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Finding appropriate measures to drive industrial agglomeration is particularly urgent for Africa, which has been facing a decline in industrial production activities. Therefore, this study contributed by developing a multi-level spatial analysis framework that explored the global driving mechanisms and local heterogeneity of industrial agglomeration in Africa through various critical factors. The findings are as follows: (1) From 2009 to 2019, the industry in Africa has always been highly concentrated in a few countries, but the degree of agglomeration has been declining, with some countries in the East and West African regions showing a significant increase in the level of industrial agglomeration and a high potential for development. (2) Industrial agglomeration in African countries was driven by several factors, of which GDP per capita, highway network density, and electricity supply were the strongest and most consistent drivers. The impact strength of factors varied considerably across regions. (3) The drivers didn’t act independently and directly on the dependent variable, but were the product of synergy after the interaction between the two factors. Synergies between access to electricity and GDP per capita and other factors dominated the pattern of industrial agglomeration in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five national-level urban agglomerations in China, namely the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MRYR), Pearl River Delta (PRD), and Chengdu-Chongqing (CY), have undergone rapid economic development, accompanied by a surge in carbon emissions. Notably, there exists a gap in existing research that hinders comprehensive comparative studies on the carbon emissions of these urban agglomerations during the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plan periods, respectively. In this study, we comparatively analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics and spatial clustering characteristics of carbon emissions and their driving factors across the five urban agglomerations during the 12th and 13th Five-Year Plan periods using spatial autocorrelation and multiple spatial econometric models. The main results are as follows: firstly, the total carbon emissions across the YRD are the highest, while the average carbon emissions in BTH are higher than those across other urban agglomerations. Secondly, during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, the main related socioeconomic factors for carbon emissions of the BTH, PRD, YRD, MRYR and CY are per capita GDP, general public budget expenditure, urbanization rate, population density, and industrial structure, respectively. Thirdly, during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, industrial structure have a close link with carbon emissions across BTH and MRYR; the carbon emissions across PRD have close correlations with urbanization rate and general public budget expenditures; across YRD and CY, the key associated driver was the general public budget expenditures. All in all, these findings offer valuable insights for shaping effective emission reduction policies tailored to the unique characteristics of each urban agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the lessons learned from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, which faced complex challenges due to jihadist movements, geopolitical influences, and multiple layers of conflict. The author, who served as the Force Commander, highlights the importance of clarity in the mission's mandate, adapting the peacekeeping mindset to new realities, understanding the host nation's perspectives, addressing human rights issues pragmatically, improving logistical support, and coordinating military efforts effectively. The withdrawal of European nations from the mission and increased cooperation between Mali and Russia also influenced the mission's dynamics. The author emphasizes the need for a thorough evaluation of peacekeeping missions to draw appropriate conclusions for the future. [Extracted from the article]

After decades of war, Mozambique experienced sustained economic growth and poverty reduction from the mid-1990s. However, these positive dynamics started to revert from 2015. Meanwhile, inequality stagnated in the period 1996/97–2008/09, before markedly increasing afterwards. In this study, we analyse some of the most relevant indicators of inequality for Mozambique and their trends over the last 25 years. Using real per capita consumption as the main welfare aggregate, we look at various indicators of inequality, including the consumption distribution, percentiles and percentile ratios, growth incidence curves, Lorenz curves, and Gini indices. In addition, we discuss spatial inequality. Overall, we find that until 2014/15, consumption increased for the whole population, but it did so much more for richer households; conversely, in the last few years, consumption has reduced across the distribution, but the relative consumption-gap between better- and worse-off people has continued to increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Per capita rates of homelessness are higher in many rural communities than Canada's largest cities, yet little attention has focused on strategies to address rural homelessness. This study compared experiences and lessons learned from three models of homeless shelters in a small town in rural Ontario: a church, motel, and warming center. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 17 individuals who stayed in or administered any of three emergency shelters that ran between 2019 and 2022. Results: Participants described challenges resulting from insufficient structure, policies, partnerships, funding, and training that led the church and motel shelters to be unsustainable. The warming center had more sustainable funding but lacked supports and had short operating hours. Several aspects of participants' experiences were unique to the rural context, including the lack of infrastructure, precarity of services, and feelings of being surveilled and pushed out of their community. Informal supports and a sense of connection to their hometown meant most had no intention of leaving. Conclusion: The strengths of each model and lessons learned offer opportunities to improve and adapt emergency shelters to the rural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralization is an important and commonplace type of reform, yet our understanding of its effects remains limited. This paper documents the effects of the 2009–10 wave of district creation in Uganda, which increased the country's districts by 42 percent, using rich data on subdistrict units to assess the effects of district creation on a broad range of post-decentralization outcomes in a difference-in-differences framework. The effects of decentralization are concentrated in newly split off—rather than split from—districts, and are heterogeneous across outcome types. Newly split-off districts have more per capita frontline workers, but appear to have worse quality infrastructure and lower economic development. The study also presents suggestive evidence that administrative capacity decreases for newly formed districts post-split. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering a broad range of outcomes when thinking about decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to review the relationship between per capita income and aggregate emission in an economy populated by rational agents. According to the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis, pollution–income relationship is an inverted U-shaped curve. This paper aims to derive that relationship in an endogenous way and extends the relevant literature in an important way. Design/methodology/approach: This paper formulated a general equilibrium model of homogenous population with identical tastes and preferences. Production side is modelled with firms operating in a monopolistically competitive environment. The approach is modelling the economy in an analytical way so that closed form solutions can be achieved. Model simulations have also been performed to get a clear view of results. Findings: This study shows that increasing returns to scale in abatement technology ceases to be a sufficient condition for the generation of the EKC hypothesis. The general equilibrium structure of the model allows studying the endogenous evolution of income, emissions and prices of the abatement goods in a unified setting. Originality/value: The paper is novel and original in nature. The results are new in the literature. These results extend and generalise the previous research work in this area in an important way. The sufficient condition that is obtained in this study limits the applicability of EKC in an otherwise identical economy as used in previous literature. Therefore, this paper adds value to the ongoing research related to EKC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper describes the outcome of a study to investigate the regional public transport spend in each state of Australia. The objective is to derive a reliable figure for comparison and the core metric used is spend per capita. The study assessed publicly available data on public transport spend, followed by a series of consultations with key staff from state bus associations and governments. The analysis was conducted separately for metropolitan (metro) and regional areas and then the regional data were further examined. While the Northern Territory (NT), Tasmania (TAS) and regional South Australia (SA) completely rely on bus services, Victoria (VIC) stands out as the state with the highest public transport spend per head in regional areas with robust train and bus networks which deliver the highest patronage. Western Australia (WA) is the state with the highest bus transport spend per head ensuring relatively high patronage despite the low population density. The study identifies low public transport patronage in regional areas as being influenced by low spending per capita and poor connectivity. It recommends prioritizing improvements in connectivity, multi-modal networks, and opening school buses to the general public. Additionally, funding strategies should focus more on patronage trends linked to spend rather than overemphasizing population density. Further, the study reveals that publicly available data seldom clearly segregates public transport spending in terms of regional and metro expenditure, which would lead to inefficiencies when assessing spatial equity in public transport provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWe examine the determinants of climate-related development finance flows to the transportation sector and their relationship with CO2 emission levels. The mitigation fund allocation is particularly correlated with the demographic characteristics of recipient countries; however, the correlation with per capita income and emissions seems to be weak. In contrast, equity considerations appear to be the main determinants of adaptation fund allocation. Finally, we find some evidence of a significant negative relationship between mitigation investments and emissions per capita and while the overall effect is modest, it tends to be most marked in countries with the highest per capita emissions. Thus, the fact that countries with the highest emissions per capita are not receiving relatively more investments may be hampering the effectiveness of climate finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global warming increases the frequent occurrences of natural disasters, the reduction of carbon emissions has become an important issue around the world. The chemical industry is an important source of carbon emissions in China. The carbon emissions of the chemical industry are calculated from 2000 to 2019 by using the emission factor method. The logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) method is exploited to analyze the factors that influence carbon emissions, and the emissions variations are attributed to the contributions of carbon intensity, energy structure, energy intensity, industrial value-added rate, per capita industrial output value, and industrial scale. The results of decomposition show that per capita industrial output value is the main driving factor, and energy intensity is the main inhibiting factor of the chemical industry's carbon emissions. In order to quantify the variation of carbon emissions, the extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model is constructed and examined. Using the STIRPAT model, the basic scenario and energy intensity control scenario are set, and the carbon emissions are predicted, which shows that under a strict energy intensity control scenario, carbon emissions may reach a peak around 2031. The factors influencing the decomposition and prediction of carbon emissions should be helpful in reducing the carbon emissions of the chemical industry in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the resource utilization in different phases such as development and sales within China's real estate industry, this paper employs a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to measure the production efficiency of the real estate industry across 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions of China from 2014 to 2022. By examining both overall and phase-specific trends, the study utilizes a panel Tobit model to explore the factors affecting efficiency. Empirical results indicate that the leverage ratio of companies, per capita GDP of regions, and real estate regulatory policies significantly impact production efficiency. Further analysis of regional heterogeneity and its effect on production efficiency revealed that the per capita residential building area, which reflects the housing stock configuration in different regions, exhibits a significant single threshold effect. This not only objectively assesses the utilization of real estate resources in different areas but also delves deeper into the principal factors and their mechanisms affecting the production efficiency of the real estate industry, thus providing theoretical support and policy recommendations for effectively enhancing production efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the convergence of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by examining the stationarity of the relative per capita CO2 emissions of 18 selected countries on the Silk Road for the period 1990–2020. To examine the stationarity of relative per capita CO2 emissions for those 18 countries, we applied a large battery the newly proposed nonlinear panel unit root tests that allow for several forms of state-dependent and time-dependent nonlinearities. We also applied conventional linear panel unit root tests. The linear and nonlinear panel unit root tests account for cross-country dependencies, and the SPSM procedure is applied to these tests in order to see how many countries in the panel sample are converging to the steady state. The test results of linear and nonlinear panel unit root test reveal that the relative per-capita CO2 emissions of 10 out of 18 countries are stationary meaning that the CO2 emissions of these 10 countries converge to the steady-state level over time. Especially, size and sign nonlinearities better capture the convergence dynamics of per capita CO2 emissions towards the steady-state level for seven countries. As we have found that 56% of countries' per capita CO2 emissions are converging, this result has important policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long tradition of research on cooperation includes a well-established finding that individuals respond to the degree of conflict between self-and collective interests (that is, the relative benefits from cooperation) in providing public goods. Existing empirical evidence builds upon settings where participants make multiple decisions or strategically consider alternative scenarios. Here, we consider a decision setting where participants face a one-time (single-decision) setting. One-time cooperative encounters often occur in volunteering or donating to immediate needs for crisis relief. For these distinct and highly relevant settings, we report a lack of responsiveness to increases in cooperation benefits, thereby highlighting limits to our understanding of the determinants of one-time cooperation encounters. Across two studies, n = 2,232 individuals participate in treatments where we vary across participants the relative benefit from contributing to a public good (that is, the marginal per capita return, the MPCR). We examine decisions from alternative participant pools (UK general population vs. students), implementations varying the physical distance between participants (online vs. in the laboratory), and more complex decision settings considering group-to-group interactions including not only providers but also donors to public goods. Throughout, neither average contribution levels, nor the distribution of contributions are significantly affected