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In the face of complex and changeable uncertain environments, corporate resilience is the crucial foundation for survival and sustainable development, and enhancing corporate resilience becomes an important goal for governments. In this context, this paper investigates the impact of government subsidies, as a typical government tool, on corporate resilience in crises. Based on the panel data of 2315 listed companies in China Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share market during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper finds that: (1) government subsidies received before and during the crises can both enhance corporate resilience in crises. (2) Government subsidies enhance corporate resilience by alleviating financial constraints and boosting confidence. (3) The crises improve the efficiency of subsidies used by corporates, resulting in the enhancement of subsidies received during the crises being more pronounced than those received before the crises. This paper deepens the understanding of government subsidies' roles in crises, enriches the literature on government subsidies and corporate resilience, and provides a reference for improving government subsidies policy and enhancing corporate resilience. The government should increase government subsidies to mitigate the negative impact of uncertainty shocks on corporates and improve corporates' ability to respond to risks, and pay attention to the timing of subsidies to maximize the efficiency of government subsidies at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper made an empirical analysis on how institutional distance affects the risk preference of enterprises' OFDI by using the sample of A‐share listed companies in China from 2014 to 2018 and further explored how institutional distance affected enterprises' preference for low‐risk investment in OFDI in "the belt and road" and other countries through fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. The paper shows that the institutional distance is negatively correlated with the risk preference of enterprises' OFDI. Six factors, such as voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, and control of corruption, form diversified configuration forms and influence paths that affect the risk preference of Chinese enterprises' OFDI. The specific performance is that "high voice and accountability, low government efficiency and low corruption control" will drive enterprises' low‐risk investment preference in "the belt and road" countries; And "low government efficiency, low regulatory quality and high legal level" will drive enterprises' low‐risk investment preference in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies explored the interaction effect between policy instruments and the policy environment on environmental governance. Based on policy instrument theory, this paper conducts fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to explore the combined effect of policy instruments and the policy environment on the environmental governance efficiency of local governance. This study found four effective configurations of local government environmental governance, which can be summarized as the mandatory mode and the cooperative mode, and three inefficient configurations that can be summarized as the out-of-control mode. The results show that the regions adopting the mandatory mode are economically underdeveloped, while the regions using the cooperative mode are developed. Besides, local government competition leads to the softening of policy instruments, while government-enterprise collusion exacerbates the failure of environmental policy instruments. This paper summarizes the effective modes and reveals the reasons for the low efficiency of local government environmental governance in China. The conclusions provide not only empirical evidence for the study of policy instrument theory but also beneficial insights for the selection of environmental policy instruments and environmental governance practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of information technology, improving the efficiency of public services with the help of the Internet has become an important work of local governments. However, under different institutional environments, the impact mechanism of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services is still unclear. Based on China's interprovincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a threshold effect model, sets the institutional environment as the threshold variable, and empirically analyzes the impact of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services. The results show that the difference in regional institutional environment will lead to the obvious threshold effect of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services: When the institutional environment is poor, the role of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services is not significant. With the improvement of the institutional environment, the role of Internet development in promoting the supply efficiency of government public services gradually appears, but the marginal intensity of promotion weakens. Compared with existing studies that mostly use linear models, this paper incorporates the institutional environment into the complex relationship between Internet development and government public service supply efficiency, and clarifies the role of the institutional environment in the process of Internet development affecting government public service supply efficiency and the non-linear relationship among the three. This paper reveals the mechanism of Internet development affecting the supply efficiency of government public services under different institutional environments and provides a new perspective for solving the shortage of