Understanding the economic trends and demographic dynamics of a country is crucial for policymakers and researchers to formulate effective strategies and policies. This study aims to examine the GDP trends and aging index dynamics in Portugal from 2011 to 2021, with a focus on regional disparities and their implications for demographic challenges. The findings highlight the relationship between regional GDP and the aging index, indicating that regions with higher GDP values tend to have a relatively younger population, while regions with lower GDP values have a relatively older population. The study contributes to the existing literature on population aging by providing insights into the demographic, economic, and social implications of an aging society. It provides valuable insights into the demographic, economic, and social implications of population aging in Portugal. The findings contribute to the existing literature and can inform policymakers and stakeholders in developing targeted strategies and policies to address the specific challenges faced by each region.

The paper focuses on younger online viewers’ motivation to watch video game live streaming on live streaming platforms. Unlike existing scholars, it analyses younger online viewers’ watching motivation through a positive perspective and draws on the Play-Others-Downtime theory (P-O-D theory) and the motivation theory to establish the research model. By analysing 397 samples based on the variance-based structural equation modelling and partial least squares path modelling (SEM-PLS), the results present that younger viewers’ entertainment, social and leisure purposes positively affect their watching motivation. Control variables (i.e., gender, education background, and income level) demonstrate insignificant effects across the model. Considering the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, watching video game live streaming is essential entertainment and social activities for younger adults. Future studies should identify the positive impact of video game live streaming and guide younger viewers to participate appropriately in this activity.

Reckless behavior by business leaders can be a systemic risk for individual firms and the economies in which the firms exist. We propose that a synthesis of behavioral economics, in particular prospect theory, and the study of psychopathy may help researchers better understand why some business leaders engage in high-risk criminal activity. We propose that psychopathy is associated with an abnormal response to negative consequences. Where traditional Prospect Theory proposes that people are loss avoidant, we propose that people high on the trait of psychopathy may be more motivated by gains and will be risk seeking in high reward/high risk situations for which most people will avoid risk. We propose two empirical study designs that may be used to test the framework in the future.

Bank capital requirements would entail large social costs if they made resource allocation suboptimal and banking services costly by unduly limiting the banks’ ability to lend. This paper considers three main factors that may make capital requirements relevant, namely, deposit insurance subsidies, stock valuation errors, and tax shields derived from debt financing. The theoretical model analyzes the combined effects of the three factors on the banks’ incentives to make fairly priced loans, which should also be socially optimal loans. A key finding is that the long-term cost of capital requirements is likely to be very small when deposit insurance is underpriced. Increased funding costs resulting from higher capital requirements are absorbed by shareholders of banks, rather than passed on to borrowers. Under some reasonable assumptions, higher capital requirements improve resource allocation by countervailing distortionary effects of deposit insurance subsidies. Short-term adjustment costs can still be large, but it should be relatively easy to mitigate the short-term effects.

This paper specifically underscores the disparities among various ESG rating systems in China, highlighting their varied interpretations and emphasis on corporate financial factors. Analyzing data on Chinese listed firms from 2009-2022, we observe that while company size and leverage ratio uniformly correlate with ESG scores across rating agencies such as Bloomberg, Huazheng, Wind, and Hexun, the influence of factors like return on assets, cash flow, company age, and Tobin's Q is markedly inconsistent among these agencies. For instance, while operational cash flow and company age are positively associated with ESG ratings from Bloomberg, Huazheng, and Wind, they hold an inverse relationship with Hexun's ratings. This divergence underscores the unique data collection, weighting, and evaluation methodologies employed by each rating system. The study emphasizes the criticality of comprehending the nuances of each rating agency's approach when interpreting ESG scores and crafting ESG strategies. Moreover, it advocates for integrating insights from multiple rating systems to cater to the diverse expectations of stakeholders.