by the increases in cooperation benefits. The mechanism behind these results can be explained by the close correlation between expectations of other's cooperation and own cooperation, and the fact that these expectations do not increase with higher benefits from cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food crisis is a real problem in various regions around the world, including Indonesia. This phenomenon is influenced by the rate of population growth which is increasing while farmlands are depleting due to the conversion of land into settlements, especially in Riau Province which is experiencing food security threats. Food security projections are made to provide an overview of the future condition of food security in Riau Province to support sustainability. The basic data used are data for 2018 and 2019. The measurement method used is the scenario method and then the availability calculation method according to Minister of Agriculture Regulation Number 43/Permentan/OT.140/7/2010. Meanwhile, the calculation of food needs uses a formula taking into account the average consumption per capita per year from the regional agriculture service multiplied by the population in the year concerned. Then, the projections are measured using the arithmetic population growth formula approach for food availability and the geometric population growth formula for the food needs of the population. The food commodity in Riau Province used in the analysis is rice. The calculation results show that in the future food availability in Riau Province will not be able to meet its food needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To analyze the types, origins, fluoride content of brick tea available in the Sanjiangyuan region, and the local residents' consumption of milk tea, providing a scientific basis for assessing the safety of fluoride intake from brick tea. Methods In 2022, based on historical data, a survey was conducted in 11 counties (cities) in the Sanjiangyuan region where residents habitually consume milk tea. Villages with a brick tea consumption habit were selected as the unit of investigation within each county. Ten households were randomly sampled from each village to collect demographic data and information on milk tea consumption. Samples of drinking water, brick tea, and milk tea were collected to measure fluoride content, calculating the daily per capita fluoride intake from milk tea for individuals over 16 years of age. The fluoride content in water and tea was measured using ion-selective electrode methods. Results A total of 82 drinking water samples were collected, with an average fluoride concentration of 0.22 mg/L, ranging from 0.10 to 0.74 mg/L. A total of 873 brick tea samples were collected, primarily consisting of Kang brick and Fu brick, accounting for 42.96% (375/873) and 34.48% (301/873) of the total, respectively. Other varieties included Jin Jian (11.80%, 103/873), Da tea (4.81%, 42/873), Hei brick (4.35%, 38/873), and Qing brick (1.60%, 14/873). There were 69 brands of brick tea available, predominantly produced in Sichuan Province (56.24%, 491/873), followed by Hunan Province (37.46%, 327/873). The average fluoride content in brick tea was 752.3 mg/kg, with a range of 242 to 1 836 mg/kg, with Jin Jian and Kang brick showing significantly higher fluoride levels (P < 0.001). Only three samples of brick tea had fluoride content ≤300 mg/kg, representing 0.34% of all samples. The annual per capita consumption of brick tea for individuals over 16 years was 3.40 kg (1.05-5.37 kg). A total of 554 milk tea samples were collected, with an average fluoride concentration of 2.25 mg/L, ranging from 0.82 to 12.18 mg/L. The daily per capita consumption of milk tea was 2 575 ml, leading to a daily per capita fluoride intake from milk tea of 5.79 mg, with a range of 2.92 to 13.06 mg. In ten counties, the daily per capita fluoride intake from milk tea exceeded the national health standard for total daily fluoride intake (3.50 mg). Conclusion The brick tea circulating in the Sanjiangyuan region is mainly composed of Kang and Fu bricks produced in Sichuan and Hunan, with excessive fluoride content in both brick tea and milk tea. The fluoride intake among the population exceeds safe levels, posing widespread health risks, necessitating the prompt implementation of effective preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing traffic energy consumption is crucial for smart cities, and vehicle carbon emissions are a key energy indicator. Traffic signal control (TSC) is a useful method because it can affect the energy consumption of vehicles on the road by controlling the stop-and-go of vehicles at traffic intersections. However, setting traffic signals to reduce energy consumption will affect traffic efficiency and this is not in line with traffic management objectives. Current studies adopt multi-objective optimization methods with high traffic efficiency and low carbon emissions to solve this problem. However, most methods use static weights, which cannot adapt to complex and dynamic traffic states, resulting in non-optimal performance. Current energy indicators for urban transportation often fail to consider passenger fairness. This fairness is significant because the purpose of urban transportation is to serve people's mobility needs not vehicles. Therefore, this paper proposes Multi-objective Adaptive Meta-DQN TSC (MMD-TSC), which introduces a dynamic weight adaptation mechanism to simultaneously optimize traffic efficiency and energy saving, and incorporates the per capita carbon emissions as the energy indicator. Firstly, this paper integrates traffic state data such as vehicle positions, velocities, vehicle types, and the number of passengers and incorporates fairness into the energy indicators, using per capita carbon emissions as the target for reducing energy consumption. Then, it proposes MMD-TSC with dynamic weights between energy consumption and traffic efficiency as reward functions. The MMD-TSC model includes two agents, the TSC agent and the weight agent, which are responsible for traffic signal adjustment and weight calculation, respectively. The weights are calculated by a function of traffic states. Finally, the paper describes the design of the MMD-TSC model learning algorithm and uses a SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) v.1.20.0 for traffic simulation. The results show that in non-highly congested traffic states, the MMD-TSC model has higher traffic efficiency and lower energy consumption compared to static multi-objective TSC models and single-objective TSC models, and can adaptively achieve traffic management objectives. Compared with using vehicle average carbon emissions as the energy consumption indicator, using per capita carbon emissions achieves Pareto improvements in traffic efficiency and energy consumption indicators. The energy utilization efficiency of the MMD-TSC model is improved by 35% compared to the fixed-time TSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of rural revitalization, identifying the functional characteristics of rural homesteads and clarifying the relationship among various functions are important scientific issues for the transformation of homestead utilization. Taking Jilin Province as an example, this paper analyzes the problems existing in rural homestead utilization from the aspects of quantitative characteristics, human–land matching degree, and the current situation of idle homesteads. An evaluation index system is constructed to measure the functional values of homesteads to identify the advantageous functions of homesteads. The results are as follows: (1) in some areas of the Jilin Province, the per capita homestead area is relatively large, with a high vacancy rate, and there is a phenomenon of inefficient use of homesteads, (2) according to the calculation results of the homestead functional index, the overall performance of the four functions of rural homesteads is in the order of living function > security function > production function > asset function, indicating that traditional living function remains predominant in the study area, (3) based on the relationship between the comprehensiveness and coordination of the four functions of homesteads, villages are classified into "moderate optimization area", "key improvement area", "collaborative optimization area", and "potential improvement area". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the globe has been facing several challenges, and environmental deterioration has become more prominent. Therefore, to deal with such environmental issues, the globe has tried to introduce several green initiatives via the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals, but the problem remains intact. However, practitioners have no more choice but to exclude emerging economies from this race. For instance, to understand the response of emerging economies toward a sustainable environment, this study considers BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) economies. Similarly, the current empirical study utilizes innovative environmental determinants such as real income, urbanization, entrepreneurial activities, per capita renewable energy, financial innovation and environmental policy for selected regions from 2000 to 2021. However, the findings of the advanced estimators' series show the significant contribution of per capita green energy consumption, environmental policy and entrepreneurial activities toward environmental sustainability. In contrast, income, financial inclusion and urbanization contribute to environmental damage. Because of green energy supportive behavior, this study makes an additional step to investigate the mediating effect on financial inclusion, environmental policy and entrepreneurship. However, the mediating effect only supports environmental policy and entrepreneurship activities to reduce environmental pressure. From the policy perspective, the specified economies should allocate their financial resources to clean & green projects to attain the desired level of sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article empirically explores the potential effects of CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) on per capita emissions of 4 air pollutants. It shows statistically significant evidence suggesting that more trade between the EU and Canada could help reduce per capita emissions of C O 2 , C H 4 , and N 2 O in a typical CETA member, respectively. However, it finds unambiguous empirical evidence implying that Canada may act as Pollution Haven for C H 4 because it has more land per capita than any EU member. Moreover, it provides clear empirical evidence suggesting that 8 former Communist EU members (and Malta only for F-Gases may act as Pollution Havens for N 2 O and F-Gases because they are poorer than Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Pakistan, due to low per capita income and weak socio-economic policies the poverty has remained core problem in every era. Thus, as per sensitivity of the issue, the present study key objectives are to empirically address the dilemma of multidimensional poverty among agrarian and non-agrarian communities of Agro-environmental Regions of Pakistan. For assessment of comprehensive outcomes, one decade survey data (2010/11 to 2019/20) of Pakistan social and living standard measurement and globally acknowledged Alkire and Foster (Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement, 2007) indexing methodology has been adopted. Stepwise outcomes under dual cut-off K = 2 logically reveal that multidimensional poverty is purely an agrarian phenomenon at the national level and across all the nine agro-environmental regions of Pakistan. Further, at the national level in each study year, residents of the agrarian community with poverty estimates 46.40, 39.00, 34.90, and 31.90% are harshly victimized by precise menace compared to their non-agrarian counterparts with poverty measures 23.00, 20.60, 19.10, and 17.70%, respectively. Like national measure, similar trend has also been observed across each agro-environmental region where agrarian community is severely victimized of multiple attributes poverty menace compared to non-agrarian counterpart. Moreover, a comparative analysis of current valuations highlights that over time, especially in the short run, 2010/11 to 2012/13; 2012/13 to 2014/15, and 2014/15 to 2019/20, multiple aspect poverty at national level and across each zone in Pakistan presents fluctuating trend for both communities. However, in the long run, with the time gap of complete decade since to 2010–11 to 2019–20, multidimensional poverty reveals a declining trend at the national level as well as across each study zone in Pakistan. These valuations indicate a noteworthy improvement in all three attributes; education, health, and housing services specifically in longer span of time. Precise improvements are appreciable but still a strong policy like adoption of modern technology as per advance countries in all three aspect is essentially needed to achieve the UNDP agenda within the prescribed time limit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the effects of war on human resource development in Afghanistan using non-linear autoregressive distributed lags (NARDL) and asymmetric causality analysis. The results of the NARDL bound test support an asymmetric long-run relationship between predictors. It reveals that positive and negative shocks from the per capita cost of war, child mortality rate, and population growth rate asymmetrically affect the school enrollment rate in both the short and long runs. Furthermore, it shows that positive shocks from per capita GDP and per capita government expenditures on education increase the school enrollment rate, while their negative shocks have adverse effects, in both the short and long runs. This implies that school enrollment is highly sensitive to changes in the per capita cost of war and reacts swiftly. Moreover, the results reveal significant causality from both the positive and negative components of the per capita cost of war, per capita GDP, per capita government expenditures on education, and population growth to both the positive and negative components of the school enrollment rate. However, there is only a causal nexus from the negative component of the child mortality rate to the school enrollment rate. Based on these findings, relevant policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data indicate that carbon dioxide emissions from residential buildings in China constitute 60% of the country's total, making carbon reduction efforts in residential construction crucial for achieving dual carbon goals. From the perspective of eight major economic regions, this paper selects energy consumption, per capita residential area, and residential population as input indicators, per capita disposable income as the output indicator, and carbon dioxide emissions as the undesired output indicator. It employs the super-efficiency model based on the directional distance (super-DDF) function and the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index to measure the static and dynamic carbon emission efficiencies of residential buildings (RBCEE) during their operational phase from 2010 to 2020. After analyzing the differences and equity in RBCEE among regions using the Theil index and Gini coefficient, the σ-convergence, absolute β-convergence, and conditional β-convergence methods are utilized to explore the changing trends of RBCEE across the eight major economic regions. Results show that the static RBCEE in China is at a medium level; dynamic efficiency has improved across all eight regions, though at varying rates; overall, RBCEE exhibits poor equity and significant differences, with intra-group differences being a major cause. In terms of convergence, all eight economic regions display significant absolute β-convergence and conditional β-convergence. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper proposes corresponding emission reduction recommendations for the eight major economic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to better allocate water resources and maintain sustainable development, we selected Jining City as a specific research area and used the coefficient of variation entropy weight GM (1,1) research method to systematically evaluate the water resource carrying capacity. The results showed that the water resource carrying capacity system in the Jining area exhibited and will exhibit obvious economic ecological characteristics during the two periods of 2016-2021 and 2022-2026. From 2016 to 2021, the ecological environment water consumption rate, agricultural value-added water consumption per 10000 yuan, and industrial value-added water consumption per 10 000 yuan had become strong influencing factors. From 2022 to 2026, the weight of per capita GDP and per capita domestic water consumption would increase, becoming strong influencing factors along with the top three. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health of older adults is crucial for the overall health of the entire life cycle. Based on population sampling survey data and census data from 131 prefecture level units in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) during 2010–2020, this study used exploratory spatial data analysis, geographical detector, stepwise regression analysis, and GTWR model to analyze the spatiotemporal pattern and influencing factors of the health level of older adults in the YREB. The results show that the health level of older adults in the YREB slightly increased from 2010 to 2020, with the most significant improvement in the upstream region and the most significant decline in the midstream region. The older adults' health level in the YREB displays a gradient decreasing pattern of the downstream, midstream, and upstream regions. The health level of older adults in the YREB is influenced by a combination of natural and social environment factors. Areas with lower altitude and moderate humidity climates are more conducive to the health of older adults. The increase in influencing factors such as population migration rate, per capita GDP, average years of education, per capita housing construction area, per capita park green area, and green coverage rate in built-up areas is conducive to improving the health level of older adults, while lower number of health institutions per 1,000 people and higher household support rate are not conducive to improving the health level of older adults. In addition, over time, the health-promoting effect of natural environmental factors is enhanced from 2010 to 2020, and the influence of annual precipitation on shaping the spatial pattern of older adults' health level became more obvious. Although the promoting effect of population migration on the health level of older adults tends to weaken, it remains the primary factor affecting the spatiotemporal differentiation of older adults' health level in the YREB. The impact of social development on the health level of older adults has changed from a positive health effect (improvement) to a negative health effect (loss). The health-promoting effect of living environment factors is enhanced. The health-inhibitory effect of household support rate increased, and showed a gradient decreasing pattern from downstream to midstream to upstream. The findings of this study can provide a more in-depth understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of the health level of older adults in the YREB and the factors influencing it, improve the health level of older adults in the region, and promote the development of healthy and active aging in the YREB, and improve the human health. At the same time, this study also supplements the related research on aging and the health level of the elderly. Firstly, it can provide reference for the research on the health of old adults in other countries and regions around the world. Secondly, it can also provide a basis for research on aging and the health of old adults in cities and counties under YREB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes data from A-share listed companies between 2011 and 2020 to empirically investigate the impact and mechanism of public welfare donations on the internal income gap of enterprises. The research findings indicate that public welfare donations significantly increase the per capita salary of management, while their impact on the per capita salary of ordinary employees is not significant, thus leading to an expansion of the internal income gap within enterprises. The results from mechanism testing reveal that the income tax benefits resulting from charitable donations and the rise in corporate operating income have contributed to an increase in excess rent shared by enterprises and employees. Due to a stronger bargaining power, management shares more excess rents, thereby widening the income gap within the enterprise. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that public welfare donations have a greater impact on the internal income gap of non-state-owned enterprises; however, limiting executive compensation and enhancing employees' bargaining power can mitigate this widening effect caused by public welfare donations on enterprise's internal income gap. The research value of this study is threefold. Firstly, there is a scarcity of studies on the impact of public welfare donations on the income gap within enterprises, and this study contributes to enriching the research in this area. Secondly, this paper examines the effect of tax incentives for public welfare donations on the internal income gap of enterprises, thereby deepening the research on the impact of tax reduction and fee reduction, as well as expanding our understanding of corporate income tax preferential policies. Thirdly, it offers insights into improving enterprise compensation systems and enhancing corporate governance. Senior executives can potentially allocate more excess rent through their strong bargaining power. If their compensation remains unrestricted, it may lead to a widening internal income gap and negatively affect company operational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions has been analyzed testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis, but traditional econometric methods may be flawed. An alternative method is proposed using segmented-sample regressions and implemented in 164 countries (98.34% of world population) over different periods from 1822 to 2018. Results suggest that while the association between GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita is weakening over time, it remains positive globally, with only some high-income countries showing a reversed association in recent years. While 49 countries have decoupled emissions from economic growth, 115 have not. Most African, American, and Asian countries have not decoupled, whereas most European and Oceanians have. These findings highlight the urgency for effective climate policies because decoupling remains unachieved on a global scale, and we are moving away from, rather than approaching, the Paris Agreement goal of limiting temperature increase to 1.5 °C above preindustrial levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To present a proposal to estimate healthcare resource requirements for the population with no social security in Mexico City and the domestic projection, including access and coverage. Materials and methods. The gross domestic product percentage for healthcare is calculated using the Medical-Technical Baseline Cost (MTBC) or the Medical Economic Card (MEC) standard according to diagnosis and care treatment for the population with no social security, thus projecting the prospective resource requirements. Results. There is a shortfall of resources for 2024; the prospective per capita for the first level of healthcare is $3 813 and the historical one is $1 933; and the corresponding values for the second level are $4 430 and $3 861. The %GDP-healthcare for Mexico City in 2024 exhibits a 42% difference between the historical and prospective categories. The shortfall of resources for the three levels of healthcare in the entire country is 19%. Conclusions. The prospective budget makes it possible to calculate healthcare resource requirements with a higher degree of certainty and graduality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study mainly focuses on the relationship between development aid and growth as well as examines the role of the institutional development levels of countries in this relationship and makes economic inferences. Methods: The analysis is conducted for 64 countries receiving official development assistance in the 2000–2020 period. To provide robust estimates in these studies, the Driscoll and Kraay estimator is used after fixed and random effects models. Results: In almost all of the estimated models, a significant relationship between official development assistance per capita and growth is found. Moreover, the models with institutional factors and interaction terms also support the results. According to the robust estimation results, official development assistance per capita positively affects growth. Conclusion: The results for all countries do not mean that good policies and strong institutions are unnecessary. In contrast, they show that the priority is the sum of aid per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing trend towards utilizing nickel as a raw material for non-steel products due to the increasing demand for nickel up to 2040. Data shows that global nickel production