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The Internet of Things has received enormous attention. Despite the lucrative potential, this study tries to look beyond the hype to understand how IoT impacts firm performance. Based on the information processing theory, we intend to explore how IoT influences the financial performance of firms. Firms, which realise the urgent need to adopt IoT might encounter a diverse set of challenges, like whether adoption will be profitable, the level of commitment they should devote, and whether to adopt as a first or second-mover. We want to comprehend such adoption challenges on the Indian manufacturing firm's financial performance. This study uses panel data from BSE 500 listed manufacturing firms and conducts multivariate analysis to understand the relationship between the IoT implementation proxies: IoT adoption, first-mover advantage, and firm performance in the light of IoT commitment and experts. The result indicates that IoT implementation has an insignificant effect on manufacturing firm performance. Meanwhile, the consideration of IoT commitment and experts jointly can enable a manufacturing firm to reap significantly positive financial outcomes. In other words, the IoT commitment and expertise positively moderate the relationship. The finding is useful to the decision-makers to address the firm-level adjustment before the mere introduction of IoT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the association between earmarking bequeathable assets and retirement satisfaction. Utilizing longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study, the authors examine the retirement satisfaction of retirees who have intentionally earmarked their bequeathable assets compared to retirees who have not. The findings suggest that earmarking bequeathable assets is associated positively with higher levels of retirement satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted political advertising (TPA) on social media builds on tailoring messages to (groups of) individuals' characteristics based on user data. Questions have been raised about the impact of TPA on recipients and society. In this study, we focus on the fit of TPA, that is, the congruence between TPA and recipients' preferences, and draw on congruity theories, social identity theory (SIT), and persuasion knowledge. In a two-wave panel study (N = 428) during a Viennese state election, we investigated the relationships between individuals' perceived fit and misfit of TPA on perceptions about the manipulative intent as well as the benefits and harms for democracy. The findings showed that perceived fit of TPA at Time 1 decreased perceived manipulative intent and increased perceived benefits of TPA at Time 2. The perceived misfit of TPA at Time 1 did not influence individuals' perceptions at Time 2, and perceptions about the harms of TPA to democracy stayed stable. Findings imply that political campaigners might benefit from targeting but raise questions about individuals' defense mechanisms against the persuasive technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online crowdfunding has become an important fundraising channel for medical care. Yet, individuals in need face numerous challenges in meeting their fundraising goals. To improve fundraising, individuals may use project updates to evoke donors' sympathy and secure donations. Informed by the sympathy bias literature, this paper conceptualizes two important but distinct aspects of project updates—positive sentiment and negative sentiment—and hypothesizes their individual and relative impacts on the donation amount of a crowdfunding project. In addition, this paper explores moderating effects of social endorsements on the influence of update sentiment. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two studies. Study 1 examined unique project-day panel data from 1,467 projects on a leading medical crowdfunding platform. Results reveal that both positive and negative update sentiment positively affect the donation amount of a crowdfunding project, but negative updates have a greater effect. Further, endorsements by strong ties and weak ties attenuate the positive effects of update sentiment. Study 2 was a controlled, randomized experiment that corroborated findings from Study 1, established the causality of observed effects, and confirmed the mediating effects of sympathy. The findings of this paper underscore the role of sympathy in enhancing online charitable crowdfunding to individual donors and show project updates with positive or negative sentiment to be potent mechanisms to boost donations. Furthermore, the substitution effect of social endorsement on donation amount also adds nuance to our knowledge suggesting that a proper combination of various information can better help improve crowdfunding performance. Platform operators and fundraisers should prioritize project update sentiment to enhance online charitable crowdfunding success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether capital account liberalization, a leading characteristic of globalization, is associated with firms' future innovation output. Employing a novel firm-level panel data set covering 41 countries over two decades, we show that capital account liberalization is significantly associated with higher corporate patenting activities, particularly for firms from innovation-intensive industries. Further analyses show that the effect is stronger among firms from economies in a better legal environment, signifying the important role of good institutional quality in facilitating the positive impact of liberalization. The effect is also stronger among firms with higher initial productivity, consistent with the "productivity" hypothesis, according to which bigger and more productive firms generate more innovation after liberalization. Our findings are robust to the use of various measurements, subsamples, and estimation models. This study provides global firm-level evidence of the real economic impact of financial globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: To explore how activity behaviors before/during pregnancy relate to those in later parenthood, we assessed associations between sitting and moderate-/strenuous exercise before/during pregnancy, and sedentary time (SED) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) 4–7 years postpartum ("later parenthood"). Methods: Longitudinal data were from the Southampton Women's Survey, United Kingdom. Women reported time spent sitting (in hours per day), in moderate-strenuous exercise (hours per week), and in strenuous exercise (hours per week) at 3 time points before/during pregnancy (ie, preconception, at ∼12-wk and ∼34-wk gestation). From this, we derived 3 behavior trajectories for each woman. In later parenthood, women wore an accelerometer for ≤7 days (mean: 5.4 [SD: 1.8] d), which we used to derive 2 outcomes: minutes per day SED and in MVPA. Multilevel linear regression was used to explore associations between trajectories before/during pregnancy and device-measured SED/MVPA in later parenthood. Results: A total of 780 women provided valid data before/during pregnancy and in later parenthood. Consistent high sitters (vs low) were more sedentary 4–7 years postpartum (β = 39.5 min/d [95% confidence interval, 23.26 to 55.82]), as were women in groups who sat more in later pregnancy. Consistently high moderate/-strenuous exercisers (vs low) were 22% (95% confidence interval, 2%–47%) more active in later parenthood; those engaging in strenuous activity preconception tended to have higher MVPA as parents. Conclusions: Trajectories of sitting and exercise before/during pregnancy are associated with SED and MVPA, respectively, in later parenthood. Interventions to reduce sitting in pregnancy and to encourage higher intensity activity preconception may benefit maternal and child health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to explore the relationship between the changes in parent-related factors and preschoolers exceeding screen time (ST) recommendations. Methods: A longitudinal analysis using 2-year follow-up data from 4 kindergartens (n = 409) was conducted in Zhejiang, China, from 2019 to 2021. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to determine the potential parental modifiable predictors. Results: The significant associations of baseline ST, change in screen accessibility, and the interaction of preschooler ST with maternal ST change with preschooler follow-up ST were observed. For preschool-aged children with baseline ST ≤ 1 hour per day, the follow-up of preschoolers with ST > 1 hour per day increased significantly when parental clarity of their ST rules decreased or remained low. For preschool children with baseline ST > 1 hour per day, follow-up ST increased significantly when their father kept ST >2 hours per day, when the screen accessibility became or remained easy, or when parental awareness of the ST decreased. Conclusions: Changes in parental correlates played an important role in preschooler ST based on 2-year longitudinal data. Early interventions should focus on improving the clarity of parental rules and perceptions, as well as on reducing parental ST and accessibility of home screens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established in the literature that a firm's innovation can promote its exports through demand-pull and/or regulatory channels. However, there is a lack of knowledge on whether green innovation strategies affect a firm's international expansion. In this study, we depart from the existing literature by considering the introduction of environmental innovation as an antecedent factor that creates incentives for a firm to enter new markets and to be persistent in export activities. In particular, we investigate whether strategies aimed at reducing energy or water consumption and taking care of the environment have an impact on the probability of being an exporter and on the probability of continuing to export. The results, for a panel data of Spanish firms, confirm the existence of a premium on the probability of entering and remaining in international markets. Commitment to green innovation strategies, such as reductions in energy and water consumption or the minimization of environmental impact, generates a premium for companies that internalize their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the herding behavior that characterizes lenders' lending decisions on a microloan platform and explains how rational herding behavior can resolve the information-asymmetry problem, which is a well-known reason for the failure of online microloan platforms. Using a set of panel data on individual lending decisions acquired from Paipaidai.com (PPDai), an online microloan platform, we examine the influence of the lending decisions of prominent, experienced lenders on novice lenders to identify rational herding behavior. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that rational herding behavior can in fact efficiently reduce lender loss from borrower defaults caused by limited information. Although it is typically assumed that herding behavior is irrational, we find that it can be rational in this context and can thus shed light on why PPDai has succeeded while most other microloan platforms have failed. Accordingly, we make three key contributions: 1) we use heterogeneous herding effects to empirically determine whether lenders' herding behavior on PPDai is rational based on observational learning; 2) we investigate the moderating effect of borrower credit and novice-lender experience on herding, and we leverage this heterogeneity in lender experience to better explain loan results; and 3) because PPDai publicly provides potential lenders with a transparent credit score—in contrast to platforms like Prosper.com, which leverage hidden proprietary credit information from Experian—we further analyze the credit composition of prominent lenders to better understand the crucial determinants of rational herding. In fact, our follow-up survival simulations indicate that without rational herding, the total number of successful PPDai loans would have decreased by around 46 percent during the study period—a finding that further underlines the crucial influence of rational herding and the unique contextual factors of PPDai that have fostered it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how hospital cost efficiency can improve because of knowledge spillover effects, arising from the experiences of members of a healthcare system. We identify two types of functional technology networks—that we term repository-type and workflow-type networks—which are defined by the adoption patterns of different types of electronic health record (EHR) systems application functions by hospitals in a health system. Additionally, we examine how structural features of these two network types—namely, network centrality and interconnectedness—impact such knowledge spillover effects. By analyzing seven years of panel data for 1,420 U.S. hospitals across 216 health systems, and data obtained from surveys of healthcare experts, we found that greater centrality of nodes in repository-type networks enhances the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency but has the opposite effect in workflow-type networks, while greater interconnectedness of workflow-type networks enhances the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency. Interestingly, we found the opposite effect in repository-type networks, where greater interconnectedness diminishes the influence of partners' experiences on cost efficiency. We discuss reasons for this surprising and counterintuitive finding. Overall, our results demonstrate that at least in healthcare settings where information technologies enable knowledge-sharing networks to be formed, benefits can accrue through knowledge spillover effects; moreover, variations across functional categories of technologies adopted in a network context can result in different technology-network structures with differential impacts on hospital cost efficiency because of their influence on knowledge spillover at both the hospital and system levels. Not only can these results explain mixed findings in the literature that has been dominated by a focus on cost efficiency outcomes dependent solely on the EHR adoption choices of individual hospitals, but they also provide the basis for guidelines for a network-based perspective of technology adoption. We discuss other possible settings to which our empirical findings can be reasonably generalized, including supply chain technologies and the Internet of Things. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the rapid integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy, exploring the effects of intelligent transformation on the quality of green innovation in enterprises is of great practical significance. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the impact mechanism of intelligent transformation on the green innovation quality of enterprises based on panel data of listed enterprises in China from 2007–2019. We found that intelligent transformation promotes the improvement of corporate green innovation quality, and the results were robust. Furthermore, intelligent transformation improves the green innovation quality of enterprises through the mediating effects of human capital, research and development expenditure, information sharing effect and factor allocation efficiency. The development of the Internet, the implementation of the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone and the Broadband China strategy have all strengthened the green innovation quality improvement effect of intelligent transformation. The green innovation quality enhancement effect of intelligent transformation is heterogenous with regard to region, industry factor intensity, industry pollution level and enterprise ownership. Finally, this study provides important policy implications based on its empirical results. Future research should develop more suitable and comprehensive indicators, and focus on the latest data acquisition status to ensure timeliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since workforces are aging worldwide, scientists and practitioners aim at understanding the potential contribution of (bundles of) HR practices in increasing commitment among aging workers. In this time-lagged survey study, we distinguished four HR bundles for aging workers (Kooij et al., 2014a; Van Dalen et al., 2015): development, maintenance, utilization, and accommodative HR practices. We investigated the influence of the availability and use of these HR bundles on commitment over time and the role of age in this relationship. Based on two-wave complete panel data (N = 489) collected among employees in a Dutch university, we found that perceived availability of maintenance HR practices was positively associated with commitment over time. Further, based on the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation model (Baltes & Baltes, 1990), we expected and found that the relationship of the perceived availability and the perceived usage of utilization HR practices with commitment strengthens