Renewable energy has become a crucial topic in recent years as the world is moving towards environment friendly and sustainable energy sources. The aim of this research paper is to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of renewable energy resources such as geothermal, hydro, solar and wind energy in comparison to typical and traditional energy resources such as oil and coal. This paper focuses on the current state of renewable energy adoption, the benefits and drawbacks of all types of renewable energy resources, and the challenges faced in implementing renewable energy on a large scale. Through a comprehensive literature review, this paper discusses the methodologies and results of various studies conducted to understand the potential of renewable energy sources by secondary means. This research paper also presents an original analysis of renewable energy data to identify the most efficient and cost-effective renewable energy source. The results of this study indicate that renewable energy sources can be an effective and efficient replacement for traditional energy sources, but they face significant challenges in adoption and implementation. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and policy changes that can support the growth of renewable energy sources.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on economies everywhere, affecting everything from supply chain networks to international trade as a direct result of the increased vulnerability of more nations and the disruption of the activities of key traders. This research study examines how COVID-19 affected the supply chain on a worldwide and regional scale, as well as the systemic policy and economic steps governments and businesses took to rebound and maintain resilience. COVID-19 has had a significant influence, prompting governments and businesses to take steps to fortify their operations and businesses against disruptions, highlight the necessity for resilience in supply chains and emphasize the importance of managing risk. The supply value chain is at risk from the prolonged implementation of COVID-19 trade measures like border closure, export restrictions, and import sanctions. Many businesses are transitioning from a "recovery mode" to a resilient and sustainable mode" and are beginning to plan for the future. The study suggests that corporate and government leaders should prioritize proactive and adaptable policy, economic, and structural adjustment. This research will be useful to policymakers and industry leaders in their efforts to lessen the effect of COVID-19 on the global supply chain by enforcing governmental, economic, and business reforms built on resilient supply chains and mitigating economic risks during tough times.

Speeding up digital development and building "digital China" is an important strategic deployment of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and a concrete measure to promote the high-quality development of China's sports industry and national health. Based on provincial data in China from 2011 to 2019, an empirical model is used to analyze the relationship between digital construction, sports industry development and national health investment. The results show that digitalization is instrumental for sports industry development and the improvement of national health in China. Digitalization has promoted the healthy development of sports industry and national health by increasing the input of public science and technology.

This study investigates the impact of inventor CEOs on firm performance using a manually collected database of firms' inventors. Our findings reveal that, on average, firms with inventor CEOs experience a one- and two-percentage-point increase in ROA and ROE, respectively, compared to firms with noninventor CEOs. To address potential endogeneity issues, we employ turnover analysis, an instrumental variable approach, and propensity score matching. The estimation results suggest that inventor CEOs significantly enhance firm performance by fostering innovation and total factor productivity. This research contributes novel evidence on the relationship between inventor CEOs and firm performance.

Energy Performance Certificates are a key tool for achieving energy efficiency in the building sector. The existence of this type of legislation provides incentives for the energy renovation of buildings, increases energy-efficiency investments, and improves social welfare. At the same time, informational asymmetries are mitigated and energy consumption is reduced. However, the decarbonization of the building sector might influence regional energy poverty, especially because the rural energy poor are more vulnerable to energy price increases than their urban counterparts. Empirical research on rural-urban differences and the effects of Energy Performance Certificates is urgently needed, given the rising fuel prices and vulnerabilities of the energy market.

This paper investigates the impacts of COVID-19 on women’s employment and gender disparity with a longitudinal dataset spanning the pandemic. We exploit the regional intensities of social vulnerability and temporal variation to implement the difference-in-differences (DID) estimation. The results indicate that the pandemic and its associated lockdowns generate a significant and negative impact on women’s employment but not on men’s employment. Moreover, a counterfactual analysis using pre-pandemic data further supports the causal nature of the documented relationships. The evidence suggests that economic downturns caused by public health emergencies, unlike previous economic recessions, have a greater impact on women, and differentiated policies should be designed.

"Climate Economics and Finance" has risen to prominence as a crucial field, encompassing three primary dimensions: Climate Economics, Climate Finance, and the Intersection of Climate Change and Financial Markets. The adverse externalities arising from climate change, exemplifying a classic instance of "market failure" within market economic frameworks, have garnered global attention. Subsequently, we delve into the literature across three dimensions: the interplay between climate change and macroeconomics, the nexus of climate change and financial markets, and economic or financial resilience. In conclusion, we outline various promising avenues for prospective research in the realm of climate economics and finance.

Following the seminal paper on Optimum Currency Areas (OCA) by Mundell (1961) a wealth of literature has been published on the business cycles synchronisation and its main determinants. This work provides a systematic review of this research field both at country-level synchronization and regional level. The paper aims to evaluate the contribution of the related literature’s methodologies to the measurement of the business cycle and the estimation of the level of synchronization. The discussion of the collected papers is expected to substantially assist researchers, practitioners, and policy makers keen to employ themselves in the area of business cycles synchronisation.