public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of urban density, city government efficiency, and medical resources on COVID‐19 infection and death outcomes in China. We adopt a simultaneous spatial dynamic panel data model to account for (i) the simultaneity of infection and death outcomes, (ii) the spatial pattern of the transmission, (iii) the intertemporal dynamics of the disease, and (iv) the unobserved city‐specific and time‐specific effects. We find that, while population density increases the level of infections, government efficiency significantly mitigates the negative impact of urban density. We also find that the availability of medical resources improves public health outcomes conditional on lagged infections. Moreover, there exists significant heterogeneity at different phases of the epidemiological cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discussed the spatial effects and influence mechanisms of the digital economy on high-quality tourism development in the Yangtze River Delta. It is found that the digital economy promoted high-quality tourism development with a spatial diffusion effect. The digital economy of cities in metropolitan and adjacent area contributed to high-quality tourism development. In non-metropolitan and non-adjacent areas, the lack of core city leadership and support of metropolitan policy are important factors that hinder the functioning of digital economy. Mediation effect model shows that the digital economy could drive high-quality tourism development by improving government efficiency and expanding market potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grid management is a grassroots governance strategy widely implemented in China since 2004 to improve the government's efficiency to actively find and solve problems among populated regions. A grid-based strategy surveillancing high-risk groups, including mobile and migrant populations (MMPs), in the China-Myanmar border region has played an indispensable role in promoting and consolidating the malaria elimination efforts by tracking and timely identification of potential importation or re-establishment of malaria among MMPs. A sequential mixed methods was implementated to explore the operational mechanism and best practices of the grid-based strategy including through the focus group discussions (FGDs), comparison of before and after the implementation of a grid-based strategy in the field sites, and data collection from the local health system.This paper distills the implementation mechanism and highlights the role of the grid-based strategy in the elimination and prevention of re-establishment of malaria transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Environmental subsidies are important means for the government to promote companies to fulfil environmental protection responsibilities. Employing a text analysis method, this study obtains the data on government subsidies for environmental protection of A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2016. Empirical estimates show that the subsidies received by companies promote their environmental inputs. Additionally, analyst tracking and internal control enhance the positive effect of subsidies on the companies' environmental investments. The above results are still valid after testing the Heckman two-stage model and the Propensity-Score-Matching and Difference-in-Difference model. This paper provides evidential support for the effectiveness of government subsidies and explores feasible ways to improve the efficiency of government subsidies based on the corporate governance channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain technology has unique characteristics that make it a powerful application for transforming government processes and improving the management of public benefits. In this paper, we propose that a blockchain-enabled government can achieve higher levels of efficiency and impartiality compared to traditional and general digital government. These improvements can be achieved through blockchain's impact on the accuracy, coordination, trust, and transparency of information-based processes. Propositions are examined using a blockchain-enabled program of targeted poverty alleviation in a major metropolitan city in China. An analysis of data from semi-structured interviews and public documents indicates that the blockchain-enabled government process, through the technology's coordination and accuracy features, can improve the efficiency of targeted poverty alleviation work in the local government. In addition, we find that impartiality of a government program is improved through the transparency and trust that is enabled by the application of blockchain technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about corruption in South Africa and China have intensified in recent years. Improved public administration, greater efficiency, transparency, and integrity in public institutions, are recognised as some of the emerging challenges for South Africa's post-1994 transformation process, and China's economic and social reforms. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of governance and corruption in South Africa and China with the aim of exploring common areas for mutual learning and avenues for improving anticorruption practices and institutions. The governance theory is employed in this study focusing on three key areas, namely government effectiveness, rule of law and control of corruption. The findings show that China enjoys a higher level of government efficiency and effectiveness than South Africa due to higher levels of capacity at the local government level in China. While the rule of law is more robust in China leading to arrests, prosecution and imprisonment of state officials, South Africa has equally proven its capacity to abide by the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in recent high level cases. With respect to corruption, South Africa enjoys a higher level of anticorruption advocacy than China; however, China is stronger at anticorruption enforcement, as depicted by the high level of arrests of public officials deemed to have engaged in corruption in China. The study concludes that public sector accountability in both countries can only succeed if institutions of state are strengthened and the law is used to bring about social change and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored the impacts of the changing urban form on the ecological efficiency of administrative areas and urban agglomerations in China under different regional scales using the slack-based measure of efficiency model. It also measured the morphological characteristics of cities across several regions using the Largest Patch Index (LPI), Patch Density (PD), and Fractal Dimension (FD). Using the threshold regression model, the impact mechanism of urban form on ecological efficiency was examined. Results show that the ecological efficiency of the regions show an "N" type change over time. LPI and PD show a significant impact in promoting ecological efficiency while FD inhibits ecological efficiency but is not significant until the regional scale reaches 1,352 km2. We conclude that the development of urban agglomeration is more conducive to improving regional ecological efficiency, which will give policymakers some inspiration in developing a regional development strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth in China in recent decades has largely rested on the dynamism of its cities. High economic growth has coincided with measures aimed at improving the efficiency of local governments and with a mounting political drive to curb corruption. Yet the connection between government institutions and urban growth in China remains poorly understood. This paper is the first to look into the link between government efficiency and corruption, on the one hand, and urban growth in China, on the other hand and to assess what is the role of institutions relative to more traditional factors for economic growth in Chinese cities. Using panel data for 283 cities over the period between 2003 and 2014, the results show that the urban growth in China is a consequence of a combination of favorable human capital, innovation, density, local conditions, foreign direct investment, and city‐level government institutions. Both government quality—especially for those cities with the best governments—and the fight against corruption at the city level have a direct effect on urban growth. Measures to tackle corruption at the provincial level matter in a more indirect way, by raising or lowering the returns of other growth‐inducing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food safety risk communication has attracted widespread attention in China. The government is the leader in food risk communication. It has even more impact on consumers' willingness to communicate food risk. Thus, this paper constructs a risk communication game model composed of the central government, local government, and consumers under food safety regulatory agencies in China. Based on the evolutionary game theory, we achieved the evolutionary stable equilibrium points under complying different constraint conditions by solving the replicator dynamic equations of parties in the dynamic system. In the end, some numerical examples have been displayed to simulate the agents' choices. The results show that penalty cost, governance intensity, communication cost, and reputation of the government have an essential impact on consumers' enthusiasm for food safety risk communication decision-making behavior. Furthermore, the choice of food safety risk communication strategies is performed with a dynamic process, which is constantly adjusted and optimized. The evolutionary game system can converge on an ideal state under certain conditions. Moreover, this study proposes suggestions and measures conducive to the tripartite game, which can offer valuable guidance on food risk communication practice and improve government efficiency in China. This research can provide the evolutionary mechanism and broaden our understanding of the relationship between food safety risk governance and food risk communication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A learning management system (LMS) is a web-based application or software platform computed to facilitate the development, tracking, management, reporting, and delivery of education and training programs. Many valuable and dominant factors are working behind the Learning Management System (LMS), but no one can find which factor is most important and valuable for LMS during COVID-19 among the following five alternatives, called Improved Accessibility, Blended Learning, Collaboration and Communications, Assessment and Evaluation, and Administrative Efficiency. For this, first, we derive the techniques of bipolar complex hesitant fuzzy (BCHF) sets, and then we evaluate some flexible operational laws, called Algebraic operational laws and Aczel-Alsina operational laws. Secondly, using the above techniques, we elaborate the technique of BCHF Aczel-Alsina power averaging (BCHFAAPA), BCHF Aczel-Alsina power weighted averaging (BCHFAAPWA), BCHF Aczel-Alsina power geometric (BCHFAAPG), and BCHF Aczel-Alsina power weighted geometric (BCHFAAPWG) operators. Some basic properties are also investigated for each proposed operator. Further, to evaluate the problem concerning LMS, we compute the multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) techniques for invented operators. Finally, we select some prevailing operators and try to compare their ranking results with our proposed results to enhance the worth and capability of the invented theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies educational efficiency in