with age. These results highlight the importance of different bundles of HR practices for increasing commitment over time among aging workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does artificial intelligence affect provincial ecological resilience? This study incorporates artificial intelligence, provincial ecological resilience, government environmental attention and public environmental concern into a framework to construct a research model, and selects the panel data of 30 provinces in the Chinese mainland from 2012 to 2021. The multiple regression analysis method is used to empirically analyse the impact of artificial intelligence on provincial ecological resilience, and the moderating roles played by government environmental attention and public environmental concern. The study finds that there is a positive impact of artificial intelligence on provincial ecological resilience, which is confirmed by various robustness tests. Meanwhile, there is a significant promotion role of artificial intelligence for provincial ecological resilience in eastern region, while the promotion role for provincial ecological resilience in non-eastern region is not significant. Government environmental attention and public environmental concern play moderating roles in the impact of artificial intelligence on provincial ecological resilience. Recognizing these findings, policymakers can design targeted support plans to promote the development of artificial intelligence as well as facilitate the roles of government environmental attention and public environmental concern to achieve the enhancement of provincial ecological resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the nexus between livelihood goals (LGs) and livelihood strategy (LS) selection preferences. We construct a measurement of three livelihood goals (survival, security, and self-respect goals) by combining qualitative and quantitative analysis and classify livelihood strategies into three groups (agricultural, non-agricultural, and diversification) based on household income sources. The multinomial logit model with fixed effects empirically estimates the relationship between livelihood goal indices and livelihood strategy selection with panel data (2010–2018) from the China Family Panel Studies surveys (CFPS). The results show that households with survival goals are more likely to choose the agricultural and diversification strategies and less likely to select the non-agricultural strategy. Households with security and self-respect goals are more likely to choose the non-agricultural strategy and are less likely to select the agricultural strategy. Families with a higher self-respect goal level are more flexible in livelihood strategy selection. The livelihood strategy selection preference is consistent in different regions of rural China when households pursue survival and security maximization. From the low-level survival goal to the high-level self-respect goal, consistent with a gradual transition from a low-income agricultural strategy to the high-income non-agricultural strategy; the diversification strategy is the transformed livelihood strategy in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the impact of regional digital economy development on firms’ Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP), aiming to understand its role in enhancing green governance efficiency. Using panel data from Chinese listed firms and cities from 2011 to 2019, we empirically analyse the impact. Our findings reveal that regional digital economy development significantly improves firm GTFP by enhancing technical efficiency, fostering ICT agglomeration, and advancing industrial structure. Additionally, the impact varies based on city traits (e.g. fossil-fuel reliance, low-carbon focus, and Yangtze River Economic Belt location) and firm specifics (e.g. state-owned enterprises and financially constrained firms), as well as market competition. These results highlight the importance of tailored strategies to leverage digitalisation for firm-level green transition, and infer promoting the digital economy, fostering ICT agglomeration, and developing region-specific strategies considering diverse contexts (i.e. city traits, firm specifics and market) to enhance firm GTFP and support sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does increased representation of Black individuals in the police force lead to less aggressive policing of Black individuals? The current study uses a Chicago panel data set with monthly police unit observations between 2013 and 2015 to understand 1) how police units’ representation of Black individuals affects the number of stops of Black residents and 2) how individual police officers patrol differently depending on the racial/ethnic background of co‐working officers. Using fixed‐effects negative binomial regression, we found that increasing racial congruence between police officers and the community being patrolled was associated over time with fewer stops of Black residents. Individual analyses showed that Black (vs. White) officers stopped fewer Black civilians, with larger effects in police units with higher percentages of Black officers, indicating a unit group effect. Furthermore, as the number of Black officer co‐workers in a shift increased, Black civilian stops declined for all officers, including White officers, which is consistent with active representation. These findings indicate that a more diverse and representative police force can reduce aggressive policing of minority communities by mitigating group threat and cultivating positive cross‐racial exchanges within police organizations and smaller peer groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asian universities play a crucial role in driving economic development through research and innovation. However, these institutions often face challenges that hinder their productivity in these areas. To address these challenges, this study aims to understand and examine the factors enhancing research and innovation productivity in universities across South Asian countries, specifically Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Using panel data from 2009 to 2021, the study employs the newly developed dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) approach by Chudik and Pesaran (2015a). The results revealed that the factors found to be enriching research productivity, though the impact is negligible, are patent rights, funding for tertiary education, information technology, and publications. However, tertiary school enrollment is not a significant factor. On the other hand, for innovation productivity, the influencing factors with a negligible impact are patent rights, funding for tertiary education, and information technology. In this case, neither tertiary school enrollment nor publications play a significant role. Furthermore, the research productivity of the universities in South Asian countries is negligibly stimulating the countries' GDP per capita, while the innovation productivity of the universities is not. Moreover, examining these relations using models such as mean group (MG), pooled mean group (PMG), and augmented mean group (AMG) can produce misleading results due to cross-sectional dependence among the units. Nonetheless, PMG outperformed AMG, followed by MG. Policy recommendations were suggested based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the causal relationship between physical exercise and emotional states among university students, focusing on the mediating role of sense of coherence. Method: A total of 1,215 university students (aged 18-25 years) were recruited and completed questionnaires assessing physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form), emotional states (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule), and sense of coherence (Sense of Coherence Scale-13) at three time points over a three-month period. Preliminary analyses included independent samples t-tests, chi-square tests, and Pearson correlations. Cross-lagged panel mediation analysis was conducted using Mplus 8.3, with bootstrapping employed to test indirect effects. Results: Results indicated that sense of coherence significantly predicted positive affect (β = 0.259-0.369, p < 0.001). Positive affect, in turn, predicted physical exercise (β = 0.083-0.182, p < 0.05), while negative affect also influenced physical exercise (β = -0.096-0.203, p < 0.05). Physical exercise indirectly influenced positive affect through sense of coherence (β = 0.037, p = 0.045), and positive affect indirectly influenced physical exercise through