Spatial spillover effects of official development assistance on environmental pressure in sub-Saharan African(SSA)countries

Impoverished sub-Saharan Africa(SSA)is under increasing environmental pressure from global environmental changes.It is now generally accepted in academic circles that economic development in SSA countries can cause environmental pressure in other countries.However,there is research gap on the impact of economic assistance on environmental pressure in SSA countries and whether economic assistance causes spatial spillovers of environ-mental pressure between SSA countries.To better understand the impact of economic assistance on environmental pressures in SSA,a dynamic spatial Dubin panel model was developed.It helped us explore the spatial spillover effects of economic assistance on environmental pressures in recipient countries based on the panel data from 34 SSA countries.The results show that economic assistance had a positive stimulating effect on environmen-tal pressures of recipient countries,which means that the degree of human disturbance to the environment has deepened.Due to the regional correlation effect,neighboring countries were saddled with environmental pres-sures from the target country.Moreover,environmental pressures have time inertia,which can easily produce a snowball effect.The decomposition of effects shows that the impact of economic assistance on environmental pressures is relatively minor.Environmental pressures have spillover effects,so to deal with diffuse risks,joint regional prevention and control policies should be developed.

Unveiling the impact and mechanism of digital technology on agricultural economic resilience

Enhancing the economic resilience of agriculture is essential for promoting sustainable and high-quality agricultural development.The emergence of digital technology has created new opportunities in this field.However,existing research predominantly focuses on traditional agricultural factors and technologies.Therefore,the impact of digital technology on agricultural economic resilience within the broader context of the“production-operation-industry”system in agriculture has not been comprehensively explored.To bridge this gap,this study analyzes panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020.It employs the static Van Dorn’s law and a dynamic spatial panel model to examine how digital technology empowers agricultural resilience.The findings indicate a continuous strengthening of digital technology development in China,albeit with significant polarization and spatial imbalances.Moreover,the resilience of the agricultural economy undergoes notable fluctuations,initially narrowing and subsequently displaying an upward trend.Digital technology clearly plays a pivotal role in empowering resilience through agricultural scale operation,industrial transformation,and technological progress.Its impact,particularly on the promotion of resilience in the eastern region and non-grain-producing areas and on high-level agricultural economies,also shows regional and technological variations.

“Competition for Innovation”:Research on the Strategic Competition of Local Governments'Science and Technology Expenditure in China

By constructing a yardstick competition model of the performance equation,this paper analyzes the internal mechanism of local governments'competition of science and technology(S&T)expenditure in China.By using the Dynamic Spatial Panel Model,we analyze the competition empirically from five dimensions:geographical adjacency,geographical distance,administrative adjacency,administrative grade and economic distance.According to the results,the local governments'S&T expenditure showed a significant strategic competition phenomenon,that is,there is a“competition for innovation”,and the competition is more obvious between regions with close geographical proximity and administrative relations.“Competition for innovation”will be affected by political exogenous shocks such as those from the National People's Congress(NPC)of China;There is a“father-son competition”relationship between the superior and inferior governments.At last,the competition can promote the regional innovation significantly,which shows that“competition for innovation”is a kind of top-by-top competition.The conclusions may provide some useful suggestions for optimizing the relationship between local governments and promoting the construction of an innovative country.