Chinese provinces following a two-step approach. Specifically, we take advantage of the selecting pattern of local officials in China to investigate the relationship between governors' characteristics and local government educational efficiency, which has been previously ignored in the literature. First, we use a robust order-m partial frontier approach to evaluate the efficiency of the Chinese provinces in the provision of education, which represents the main sector of expenditure for local governments. Second, we estimate the relationship between efficiency and the provinces' observable characteristics, with a special focus on the governor's characteristics. We consider economic, institutional, and demographic variables as non-discretionary inputs. Finally, we use the Spatial Lag of X (SLX) and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to evaluate the possible spatial interdependence in the educational efficiency between Chinese provinces. The results show that East region provinces are the most efficient in the provision of education, while the provinces in the West region are the least efficient. Moreover, the governor's observable characteristics, such as age, education, and experience abroad, have a significant effect on educational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy-intensive industries are a priority for achieving low-carbon economic growth in China, and a large number of government R&D subsidies have been injected into energy-intensive firms to support green innovation in recent years. Most of the existing literature has studied the impacts of R&D subsidies on the general innovation of high-tech firms or emerging enterprises. This paper explores the impacts of government R&D subsidies on the green innovation of energy-intensive firms. By employing propensity score matching with 527 samples of listed companies from 2010 to 2015, the empirical results show that government R&D subsidies increase the green innovation of energy-intensive firms, specifically their tendency and performance, by 107.3% and 54.1%, respectively. Heterogeneity analyses show that the impact is stronger in state-owned enterprises and in small and medium enterprises. Finally, some practical implications are put forward that may help to improve the efficiency of government R&D subsidies and promote the green innovation of energy-intensive firms. • The impacts of government R&D subsidies on the green innovation of energy-intensive firms are analyzed. • The firm-level impacts are investigated. • The firm-level impacts are investigated.Government R&D subsidies significantly increase the green innovation tendency and performance of energy-intensive firms. • The impact is stronger in state-owned enterprises and in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Publicity is a common form of governance in government and is even more important in contingency management, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Publicity has two sides, the main body of publicity is led by the government, the object of publicity is the response to the public. So, publicity exists in the "government-society" field. Our aim was to find out how governments have been able to achieve effective publicity in the COVID-19 and to promote the active participation of society in governance. Materials and methods: We adopted a case study approach. Taking Chongqing Municipality as an example, we collected 201 messages from five forms of publicity, including cell phone SMS, village (community) broadcast, publicity placards or banners, official websites, and government media platforms during the period of 2020–2021, and described and analyzed the publicity content of different forms of publicity. Results: During the whole period of the COVID-19, the publicity governance under contingency management showed the characteristics of focusing on administrative efficiency, social efficiency and post-social efficiency, and showed specific publicity governance functions such as mobilization and control, education and clarification, cultivation of public consciousness and shaping government credibility. Conclusions: Publicity governance in contingency management during the COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes three effective approaches: time synchronization, organizational scale, and interaction among multiple advocacy agents. This can extend the existing government-centered research to the level of interaction between the government and society, and help the government to better use effective publicity to achieve the governance task under contingency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The impact of fiscal decentralization on health outcomes still has not reached a consensus, and studies conducted in the context of the new round of fiscal and taxation system reform are even less available. China's fiscal decentralization system has its own special characteristics, so it is necessary to analyze the impact of fiscal decentralization on health outcomes before and after the new round of fiscal and taxation system reform in China.Methods: Panel data from 2007 to 2019 were obtained through China's Health Statistics Yearbook and China's Statistical Yearbook. The effects of fiscal decentralization on health outcomes before and after the reform are explored separately by SYS-GMM, which introduce a dynamical model with a lag period of the explained variables. The Hansen test is used to determine excessive identification. The AR(2) is used to determine whether the residual term of the differential equation has a second-order serial correlation.Results: Fiscal decentralization consistently had a negative impact on health outcomes, yet government health expenditures did not mediate the impact of fiscal decentralization on health outcomes. Fiscal decentralization had a positive effect on per capita government health expenditure