sense of coherence (β = 0.029, p = 0.028). Other indirect effects involving physical exercise, sense of coherence, and negative affect were non-significant. Conclusion: This study underscores the importance of sense of coherence in promoting emotional well-being among university students and in the reciprocal relationship between physical exercise and positive emotional states. Findings suggest that interventions targeting sense of coherence may enhance the emotional benefits of physical exercise. Future research should explore other potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between physical exercise and emotions and examine the effectiveness of sense of coherence-based interventions on well-being in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural modernization can only be attained through the high-quality development of agriculture, which is made possible by the deep integration of the digital economy with traditional agriculture. From the perspective of the entire agricultural industry chain, this paper offers a theoretical and empirical examination of the digital economy's role in enabling high-quality agricultural development. The fixed effects model, convergence test, threshold model, and spatial error model were implemented based on the panel data of 13 cities in Jiangsu Province from 2013 to 2021 to validate the role of the digital economy in enabling high-quality agricultural development. The findings indicated that first, for every 1% increased in the level of digital economy development, the level of high-quality agricultural development increased by approximately 0.183%. Second, the high-quality development of agriculture had the characteristics of absolute convergence and conditional convergence, and there was a non-linear character in the role of the digital economy in the high-quality agricultural development. Third, for every 1% increase in the development level of digital inclusive finance, the level of high-quality agricultural development in surrounding areas with similar economic levels will be improved by about 0.188%.In this regard, Jiangsu Province should grasp the opportunity of the era of digital economic development, continue to strengthen the construction of digital economic development in backward areas, and attach great importance to inter-regional exchanges and cooperation in the construction of digital agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relationship between national growth models and voters’ economic preferences. We theorise that centre-left voters are cross-pressured between a demand for higher wages and concerns about competitiveness, but the impact varies by growth model: the more a country is export-led, the more the competitiveness motive is internalised, moderating worker demands for wage increases. As a result, we expect a convergence in preferences between centre-left and centre-right voters as the reliance on export-led growth increases. We corroborate these claims through three sets of empirical analyses: a cross-sectional analysis of individual wage dissatisfaction in nineteen Western countries, a panel analysis of wage dissatisfaction in a typical export-led (Germany) and a typical consumption-led economy (UK), and an analysis of preferences for export-led growth in these two countries. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on the politics of growth models and the waning of economic conflict in advanced capitalist democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nexus between shadow economy and income inequality in the West African region. The study applies second-generation panel estimation techniques to analyze the effect and the direction of causation between the variables. The results reveal that the shadow economy reduces income inequality in the region in both short-run and long-run estimations. A similar result is documented when alternative estimation techniques are employed. In addition, the panel causality results show a bidirectional relationship between shadow economy and income inequality in the West African economy. The implications of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how urban road transport (URT) development affects haze pollution. One of the innovations of this paper is that URT development is measured by road accessibility with novel digital elevation model datasets, which have been used by few scholars. The endogenous problem caused by revere causality issue in the relationship between URT development and haze pollution is also considered. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses long-lagged values of URT development as the instrumental variable, employing the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The study shows that URT development leads to an increase of haze pollution. Moreover, mechanism tests based on moderating and mediating models support the finding that decreasing haze pollution resulted from better connection effects, while rising agglomeration effects tend to bring about increasing haze pollution, and the latter effect is larger in magnitude than the former. Current URT development may have long-term negative consequences for livability of YRD cities, and urban decision makers should reconsider the effectiveness of the current road transport investment and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 276 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this study explores the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on carbon emissions and the intrinsic mechanism of green technological innovation from a spatial perspective by constructing a spatial econometric model, a mediating effect model, and a threshold model. The results show that DIF significantly inhibits carbon emissions, exhibiting a spatial spillover effect. The transmission mechanism from a spatial perspective shows that green technological innovation plays a partial mediating role between DIF and carbon emissions, with the mediating effect accounting for approximately 59.47%. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of DIF on the reduction of carbon emissions is more pronounced in large and medium-sized cities and eastern regions. Further discussion reveals that the carbon reduction effect of DIF is also influenced by green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, showing threshold effects with marginal decreases and gradual increases, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the effects of digital literacy on life satisfaction in older adults aged 65 years and above in modern day Korea. It utilized raw data from the 2019–2022 Report on the Digital Divide, an annual survey conducted by the Korean Ministry of Science and Information and Communications Technology. A total of 4,216 participants were assessed from 2019–2022. Correlation between digital literacy and life satisfaction was analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis and polynomial linear regression analysis. Life satisfaction was significantly positively correlated with digital access, digital competency, and digital utilization in all the years. In 2019, participants' life satisfaction score rose significantly by 0.15 with every one-point increase in digital competency. It further rose by 0.035 in 2020, 0.030 in 2021, and 0.116 in 2022. Digital literacy was consistently positively correlated with life satisfaction in each year from 2019–2022. Of the three main elements, digital competency had the strongest impact and digital information, income, and education level also significantly impacted life satisfaction. While digital competency improved steadily from 2019 to 2022, it remains below 50% for Korea's older adult population. Further efforts are required to improve digital competency and subsequent life satisfaction among Korea's older adult population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvement of water and sanitation conditions may reduce infant mortality, particularly in countries like India where open defecation is highly prevalent. We conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the association between the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)—a national sanitation program initiated in 2014—and infant (IMR) and under five mortality rates (U5MR) in India. We analyzed data from thirty-five Indian states and 640 districts spanning 10 years (2011–2020), with IMR and U5MR per thousand live births as the outcomes. Our main exposure was the district-level annual percentage of households that received a constructed toilet under SBM. We mapped changes in IMR and U5MR and toilet access at the district