and reserves will increase until 2021. As one of the countries with the largest reserves in the world, this country contributes significantly to global nickel production. This paper will discuss Indonesia's nickel resources, reserves and production related to the distribution of locations, number of resources, number of reserves, grade, sustainability of reserves and their impact on the economy as well as efforts to maintain this sustainability. Previous articles only presented data on Indonesia's nickel reserves and production and an overview of global nickel. The data on nickel resources and reserves come from the 2021 inventory by the Geological Agency, which covers ore resources and reserves and their grades across several classifications. If there is no new data on reserve deposits or planned production rates, it is estimated that the ore reserves with nickel grades ≥ 1.7% will be depleted by 2036, while the ore reserves with Ni grades < 1.7% will be exhausted by 2056. Efforts to increase reserves include increasing exploration activities in brownfield areas, exploring remaining ultrabasic regions, and conducting detailed geological mapping of areas where ultrabasic rock is expected. Apart from raising the issue of the magnitude of nickel potential and mining value, this paper also discusses economic indicators in each nickel producing community using Gross Regional Domestic Product per capita. Based on the results of this analysis, it shows that there are differences in GDP per capita and the value of the mines owned by each region as a nickel producer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precarious nature of climate change and its consequences on the resilience of economies require examination. This study investigated climate change resilience in the "big three" economies in Africa—Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa—using macroeconomic data. Results indicated that Nigeria had the highest vulnerability score and South Africa had the highest resilience score. Readiness for climate change was low in all countries, especially in Nigeria. Climate vulnerability had a significant dampening effect on per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the three economies. In addition, reducing inflation is associated with increased welfare and resilience by raising per capita GDP, although the effect needs to be magnified with sound economic policies. The low adaptive capacity presents policy direction to develop human resource capacities, improve safety net delivery, and ensure effective early warning systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation can lead to wage inequalities through different channels. This paper explores this relationship, focusing on the direct and spillover (indirect) effects of these channels on personal wage inequalities in Brazilian regions. Product and process innovation are measured by patents and the acquisition of foreign technology through imports of capital goods respectively. Based on data that covers 482 regions from 2003 to 2014, we use the Spatial Durbin Model with spatial fixed effects to control spatial dependence and heterogeneity across regions. The results point to a positive association between our measures of innovation and wage inequalities. However, as we found a non‐linear relationship between imports of capital goods and wage inequality, an increase in imports of capital goods may reduce wage inequality. Other variables may also cause inequality to fall, such as the share of the population with a higher education degree and social skills. Drivers behind an increase in inequality are female participation in the workforce and the level of GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although China's carbon emission trading schemes (CETS) garnered significant attention in the field of climate mitigation, limited data availability has hindered exploration into the impact of CETS on economic inequality at the county level in China. Given its potential to facilitate industrial upgrading and generate employment opportunities, the adoption of CETS holds promise for reducing economic inequality. To address data limitations, we employed a combination of gridded nighttime light data and land use data to estimate China's county-level Dagum Gini coefficient and its components. Subsequently, we applied a difference-in-difference-in-difference method to examine how CETS affected economic inequalities between and within urban and rural areas in China. Our findings reveal that: (1) CETS significantly reduced overall economic inequality in counties with a high proportion of secondary industry output; (2) this reduction primarily occurred within urban and rural areas rather than between them. Further heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that while CETS effectively mitigated economic inequality between urban and rural areas in central and western regions, it did not achieve similar outcomes in the eastern region; (3) service industry development and rural GDP per capita served as important channels through which CETS reduced economic inequality within rural areas. Infrastructure development driven by CETS primarily addressed economic inequality within urban areas rather than rural areas. Key policy insights: It is confirmed that China's CETS made a significant contribution to mitigating economic inequalities within urban and rural areas. This empirical evidence provides new decision-making support for the future promotion of CETS at the county level. It is recommended to propose higher quotas for service industries in rural areas and allocate a portion of revenue from carbon emission trading markets to promote entrepreneurship among rural residents and support upgrades in the rural industrial structure. Considering that the infrastructure development driven by CETS has predominantly addressed economic inequality within urban areas rather than rural areas, it is imperative to allocate a greater proportion of revenue from CETS towards supporting rural infrastructure construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among major development organizations, the unchallenged consensus is that war and conflict are development issues ravaging local economies, often leading to forced migration, refugee populations, and acute food insecurity. Food insecurity when caused by a rise in food prices is a threat for violent conflict. This study was conducted in Nigeria using three types of quantitative data which are the general household panel data, monthly retailed commodity prices, and violent conflict data from 2010 to 2019. This study examines the linkages between conflict, food price shocks, and food security outcomes of households in Nigeria. Per capita daily calorie intake, household dietary diversity, and per capita monthly food consumption were the three food security outcomes used for this study. Fixed effects panel regression models were used to determine the effects of conflict-induced food price shocks on the food security outcomes of households. I was found that dietary diversity appeared to be higher in the first wave than in the other three waves. The measure of dietary diversity for the post-harvests were slightly higher than the post-plantings. The high dietary diversity associated with the post-harvest periods is partly related to the relatively higher net value of foods consumed during the same season. This is because the amount of food calories consumed during the post-harvest periods are relatively lower than the amount consumed during the post-planting periods. Regardless of the conflict level in Nigeria, an increase in conflict-induced price shock of wheat, and rice is associated with a decline in calorie intake, dietary diversity, and the actual food value consumed. The conflict-induced price shocks of other cereals negatively influence the actual food value consumed, and dietary diversity. It is concluded that violent conflict influences some aspects of food insecurity, through adjustment in diets in response to price increases. Conflict-induced price shocks is a necessary condition for food security. Therefore, policy issues aimed at improving the food security outcomes of households in the face of conflict-induced price shocks should focus on price scheme that will stabilise price placing a price floor on food commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-native species can react to changes to their thermal environment by altering their feeding behaviour, thereby potentially causing shifts in predator–prey dynamics and