before the new reforms, yet had a negative effect on the percentage of government health expenditures, both before and after the new reform.Conclusion: China's fiscal decentralization has caused local governments to pay insufficient attention to the construction of people's livelihoods, and the problem of insufficient government investment in health has not been improved. The new round of fiscal and taxation system reform has not reversed this situation either. It is recommended to adjust the incentive system for local officials, include medical and health in the evaluation indicators of local governments, optimize the structure of government expenditure, and improve the efficiency of the use of government health expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on a new political uncertainty phenomenon, that is, the government official vacancy, and examines its effects on foreign direct investment in China's cities. Using hand‐collected data about the vacancies of the municipal party secretary in China from 2003 to 2018, we find that the government official vacancy reduces foreign direct investment. A one unit (month) increase in the government official vacancy leads to a −2.225% decrease in foreign direct investment. Second, we show three possible channels through which the government official vacancy reduces foreign direct investment: reducing government efficiency, increasing economic policy uncertainty and increasing corruption. Finally, our results show that the effects of government official vacancies on foreign direct investment are stronger in cities with a strong media environment, cities with a low level of innovation and entrepreneurship and cities in the middle region of China. Our main results pass a series of robustness tests. Overall, our research offers novel evidence that political uncertainty has a negative impact on foreign direct investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital monopolized platforms that have emerged based on the new "Internet Plus" economic form will undoubtedly distort market competition. Taking the Meituan online food delivery platform in China as an example, this study (1) investigates the game of interests between the platform and restaurants and the resulting impact on food safety risks, and (2) explores the interactions among government regulations, platform profit strategy, and restaurant behavior. An evolutionary game model between the capital-monopolized online food delivery platform and the restaurants was developed with an optional promotion fee and government regulation level as variables. Analysis of four equilibrium situations derived from the evolutionary game model showed that the platform always pursued high overall profit in every equilibrium situation. This capitalist profit-seeking behavior will most likely reduce the profit margins and even the survival space of restaurants on the platform, forcing them to engage in opportunistic behavior and illegal production, thereby resulting in increased food safety risks in online food delivery and consequently increased government regulation costs. Although increased government regulation can change the production strategy of restaurants, it cannot change the platform's capitalist profit-seeking behavior. The platform's overall payoff is not reduced due to increased regulation, which once again proves the profit-seeking nature of capital. The strategy of low commissions but high promotion fees may require greater government regulation to restrain the opportunistic behavior of restaurants. Therefore, the Chinese government regulators can achieve a win-win situation of improved government regulation efficiency and reduced regulation costs by designing new regulatory strategies that do not reduce the platform's overall payoff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to improve energy efficiency is a practical issue of common concern around the world. In China, vertical fiscal imbalances (VFIs) generated under the existing fiscal system may have a significant impact on energy efficiency through government spending on science and technology (S&T). However, this potential relationship has not been explored in the literature. In this work, we aim to address this gap. Using Chinese provincial panel data from 2001 to 2017, this study empirically examines the relationship between VFIs and energy efficiency through a mediation model. The results show that VFIs greatly suppress energy efficiency. We further find that VFIs indirectly affect energy efficiency by reducing government spending on S&T. The results show significant regional heterogeneity. The intermediary role of government S&T expenditure is more significant in inland areas than in coastal areas. Therefore, to improve energy efficiency and achieve sustainable development, the Chinese government should focus on innovative reform of the existing fiscal system and reduce VFIs. In addition, the government should focus on fiscal spending in the field of S&T to promote technological innovation to guarantee the improvement of energy efficiency. Inland areas should pay particular attention to this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With growing investments in the state key laboratories (SKLs) of China, it is essential to assess the efficiency of the administrative departments regarding managing the SKLs of China. However, few studies have been conducted about the evaluation of the performance of Chinese administrative departments in managing SKLs. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the performance within 22 SKL administrative departments in China, based on a data envelopment analysis cross-efficiency prospect aggregation approach incorporating the risk preference of decision maker. The empirical results show the major findings: (a) serious imbalance exists regarding the investment of 22 SKL administrative departments; (b) there are great differences among the performance of 22 SKL administrative departments; (c) some SKL administrative departments face an insufficient situation regarding the outputs; (d) different risk attitudes of decision maker have the significant impact on the evaluation results of the 22 SKL administrative departments. Based on these findings, we provide several policy suggestions for the development of SKLs in China. • Cross-efficiency aggregation methods generally fail to capture the risk behavior. • We propose a cross-efficiency prospect (CP) function to reflect the risk attitude. • This paper establishes a weighting model to derive the optimal aggregated weights. • A CP aggregation method is developed based on the CP function and weighting model. • An application of state key laboratories in China is presented using the CP method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on academic spin‐offs (ASOs) usually focused on their economic performance, but there was a lack of discussion on the decision‐making grounds of enterprise behaviors. This study analyzes the influence of parent organizations on R&D investment of ASOs through listed high‐tech enterprises in China. It is found that ASOs controlled by the parent organizations have a higher R&D investment. With the organizational imprinting theory and signaling theory, we attempt to attribute the R&D tendency to the higher financing efficiency and government subsidies. The conclusions provide a new inspiration and explanation the inherent logic of ASOs' active participation in innovation activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the asymmetric effects of government environmental subsidies (GES) and non-environmental subsidies (GNES) on corporate environmental responsibility (CER). Using a sample of Chinese listed companies over the period 2010 to 2020, we find that GES exhibits an inverted U-shaped impact on CER, while GNES shows a positive influence on CER, and these associations still exist after using the alternative measure of CER and addressing potential endogenous issues. In addition, we document that the effect of GES is not significant in companies operating in non-heavily polluting industries, and the effect of GNES is not significant in state-owned enterprises, firms with lower financing constraints and registered in regions with a lower degree of marketization. This study not only enriches the research on the influencing factors of CER but also provides theoretical guidance for the government to improve the efficiency of the use of different government subsidies and promote the greening process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aim to estimate the total factor productivity and analyze factors related to the Chinese government's health care expenditure in each of its provinces after its implementation of new health care reform in the period after 2009. Materials and methods: We use the Malmquist DEA model to measure efficiency and apply the Tobit regression to explore factors that influence the efficiency of government health care expenditure. Data are taken from the China statistics yearbook (2004–2020). Results: We find that the average TFP of China's 31 provincial health care expenditure was lower than 1 in the period 2009–2019. We note that the average TFP was much higher after new health care reform was implemented, and note this in the eastern, central and western regions. But per capita GDP, population density and new health care reform implementation are found to have a statistically significant impact on the technical efficiency of the provincial government's health care expenditure (P<0.05); meanwhile, region, education, urbanization and per capita provincial government health care expenditure are not found to have a statistically significant impact. Conclusion: Although the implementation of the new medical reform has improved the efficiency of the government's health expenditure, it is remains low in 31 provinces in China. In addition, the government should consider per capita GDP, population density and other factors when coordinating the allocation of health care input. Significance: This study systematically analyzes the efficiency and influencing factors of the Chinese government's health expenditure after it introduced new health care reforms. The results show that China's new medical reform will help to improve the government's health expenditure. The Chinese government can continue to adhere to the new medical reform policy, and should pay attention to demographic and economic factors when implementing the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Shore power (SP) promotion is not smooth in many countries. • There exist barriers to SP policy implementation. • Efficiency of government subsidies for SP promotion should be considered. The mandatory use of shore power (SP), in place of auxiliary engine generated power, has been adopted worldwide as one of the effective measures to reduce ships' in-port emissions when they berth at ports. However, SP promotion is not smooth in many countries. This paper takes China as an example to explore the barriers to SP policy implementation by conducting in-depth interviews and builds cost-benefit models to estimate the costs and investment payback years of SP reconstruction of the port and ships based on subsidy policies. Specifically, real data collected from the Port of Shanghai are used as key parameters in the economic analysis. The results show that the government should launch appropriate subsidy policies to boost the promotion of SP technologies. The more efficient the subsidies that the government offers to ports and shipping companies for SP facility reconstruction are, the faster these companies can recover the cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article has reviewed the international research from the 