level over time. We fit two-way fixed effects regression models controlling for sociodemographic, wealth, and healthcare-related confounders at the district-level to estimate the association between toilets constructed and child mortality. Toilet access and child mortality have a historically robust inverse association in India. Toilets constructed increased dramatically across India following the implementation of SBM in 2014. Results from panel data regression models show that districts with > 30% toilets constructed under SBM corresponds with 5.3 lower IMR (p < 0.05), and 6.8 lower U5MR (p < 0.05). Placebo, falsification tests and robustness checks support our main findings. The post-SBM period in India exhibited accelerated reductions in infant and child mortality compared to the pre-SBM years. Based on our regression estimates, the provision of toilets at-scale may have contributed to averting approximately 60,000–70,000 infant deaths annually. Our findings show that the implementation of transformative sanitation programs can deliver population health benefits in low- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In times of crisis, citizens tend to increase their approval of the government and its leader which can shift the balance of power. This ‘rally effect’ is a persistent empirical regularity; however, the literature is still undecided on its underlying causal mechanisms. We argue that crises induce threat and anxiety and hypothesize that perceived threat increases approval of the incumbent leader, whereas anxiety decreases it. By analysing German panel data from the COVID‐19 pandemic, we causally identify both mechanisms and provide systematic evidence supporting this theory. Moreover, we increase the scope of our theory and show that both mechanisms are also at work when citizens approve cabinet members who manage key portfolios. Our findings have highly important implications for our understanding of the rally effect and crises politics in democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed purchasing enables farmers to respond to adverse events that may cause chronic and temporary seed insecurity by allowing them to exploit opportunities associated with accessing new seeds. However, as with other inputs, seed purchasing is complicated by pervasive market imperfections and climate risk common in Sub-Sahara Africa. This study uses balanced household panel data for Malawi (2010–2018) and Ethiopia (2012–2016) and applies dynamic random effects Probit and Tobit models to assess how seed purchase decisions are affected by earlier participation in the market, lagged rainfall shocks, and historical climate variables. Our findings show that there are nonlinear effects of lagged seed purchase decisions on subsequent decisions with strong initial effects (weakening over time). For instance, initial maize seed purchase decisions are associated with about 11 and 22% higher probability of purchase and 1 and 2% higher shares of seed volumes purchased in later rounds in Malawi and Ethiopia, respectively. Seed purchase decisions also respond to climate variability and shocks. For instance, lagged drought shocks enhance subsequent maize purchase decisions in both countries. Historical average rainfall and temperature enhance maize seed purchase decisions in both countries. Overall, results point to state dependency on the demand side of the seed market, leading to selective access to purchased seeds. Also, seed purchase in smallholder farming is a liquidity and risk-dependent input choice. Policy efforts need to continue targeting reducing transaction costs and other barriers to entry into seed markets to enhance access to off-farm seed and support adaptation to rainfall shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data from 2011 to 2021 encompassing 390 listed enterprises in China, we investigate the potential influence of media coverage on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance of heavy-polluting enterprises. The study discerns that positive media coverage significantly contributes to an enhanced ESG performance among heavy-polluting enterprises, particularly those in eastern and western China and those entrenched within highly competitive industries. Positive media coverage predominantly amplifies these enterprises' environmental and social performance dimensions, while intriguingly, negative media coverage unexpectedly positively impacts their environmental performance. Green total factor productivity and green innovation emerge as crucial facilitators in bolstering the relationship between positive media coverage and the ESG performance of these enterprises. Our research findings provide valuable insights into understanding enterprise ESG behavior and the role of media coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research objective of the present study is to contrast two crises of different nature, the subprime crisis of 2008, and the health crisis of 2020, and its consequences on employment in twenty-four economies in Latin America and the Caribbean. The methodological design is based on a data panel with fixed effects considering the period from 2005 to 2021. Data is extracted from the World Bank. The explanatory variables are GDP, inflation, foreign direct investment, and the coverage of work and social protection programs. After realizing the tests of Breusch Pagan, Hausman, Wooldridge and Wald, an econometric model of Panel Corrected Standard Errors with fixed effects and dichotomous variables is implemented, to describe the effect of time. It was found that both periods, 2008 and 2020, were significant. Moreover, a greater impact on the increase in unemployment because of the health crisis 2020 is confirmed due to the decrease in production and the precariousness of the labour market in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Alcohol remains a significant contributor to mortality and morbidity in Finland and the Baltic countries, particularly among men. This study aimed to assess alcohol policy restrictiveness in this region from 1995 to 2019 using a modified version of the Bridging the Gap (BtG‐M) policy scale and examine its association with alcohol‐related disease burden. Methods: The study utilised national laws to score policy restrictiveness (higher BtG‐M scores mean stricter policies) and age‐standardised rates of disability‐adjusted life years (DALY), years of life lost, years lived with disability and deaths per 100,000 from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD). Spearman correlation tests and panel data regression models were applied to assess the association between policy score and burden of disease. Results: Finland maintained a high BtG‐M score, while the Baltic countries experienced recent increases from initially lower scores. Alcohol‐related disease burden showed an inverse association with policy changes in these countries. Strongest association was seen between the BtG‐M score and DALY rates attributed to injuries. Premature mortality among men constituted the largest proportion of disease burden. Discussion and Conclusions: Despite challenges in accessing and comparing policy data over time, we showed a strong association between alcohol policy and alcohol‐related harm in Finland and the Baltic countries. This study is one of the first to use the BtG‐M scale to monitor changes in alcohol policies over time and their relationship to alcohol‐related harm using GBD methodology. The study highlights the effects of national alcohol policies on levels of alcohol‐related harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2020, police activities decreased substantially across large U.S. cities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd by a police officer. Less well understood are when and where the de-policing phenomenon took place. Using NYC panel data from 2017 to 2022 at the census tract level, the study found significant declines in proactive policing, immediately subsequent to the stay-at-home order and/or death of George Floyd. However, all police activities began increasing during the summer of 2020 and ultimately returned to the pre-intervention level and afterwards above it in early 2022. In addition, there is evidence that both the pandemic and BLM protests interact with neighborhood factors in affecting police activities, but not in the same direction. The results are robust across a range of model specifications. Finally, research and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fixed effects regression has become an important method for estimating causal effects from panel data. Drawing