competitive dominance over native species. In this study, we measured intraspecific variation in the functional response (i.e., predation rate as a function of prey density) of the rusty crayfish Faxonius rusticus (Girard, 1852) at two temperatures (18 °C and 26 °C) in the laboratory. We compared six invasive populations spanning a 2° latitudinal gradient in eastern North America to test the prediction that under warmer conditions individuals from more southerly populations exhibit a higher functional response than those from northern populations. Temperature, latitude, and the interaction between these two variables had significant effects on attack rates and handling times of individual crayfish from the tested populations. Contrary to our prediction, the attack rates of individuals from northern populations were consistently higher than those from southern populations at both temperatures. We propose that these interpopulation differences in functional response could arise, at least in part, from countergradient selection. Our results suggest that climate warming promotes spatiotemporal variation in per capita effects across latitudinally distributed populations of aquatic invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the persistence of the sovereign debt / GDP and sovereign debt / GDP per capita series for the five largest European economies and the US using fractional integration. We use historical data starting in 1800 for the US and the UK, in 1861 for Italy and in 1880 for Germany, France and Spain. The results indicate high degrees of persistence of debt-to-GDP and debt per capita ratios with clear evidence of no mean reversion in both debt indicators. We also find evidence of correlation with the primary deficit, supporting the idea that one of the causes of this debt persistence is precisely the primary deficit persistence. Empirical results support the need for a better coordination between fiscal and monetary policies to enhance debt control in the countries under examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the causal relationship between per capita gross domestic product (PCGDP) and per capita energy consumption (PCEC) in Bangladesh over the period of 1971 to 2023. The ARDL bound testing approach indicates a statistically significant positive relationship between PCGDP and PCEC. The results also reveal that there is a one directional linkage running through PCEC to PCGDP. This indicates that an increase in energy consumption has a direct impact on GDP growth. This suggests that rather than energy conservation, priority to generate energy generation as a means of achieving higher GDP is needed for Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study determinants of COVID-19 vaccine donations from recipients' perspective, especially considering supply chain and institutional weakness (corruption) aspects. Results, based on data from more than 130 nations, show that strengthened supply chains reduced donations. The impacts of corruption and logistics performance likely persisted from pre-COVID times. More corrupt nations received fewer donations per capita, ceteris paribus. The results with respect to economic prosperity support efforts to end vaccine apartheid, and island nations received more donations, as did nations with more bilateral vaccine deals. Finally, donations received through COVAX were driven by qualitatively similar factors, except corruption did not matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scams are a widespread issue with severe consequences for both victims and perpetrators, but existing data collection is fragmented, precluding global and comparative local understanding. The present study addresses this gap through a nationally representative survey (n = 8,369) on scam exposure, victimization, types, vectors, and reporting in 12 countries: Belgium, Egypt, France, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. We analyze six survey questions to build a detailed quantitative picture of the scams landscape in each country, and compare across countries to identify global patterns. We find, first, that residents of less affluent countries suffer financial loss from scams more often. Second, we find that the internet plays a key role in scams across the globe, and that GNI per capita is strongly associated with specific scam types and contact vectors. Third, we find widespread underreporting, with residents of less affluent countries being less likely to know how to report a scam. Our findings contribute valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the online fraud and scam prevention space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long-standing debate among scholars over the convergence versus divergence of the regional growth rate of per capita income in India. The present study tries to resolve this debate in light of the latest available data by using Beta-convergence analysis in a panel data framework. The results indicate the presence of unconditional divergence and conditional convergence in the case of both inter-state and inter-region analysis, which shows that the unconditional divergence may be due to the presence of omitted variable bias. The results also show that the primary sector is associated with the reduction of interstate and inter-region income inequality, while the growth of the tertiary sector is correlated with increasing interstate and inter-region income inequality. Therefore, the findings of the study imply that the phenomenon of service-led growth in the post-reform period was accompanied by the widening gap in the growth of various states and regions of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing resource efficiency and mitigating climate change have become consensuses of human society. However, there is still a gap in assessing the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) and identifying the influence of various factors, especially in rapid urbanizing regions. In this paper, we built a stochastic frontier analysis model to assess CEE and conducted a case study in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration (BTHUA), a typical area of collaborative development in China. A comprehensive influencing factor index was constructed to analyze and identify the key influencing factors of CEE. The results revealed that the average CEE among the 13 cities increased in volatility from 2000 to 2019. The average CEE in Langfang was lowest, while that in Tangshan was highest. The input-related factors had a negative effect on CEE, including carbon emissions per capita, employment per ten thousand people, total assets per capita, and energy intensity. GDP per capita, the urbanization level, and the proportion of the tertiary sector's GDP had positive impacts on CEE. Future policy formulation should focus on the transition from labor- and material-intensive industries to knowledge- and technology-intensive industries. All the results can contribute to achieving high-quality development and dual-carbon target of rapid-urbanizing areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Pakistan has struggled for a political system suitable for its postindependence development; however, repeated struggles between democracy and dictatorship have slowed Pakistan's economic growth. I quantified the impact of military dictatorship on Pakistan's economy from 1999 to 2008 using synthetic control methods. I found that while the average annual GDP per capita growth grew during the military dictatorship, it was four times lower than synthetic Pakistan's. I conclude that the military did not help Pakistan with its economic malaise. The increase in military expenditure and the prevalence of terrorism due to the military dictatorship may have hindered Pakistan's economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature revisits cross-country convergence patterns over the last six decades. Whilst the debate has been about unconditional or conditional convergence, we question whether convergence rates differ across countries. Using the same dataset as in the recent studies of Kremer et al. (NBER Macroecon Annu 36:337–412, 2022) and Acemoglu and Molina (NBER Macroecon Annu 36:425–442, 2022) (GDP per capita for 108 countries over 58 years, 1960–2017), we systematically search models where the degree of heterogeneity varies from the mean group, pooled mean group, fixed effects and pooled estimators of convergence. The Bayesian Information Criterion selects the heterogeneous model whether we use the U.S., a common factor or country-specific trends as the steady state. We estimate a multi-country technological catch-up statistical model using the U.S. as the technological frontier. We show empirically that a failure to allow for heterogeneous rates of convergence creates a bias in the convergence coefficient towards zero. The long-run elasticity to the U.S.