20th century to the first half of 2019 on the terms "efficiency" and "local government". For this purpose, a bibliometric and a cluster analysis by fractional accounting have been carried out using two of the most important databases: Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. The research found and studied 1222 documents from the WoS Core Collection and 2264 from Scopus. The results show a continuous increase in the number of published articles and citations during the whole period. It also found that the U.S., U.K, and China are the most productive countries with a predominance of North American and Asian organizations supporting and fostering researches. The principal contribution of this article is the analysis of keywords from 2011 to the first half of 2019. The trend shows a convergence on the concepts of efficiency and local government over the last few years, which are related to sustainability and natural environment. Future research in this field should address the relationship between efficiency in the allocation of local resources and the environmental sustainability of municipalities. • A bibliometric review of local government efficiency was conducted. • The paper identifies publications that serve as a guide to the local policymakers. • A recent worldwide trend in this field is based on environment. • A pending subject of local government efficiency is a geopolitical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University–industry R&D collaboration is an important means to improve innovation efficiency; many governments have issued policies to promote it. The most frequent policy instruments implemented by policy-makers to foster firms' innovation are subsidies and tax incentives. The article elaborated on how subsidies and tax incentives influence the R&D collaboration efficiency through a panel dataset from 2009 to 2015 in China. The result showed that subsidies and tax incentives have a positive effect on collaboration efficiency, and the effect of subsidies on output is bigger than that of tax incentives. Taking the intensity of subsidy as a threshold variable, there is a significant single threshold effect on collaboration efficiency. However, there is no threshold effect when the intensity of the tax incentive used as the threshold variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimising the allocation of population, land, and capital production resources is crucial for promoting an efficient urbanisation and solving the urban land financial problem. This study uses a panel threshold model to identify the response boundary of urban construction land use efficiency to government debt level for 51 postfinancial crisis Chinese coastal cities. The results indicate that the threshold of economic development level and provincial gross domestic product (per capita gross domestic product: pgdp) are 2.67 and 5.17, respectively. In cities with relatively backward economic development, an expansion of the government debt scale hinders the improvement of the utilisation efficiency of construction land. Also, the threshold value of the government's accumulated debt level threshold (sd) is 15.83%. When cities fall below the government accumulated debt level threshold (sd < 15.83%), the new debt level has a positive effect on the utilisation efficiency of construction land. When sd > 15.83%, the new debt level impedes the improvement of the utilisation efficiency of construction land. Local governments should reduce their dependence on land finance in cities with high cumulative debt ratios, especially those with negative responses to both thresholds (pgdp and sd thresholds). This study's findings can provide a reference for a sustainable promotion of new urbanisation in both China and in other countries to avoid the risk of land urbanisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, increasing attention has been paid to the significance of the fiscal capacity of the premodern state to promote or retard economic growth. In particular, scholarship on economic history has stressed the positive impact the emergence of the "fiscal state" had in enhancing economic growth in early modern Europe. Comparative studies have contrasted the administrative efficiency of the emerging European fiscal state with contemporary Asian empires (the Ottomans, Mughals, and the Ming and Qing empires in China). But the Ming-Qing state represents only one version of Chinese state formation under the Chinese empire. This article identifies four basic types of fiscal state that appeared between the Qin unification and the Ming-Qing era, analyzes their ideological foundations, and assesses their implications for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveillance has become the dominant organizing force of the modern era. A once isolated and limited practice, surveillance now pervades every facet of urban existence in practically all corners of the globe. Contemporary surveillance of the type facilitated by information and communication technologies embodies the logical outcome of a positivist rationality that seeks to reduce all life phenomena to calculation and quantifiable management. The quest for security, risk management, administrative efficiency, and consumer convenience continues to motivate the global expansion of surveillance and facilitates the creation of new types of technologies and regimes. However, as new global actors seek to deploy their own advanced digitized systems, attention must be focused on the unique socio-cultural background against which both overt and covert forms of surveillance are being formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2016 to explore the incentive mechanism and the differential effect of 27 provincial government efficiency on enterprise innovation. We find that the government efficiency positively affects the innovation investment and output. The