on a sample of 282 companies in heavily-polluting industries in China from 2018 to 2021, this study utilized the linear fixed effects regression method to empirically examine the relationship between ESG and financial performance. Specifically, the study employed variable replacement and IV-GMM approaches to conduct robustness tests. The empirical results reveal a significant positive correlation between ESG composite scores and financial performance. Among the dimensions (E, S, G), the E dimension shows a significant positive correlation, while the S and G dimensions lack a significant correlation. Notably, the E dimension most prominently promotes financial performance. In China, the impact is significant in the East but not in the Central or Western regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The speed of urbanization in China has been unprecedented, and its driving force has been given much attention in the field. Previous literature analyzes the driving factors of China's urbanization from various aspects, including the economy, population, transportation, housing, and other market factors. However, this study explored the influence of power factors on urbanization from a new perspective of city leaders. Based on the panel data from 285 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2017, a fixed effects model was used to analyze the influence of city leaders' power hierarchy and promotion pressure on the speed of land and population urbanization. The main conclusions are as follows: First, the power hierarchy of party secretaries has a significant positive impact on land urbanization speed. Party secretaries with a higher position hierarchy can promote land urbanization speed. Second, the promotion pressure of party secretaries exerts a significant impact on land urbanization speed. An inverted "U" relationship has been observed between the age of party secretaries and the speed of land urbanization. The speed reaches its maximum when party secretaries are approximately 56 years old. Furthermore, party secretaries' tenure has a positive and significant impact on land urbanization speed. Third, the power hierarchy and promotion pressure of party secretaries have no significant impact on the population's urbanization speed. In addition, this research finds that land finance acts as a mediating factor in the influence of party secretaries' power hierarchy and promotion pressure on land urbanization speed. The conclusions can provide suggestions for improving official evaluation mechanisms and expanding financing for urban construction to promote the development of new human-centered urbanization in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of transportation infrastructure upgrading, this paper discussed the motivation behind industrial firms' pollution transfer to provincial borders. Using a panel data set of 41 cities in China's Yangtze River Delta from 2005 to 2020, this paper empirically tested the impact of intracity and intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading on pollution transfer through a two-way fixed-effects model. The results revealed the following: First, intracity transportation infrastructure upgrading forces local industrial firms to transfer pollution outward. Second, intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading accelerates pollution transfer to provincial borders. Third, in the central region, intracity transportation infrastructure upgrading does not significantly impact local pollution transfer. Intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading can aggravate border pollution, whether in the eastern or central regions. Furthermore, border pollution is more serious in the central region. The results have important practical significance for improving China's regional development planning and environmental governance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When people marry or have their first baby, their life satisfaction spikes but fades soon thereafter. Similarly, when people separate from a partner or become widowed, their satisfaction decreases but largely recovers within a few years. I analyse to what degree people who experience these life events expect that their current shift towards joy or misery is temporary vs. long-lasting. Data are from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and are analysed with a novel estimation strategy that uses month-specific information on the timing of interviews and life events. I compare trajectories of people's current life satisfaction and anticipated life satisfaction, i.e. the level of satisfaction they expect to have five years into the future. Results show that people expect some of these life events' joy or misery to stay, but the majority to fade. These findings reveal that, to a substantial degree, people are able to see their situation from a distance and separate their current feelings from their long-term life prospects. This may contribute to people's overall well-being and sustainable life strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In examining public evaluations of governing institutions, are job approval and legitimacy related? This question has dominated scholarship on Supreme Court legitimacy for decades. Conventional wisdom suggests that specific support (e.g., job approval) and diffuse support (e.g., legitimacy) are independent. Specific support captures short-term orientations based on policy alignment with the Court. Legitimacy is a long-term perspective reflecting more fundamental support for the Court as a governing institution. We challenge the paradigm that job approval and legitimacy are largely unrelated concepts. Specifically, we employ a variety of statistical techniques and panel data to show that changes in legitimacy are a direct effect of changes in public approval. Salient decisions and Court vacancies directly shape approval and indirectly shape legitimacy through their effects on approval. Longitudinal analysis confirms that changes in job approval precede and predict changes in legitimacy. These results suggest that the Court needs public approval, and its public approval is rooted in outcome-oriented perceptions of its decisions and membership. Further, sustained low levels of approval will eventually erode legitimacy and limit the Court's influence over policy. Thus, like the outwardly political executive and legislative branches, it is important for the Court to build political capital through job approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schwartz's theory of basic human values is the dominant framework for assessing values. One of its strengths is that it allows for different levels of analysis. The 10 basic values can be reliably assigned to four higher-order dimensions: Openness to Change, Conservation, Self-Transcendence, and Self-Enhancement. In this paper, we examined the psychometric properties of the Higher-Order-Value Scale-17 (HOVS17), an inventory that economically assesses these higher-order values. We analyzed data from the GESIS Panel, an ongoing large-scale probability-based panel study that fields HOVS17 annually since 2013 and for which HOVS17 was originally developed. We found HOVS17 to have satisfactory psychometric properties. The 17 items were located in the two-dimensional multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) space as hypothesized. All four subscales were unidimensional, showed good fit when modeled as reflective latent variables, and had acceptable reliabilities as well as one-year test–retest stabilities (.65 to.69). The subscales correlated in theoretically plausible ways with a wide range of correlates and criteria, such as personality traits and well-being. This demonstrates that HOVS17 provides a sound basis for studying the development, precursors, and consequences of the higher-order values in the GESIS Panel and in future surveys that adopt HOVS17. We also discuss suggestions for further improvements of the inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the macroeconomic and social determinants of voting behavior, and especially of political polarization – defined here as the increasing electoral success of far-right and far-left parties – in 20 advanced countries using annual data from 1970 to 2016 and covering 291 parliamentary elections. Our analysis indicates that the link between income inequality and political polarization appears to have significantly changed over the last 20 years. Indeed, we find that both average net income inequality, as well as the bottom 10% income share are statistically linked to the recent success of