—another convergence parameter of interest—associates positively (0.79) with the country's average growth. Countries that learn from the technological frontier also grow faster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of the research is whether better human capital, as determined by secondary school learning outcomes measured by PISA scores, promotes economic growth. The literature often uses the PISA results as a proxy for growth, while its use and impact on growth are not empirically proven. These questions are analyzed through two hypotheses. The first hypothesis (H1) states that in a worldwide sample of countries, GDP per capita growth between 2006 and 2019 was positively impacted by rising PISA results. The second hypothesis (H2) states that between 2006 and 2019, the rise in PISA scores in East Asia had a stronger influence on economic growth than in the rest of the world. The study examines 59 nations that have administered two PISA tests during the period of 2006–2019. The findings imply that there is generally no causal connection between PISA results and growth and the PISA results play no additional role in the development of East Asian nations. The results can be explained in two ways. The first is that human capital includes more than just skills. The second is that the data only covers a short period of time, which may limit the analysis of long-term patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban transformation is an inevitable choice for resource-exhausted cities to achieve sustainable development in the world today. Green space is one of the basic elements of cities and plays an irreplaceable role in promoting sustainable urban development. Taking Jiaozuo City, a typical resource-exhausted city in China, as the research object, this study analyzed the spatial-temporal evolution and driving mechanism of green space in Jiaozuo by using land use transfer matrix, landscape pattern index, and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) model. The research found that: First, from 2000 to 2020, the green space area in Jiaozuo decreased by 220.21 km². Second, from 2000 to 2020, the ecological level of each landscape type in Jiaozuo showed a downward trend, and the patch connectivity decreased. Third, the PLSR model analysis showed that the urbanization rate, per capita GDP, urban disposable income per capita and population density were important driving forces for the evolution of green space in Jiaozuo (the VIP values were greater than 1). The findings of this study can provide scientific reference and theoretical support for formulating reasonable and scientific policies on green space development and protection in Jiaozuo and other resource-exhausted cities in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wells–Riley model has been widely used to estimate airborne infection risk, typically from a deterministic point of view (i.e., focusing on the average number of infections) or in terms of a per capita probability of infection. Some of its main limitations relate to considering well‐mixed air, steady‐state concentration of pathogen in the air, a particular amount of time for the indoor interaction, and that all individuals are homogeneous and behave equally. Here, we revisit the Wells–Riley model, providing a mathematical formalism for its stochastic version, where the number of infected individuals follows a Binomial distribution. Then, we extend the Wells–Riley methodology to consider transient behaviours, randomness, and population heterogeneity. In particular, we provide analytical solutions for the number of infections and the per capita probability of infection when: (i) susceptible individuals remain in the room after the infector leaves, (ii) the duration of the indoor interaction is random/unknown, and (iii) infectors have heterogeneous quanta production rates (or the quanta production rate of the infector is random/unknown). We illustrate the applicability of our new formulations through two case studies: infection risk due to an infectious healthcare worker (HCW) visiting a patient, and exposure during lunch for uncertain meal times in different dining settings. Our results highlight that infection risk to a susceptible who remains in the space after the infector leaves can be nonnegligible, and highlight the importance of incorporating uncertainty in the duration of the indoor interaction and the infectivity of the infector when estimating risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an asymmetric grouping estimator for forecasting per capita carbon emissions for a country panel. The estimator relies on the observation that a bias‐variance pooling trade‐off in potentially heterogeneous panel data may be different across countries. For a specific country, cross validation is used to determine the optimal country‐specific grouping. A simulated annealing algorithm deals with the combinatorial problem of group selection in large cross sections. A Monte Carlo study shows that in case of heterogenous parameters, the asymmetric grouping estimators outperforms symmetric grouping approaches and forecasting based on individual estimates. Only in the case where the signal is very weak, pooling all countries leads to better forecasting performance. Similar results are found when forecasting carbon emission. The asymmetric grouping estimator leads to more pooling than a symmetric approach. Being on the same continent increases the probability of pooling, and African countries seem to benefit most from using asymmetric grouping and European countries least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct an overlapping generations model in which the government chooses the tax rate that determines publicly provided education and healthcare. Education increases human capital accumulation, and healthcare improves life expectancy. Each policy is financed by taxes. Two sectors of government, the public education and public healthcare sectors, uncooperatively determine the tax rates for education and healthcare that maximize the GDP per capita and an adult's welfare. Our main findings are as follows. First, the optimal tax rates for both branches of government based on per capita GDP maximization are uniquely determined. Second, in the case based on welfare maximization, there are multiple equilibria that can be ranked. The conclusion relies on the strategic complementary relationship between public education and healthcare, and the result is consistent with empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world population grows, the need to meet greater resource demands leads to a proportional increase in solid waste generation. This trend has been difficult to reverse in the last decade, but when it comes to minimizing waste generation, there is an innovative model that has successfully reduced per capita production (PPC) in the medium term called the "Volume-based Tariff System". South Korea implemented this model since 1995 under the motto "polluter pays", managing to decrease PPC from 2,3 to 1,1 kilograms of waste per day per inhabitant in just 5 years, in a country with an average of 51 million inhabitants. Inspired by this success, the canton of Santa Cruz in the Galápagos province replicated the Volume-based Tariff System, adapting it to local realities. They justified its implementation with the goals of reducing local PPC, increasing recycling, creating incentives, complying with the reform of the Organic Law of the Public Service of Electric Energy (2019), and implementing a variable tariff based on volume. The results mirrored those of South Korea: since its implementation in May 2021, Santa Cruz reduced per capita waste generation from 0,77 kilograms per day per inhabitant in 2019 to 0,44 kg by 2022. Additionally, within 6 months, recyclable materials increased from 78,17 tons in May to 132,47 tons in December 2021, these achievements led the Municipal GAD of Santa Cruz to win the 2022 Green Award from the Development Bank of Ecuador. This experience demonstrates that the Volume-based Tariff Model could be successfully replicated in Santa Cruz. While challenges remain for improvement, being the first replication in Ecuador has yielded excellent results.