal relationships with institutional stakeholders. Our results also highlight the decisive contribution of corporate governance (even if male-oriented) in favoring the growth and autonomy of women in positions of responsibility. This contribution is evidenced by (iv) increasing delegation of roles and responsibilities in managing relationships with institutional stakeholders to women managers; and (v) recognizing women managers' talents in terms of career progression. The originality of this work is represented by the survey that aims to determine how the female management of businesses managed and owned by men can foster the resilience of companies. On the other hand, this paper investigates how female leadership drives organizational resilience during unexpected shocks, opening an interdisciplinary viewpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]