far-right parties (but not of far-left parties), while the top 10% or top 20% income shares are not. The link of income inequality and political polarization, and in particular the increasing success of far-right parties, thus seems to be based on the deterioration of the relative economic position especially of the poorest fraction of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We find that financial development reduces growth variability across various horizons, with some signs of heterogeneity and nonlinearity. • Since Burns (1960) many authors drew attention to a trend that macroeconomic volatility has been declining at least from the WW2 and mid-eighties both in US and other countries. • Like some authors, we found evidence of a non-linear relationship (decreasing marginal effect) , although not in every specification and horizon. • Fluctuations in world economic growth have been the most consistent factor amplifying growth fluctuations in individual countries, while institutional development has had a significant dampening effect. • Although there is no single identifiable date for any individual or collective moderation, data from our sample suggest that both average volatility in each period and volatility in most individual economies have been decreasing for at least 40 years. • Estimates of the main equation using five-year data with various specifications show that financial development is significantly associated with decreasing volatility at the relevant p values (Table 3, regression 1 (R1) to regression 8 (R8). • From this level, the financial development index begins to increase growth volatility instead of decreasing it. • On the contrary, the relationship is stronger with a larger coefficient and linearity in reducing volatility. • We find that there is a strong theoretical literature that suggests alternative causes and channels to explain how financial development can help reduce volatility. • As expected from nonlinearity, marginal effects were stronger when we excluded high-income (eurozone) economies. Growth is liked, but volatility is not. Volatility implies uncertainty, as up and down are often large unpredictable fluctuations. In fact, according to the financial literature, people pay a price to reduce it. Some studies found a trend that macroeconomic volatility has been changing and proposed some structural changes that are responsible for its decline. Many studies have found that financial development helps growth. And relatively few studies have shown that financial development also explains structurally varying macroeconomic volatility. In this panel study, we investigated the relationship between financial development and growth volatility using the Financial Development Index with recent data from eighty-six countries. We also looked at its relationship with consumption and investment fluctuations using its sub-indices. The index is the result of many dimensions of financial development such as access and efficiency, not just the size of credit. We find that financial development reduces growth variability across various horizons, with some signs of heterogeneity and nonlinearity. Institutional development (polity index) and volatility in global economic growth are other important consistent variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study applies novel firm-level dynamics of job creation and destruction. • Similar effects of age and size on net growth are caused by their different effects on job creation and destruction. • The age effect exists for young and mature firms. • The study further examines particular firm groups and business cycles. • Policy and managerial issues differ between a firm's expansion and aging. This study examines the effects of firm age and size on job creation and destruction of existing firms, using large-scale panel data from Japan. It contributes to the literature by examining the effects on firm-level job creation and destruction, differing from previous studies which focused on net employment growth (i.e., the difference between job creation and destruction for each firm) or job creation/ destruction on aggregated level (calculated by aggregating net employment increases/decreases of firms or plants). Results show that for an individual firm, age has significantly negative effects on the firm's job creation and destruction; however, size has a significantly negative effect on the firm's job creation but a significantly positive effect on its job destruction. Particular firm groups and different business cycles are further examined. The findings suggest that policy and managerial issues differ between a firm's expansion and aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A failed innovation may signal that line of research must be abandoned. • But on the other hand this line of research could be fruitful if further pursued. • In this case a failure is not a reliable signal that this line should be abandoned. • We show that the latter case is especially relevant in complex technologies. This paper explores whether failures in innovation projects at the firm level contribute to strengthening firms' innovative activities and the odds of future innovation. Building on the literature on NK fitness landscapes, our paper focuses on technological complexity as a key factor that influences the response to innovation failures, guiding whether to discontinue the current path or, alternatively, to leverage the failure as a foundation for future innovation success. We then test the hypothesis derived from our model using a panel data set constituted by ten waves of the Community Innovation Survey held in the Netherlands from 1996 to 2014. Our findings show the fundamental relevance of the different forms of learning that are available to the firm. In particular, we highlight the positive role of learning after a previous innovation project has been abandoned. Previous failure in innovating produces some forms of learning inside the firms, and this learning positively contributes to subsequent successful innovation. Moreover, by differentiating between radical and incremental innovation, and between complex and less-complex innovation landscapes, we highlight the role of incremental innovation over the whole spectrum of landscape complexity, while the role of radical innovation appears to be more limited to less turbulent technological landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Both economic growth targets and environmental targets drive green growth. • The two types of targets crowd out each other in driving green growth. • They drive green growth through a shared channel of stimulating green innovation. Stimulating green growth is an important element of China's economic planning. Green growth has dual attributes of greenness and growth, while economic growth targets and environmental targets respond to these two attributes, respectively. Whether the combination of dual targets is more effective than a single target is critical to understanding the dynamics of green development. Although scholars and practitioners have studied government performance targets, we know little about interaction effects of different targets in a multi-target system. This study considers the interaction effects of environmental and economic growth targets on green growth. Using panel data from China's provinces, we find both economic growth and environmental targets can drive green growth. However, these targets crowd out each other in driving green growth, implying a trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection. The crowding-out effect exhibits a clear inverted U-shaped trend influenced by environmental governance and technological support, as it is prominent mainly in provinces with moderate environmental governance and technological support. Furthermore, economic growth targets affect green growth by promoting investment in research and development, while environmental targets drive green growth by promoting industrial agglomeration. Notably, green innovation is a shared channel for both types of targets to influence green growth, making both targets crowd out each other. These findings suggest that we should value synergy between multiple targets in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The influence of FDI and digitalisation on eco-innovation is tested for the EU. • Dynamic panel data estimation techniques are used for the years 2013 to 2022. • The eco-innovation index is used at aggregated and disaggregated levels. • Results show that the relationship between eco-innovation and FDI changes over time. • Digitalisation