government efficiency helps reduce rent-seeking opportunities; hence, rent-seeking firms react more positively to government efficiency. We also find that high-tech industry membership and state-ownership affect the incentive mechanism of government efficiency for enterprise innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking advantage of decentralization reform that enlarges the authority of county government in China, we construct a quasi‐experiment. Using a large sample of Chinese firms, we show that after the implementation of decentralization reform, firms located in decentralized counties experienced a significant increase in investment expenditure compared with other firms. We also find that after the decentralization reform, state owned enterprises (SOEs) experienced greater increase in investment expenditure on average compared with non‐SOEs, and that, within non‐SOEs, collective firms have an even larger increase in investments, followed by foreign firms and private firms. Further analysis shows that the influence of decentralization reform was more significant in more developed markets, and that the increased investment was associated with improved productivity, which was more pronounced in SOEs. These results are robust to an alternative sample and endogeneity issues. Overall, these findings support the view that decentralization reform improves government efficiency and creates positive externalities, thereby encouraging firms to invest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates 92 countries of different legal origins, including 25 English origin, 44 French origin, 11 Scandinavian and German origin, and 12 socialist origin countries. Compared to other countries, China has the highest government ownership of banks, and lies in the middle in terms of official supervisory power over banks, and government efficiency in governance. As regards economic development measured by per capita GDP growth, in the period from 1995 to 2015, China performed significantly better than all the other countries in the sample – countries varying in legal origin, government ownership of banks, level of economic and financial development, supervisory power over banks, and government efficiency. The findings are robust when we examine the country-years with similar per capita GDP as that of China. The regression results show that in some circumstances, higher government ownership of banks is associated with higher economic growth and the positive association is more significant in socialist origin countries. Further discussions suggest that the high government involvement in commercial banks fits in well with the unique characteristics of China – such as a large population, underdeveloped economy, imbalance in resources and development in different areas, as well as the utmost trust placed on the Chinese government and government owned banks – thus may benefit economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has argued for the importance of state's administrative capacity for development. Disregard for the rule of law and failure to get corruption under control are seen as detrimental to economic and social development. The China paradox refers to the fact that in all commonly used measures of levels of corruption and the quality of government, China is a country that scores quite low. China also lacks the Weberian model of bureaucracy that is seen as central for development. It is argued that this paradox is the result of disregarding the existence of a different public administration model in China-the cadre organization. Instead of rule following, this organization is marked by high commitment to a specific policy doctrine. The argument is that while very different from Weberian bureaucracy, this organization is well suited for effectively implementing policies for economic and social development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fact, the public service performance evaluation is a process to measure two kinds of public service elements (People's satisfaction, and material improvement), which involves how to operate and gain the evidence data to these two aspects. In the paper, 56 specific indicators have been selected from the 4 dimensions of "people's satisfaction", "Overall satisfaction with public services", "government efficiency", "business environment" and "basic public services". On obtaining the indicator system, we select L. City in Northwest China as a pilot study spot to probe the public services performance by evaluating people's satisfaction and material improvement. In the process of evaluation, an untraditional way has been used to measure the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a Chinese firm-director panel dataset to examine the matching of heterogeneous firms and politicians. On the basis of 36,308 detailed biographies, we identify individuals who previously held bureaucratic positions and classify the rank of each position in the Chinese political hierarchy. Using this direct measure of political capital, we examine how firms with heterogeneous productivity match politicians with different political strength. Our results indicate a positive assortative matching in the political capital market. More productive firms are paired with more powerful politicians. Furthermore, the preference for political capital relative to conventional human capital increases in firms' dependence on external financing and the inefficiency of local governments. Conditional on the endogenous matching, new hires with political capital receive more compensation than their co-workers in the same cohort. The marginal effect of a one-step rise on the political ladder significantly exceeds the marginal effect of raising education attainment from, for example, high school to college. ( JEL D21, D73, J24, J31, O12) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]