positively impacts eco-innovation, supporting the twin transition. This article analyses the influence of internationalisation and digitalisation on eco-innovation. Advanced panel data estimation techniques are employed using data from the 27 EU Member States between 2013 and 2022. The dynamic behaviour of internationalisation, more specifically Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), is tested, accounting for the endogeneity between innovation and international economic competition. Results reveal that the relationship between eco-innovation and FDI changes over time. At first, FDI has a negative impact on eco-innovation, but this effect becomes positive after two years. However, when analysing the data for eco-innovation at a disaggregated level, a potential delay in the influence of internationalisation on investments related to green research capabilities and resource efficiency outcomes is revealed. Results also consistently demonstrate a positive influence of digitalisation on eco-innovation, supporting the twin transition proposition of the digital shift complementing the transition towards low-carbon practices. Recommendations for policymakers and managers are provided at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust body of research using the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) has explored the effect of external messages on individual affective responses and behavior, typically at a single point in time. Missing from this micro-level analysis is a careful assessment of the ways in which individuals process information, whether their internal cognitions are communicated in narrative structure, and what the durability of any narrative structure is over time. We address this gap by examining (1) the extent to which individuals recall "memorable messages" in narrative form (e.g., the use of characters and morals) and with what content (e.g., who is cast in these character roles) and (2) whether individuals' narrative form and content change across time. Memorable messages are pieces of information that are remembered for an extended period of time. We draw on data derived from a multi-wave panel survey of residents in six U.S. states (Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Washington) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked to recall a memorable message, anything they heard or read that has shaped how they think about the risk of COVID-19. We find that participants articulate recalled memorable messages in narrative form about two-thirds of the time, consistent with how the NPF expects homo narrans to make sense of complex information. However, narratives containing morals are articulated less frequently than those using characters alone. Additionally, individuals' narrative content changes over time to include new information such as new policy solutions (e.g., mask wearing). Notably, recalled messages lose their narrative form over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have made it necessary for us to reevaluate the connection between environmental preservation and economic growth. The article uses Chinese city-level panel data from 2011 to 2019 to analyze the relationship between digital finance (DF) and environmental performance (EP), relaxing the linear relationship in the conventional empirical model and applying the partial linear functional-coefficient (PLFC) model, in order to better understand the factors influencing EP. The findings indicate as follows: (i) DF can greatly improve EP, and the robustness analysis confirms this statement. (ii) Science, technology, and innovation (STI) influence the promotion effect of DF on EP; when the level of STI exceeds a certain threshold, the promotion effect of DF on EP increases, and this effect increases with the level of STI. (iii). There is substantial geographical variation in the moderating influence of STI level. It has a larger role in eastern coastal cities. Finally, policy suggestions are offered to promote DF and increase EP based on the nonparametric link between those two variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural productive services are fundamental in transforming the paradigm of agricultural development and exert a significant impact on farmers' behavior in managing their arable land. This paper employs the slack-based measure of the super-efficiency model, known as the Super-SBM model, incorporating unexpected output to gauge the eco-efficiency of cultivated land use (ECLU). Utilizing panel data from Hunan Province spanning the years 2007 to 2020, this study unveils the following key findings: (1) Across various quantile levels, agricultural productive services exhibit a substantial capacity to enhance ECLU, with coefficients ranging from 0.070 to 0.156. (2) The impact of agricultural productive services on ECLU is constrained by both farmers' income levels and the scale of cultivated land, revealing a dual threshold effect. As income levels rise, the corresponding coefficient increases progressively, from 0.0771 to 0.1147, and ultimately to 0.1571. Similarly, with the expansion of cultivated land, the coefficient increases from 0.1152 to 0.1443, and ultimately peaks at 0.1694. (3) The enhancement of ECLU through agricultural productive services is achieved by reducing the input of environmental factors and mitigating undesirable outputs. (4) Agricultural productive services indirectly facilitate labor transfer, accounting for 10.8% of the overall effect. Consequently, it is imperative to continually enhance the agricultural socialized service system, bolster financial support, and implement policies that foster the development of agricultural productive services to realize sustainable cultivated land utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on panel data from 16 prefecture-level cities in Shandong Province from 2011 to 2020, the paper utilizes the super-efficiency SBM model with undesirable outputs to measure the green economic efficiency of each city. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and the natural breaks method are applied to analyze the spatial-temporal evolution of green economic efficiency. Lastly, a panel Tobit model is used to analyze the factors affecting green economic efficiency. The study's outcomes are as outlined below: (1) The green economy efficiency of the 16 cities in Shandong Province showed an overall increasing trend from 2011 to 2020. However, there is a noticeable disparity in green economic efficiency among cities, with developed cities exhibiting relatively higher levels of efficiency. (2) The proportion of cities with high green economic efficiency steadily increases, and these highefficiency regions gradually cluster around the provincial capital and the eastern coastal areas. While there is heterogeneous clustering of green economic efficiency, the degree of this heterogeneity decreases over time. (3) Social security, economic development, and technological advancement significantly enhance green economic efficiency, whereas the industrial structure noticeably impedes efficiency. Environmental regulations and urbanization levels have a less pronounced impact on efficiency. Drawing from these findings, this chapter presents targeted policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatio‐temporal data are often analysed by means of spatial dynamic panel data (SDPD) models. In the last decade, several versions of these models have been proposed, generally based on specific assumptions and estimator properties. We focus on an SDPD model with heterogeneous coefficients both in the spatial and exogeneous regression components. We propose a strategy to identify the specific structure of the SDPD model through a multiple testing procedure that allows to choose between a general version of the model and a nested version derived from the general one by imposing restrictions on the parameters. Our proposal can be used to test the homogeneity of the model parameters as well as the absence of specific components, such as spatial effects, dynamic effects or exogenous regressors. It is also possible to use the proposed testing procedure for the identification of relevant locations. The theoretical results highlight the consistency of the testing procedure in the high‐dimensional setup, when the number of spatial units goes to infinity and exceeds the number of time‐observations per spatial unit. Further, we also conduct a Monte Carlo simulation study, which gives empirical evidence of the good performance of the testing procedure in finite samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]