We generalize the 3-player game introduced by Mêgnigbêto (2018) to analyze the synergies existing between universities, the industry and the government in the Triple Helix, a model of research and innovation introduced by Leydesdorff and Etzkowitz (1995). We consider situations involving any number of actors and we allow for a differentiation of their contributions. The resulting game has nonnegative Harsanyi dividends, implying its convexity. The relative size of the core measures the extent of the synergies and the Shapley value measures the contribution of each actor to these synergies. Incidentally, the resulting game lends itself to a wide range of applications.

With the continuous advancement of technological revolution and industrial transformation, digital finance supported by big data and artificial intelligence has become an important engine for promoting carbon neutrality. We measured the industrial structure transformation index (ISU) of 30 provinces in China, and discussed the spatial spillover effect and transmission mechanism between digital finance and ISU using the spatial Durbin model. The research results demonstrate that the digital finance development can significantly improve the local ISU. Interestingly, the impact of digital finance on the ISU of adjacent areas has a significantly negative spatial spillover effect, which still exists under the different spatial weight matrix. Digital finance can improve ISU by improving green technology innovation, upgrading industrial structure, and alleviating capital allocation. We also found that the higher degree of marketization and environmental regulation can increase the positive influences of digital finance on ISU. This research proves the effectiveness of the digital finance in improving energy efficiency, and it encourages policymakers around the world to rely on digital finance to promote ecological governance and achieve high-quality economic development.

Investment funds are increasingly focusing on ESG issues, seeking to contribute to improving environmental, social, and governance concerns. ESG-focused investing involves promoting good ESG performance and may result in a decrease in expected financial returns. This may lead to a conflict between solely profit-focused shareholders and ESG-focused investors, who may respond accordingly. As such, a firm's ESG commitment may trigger several events that can affect the stock price. A firm's ESG commitment may increase its stock price; however, the end of such commitment may also positively affect the stock price. Hedge funds may consider this in their activism which may reshape the way hedge funds target firms and influence their actions accordingly.

The purpose of the study is to determine the relationships between the factors, attitude towards food consumption and green purchase intention in organic food markets of Pakistan. A Total of 301 sample data was analyzed by SPSS and PLS-SEM. These statistical techniques were used to test the hypotheses. The study was supported the theories include theory of Reasoned Action, Planned Behavior, and expectancy-value model of attitude theory. It also enhances the intention of purchase to buy organic food. The study found that environment, consciousness of health, and safeties of food have significantly direct and indirect influence on Intention of purchase while, taste of food, and exposure of media only have significantly indirect effect on Intention of purchase. The study recommended that retailers should advertise organic food via social media or channels as media persuasively increase the chances to grab the consumer attention to buy the product.

We examine the impact of environmental provisions in regional trade agreements (RTAs) on the environmentally harmful exports. Results show that environmental clauses in RTAs help reduce “dirty” exports, whereas RTA depth promotes exports. The exporting country may divert its polluting exports to its trading partner if it faces more environmental provisions with other countries.

Banks are at the core of economic functioning in various countries and are the cause of their development in various fields. In a changing environment, they must deal with certain risks and maintain financial stability as the ultimate objective. The primary objective of this study is to examine the correlation between credit risk and bank stability within the Tunisian banking sector, with a specific focus on understanding the moderating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this, we employ several econometric techniques, including panel unit root and cointegration tests, panel Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS). Our empirical analysis relies on a panel dataset that encompasses a comprehensive sample of 8 Tunisian banks over 2000-2020. The results of our analysis unveil a significant negative relationship between credit risk and bank stability, indicating that higher levels of credit risk exert a detrimental effect on the overall stability of Tunisian banks. Furthermore, our study highlights that this adverse impact is further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that the pandemic acts as a moderator. The findings of this study hold substantial implications for policymakers, regulators, and bank managers in Tunisia. They emphasize the critical importance of implementing robust risk management practices to mitigate credit risk and bolster bank stability. Additionally, the research underscores the need to consider the unique challenges introduced by external shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when assessing the overall stability of the banking system.

We offer an extensive analysis of the significance of information within the realm of Gaussian quadratic economies. We build upon the seminal papers of Morris and Shin (2002, 2007) and consider a signal game of incomplete information. Particularly, we question the suitability of partial transparency portrayed by fragmented information in addition to the private signal in terms of welfare effects. We can summarize our findings in two main points. First, fragmented information, in conjunction with a private signal, can reduce the reliance on public signals. Second, a conflicting effect arises between increasing full disclosure and increasing the precision of fragmented (semi-public) information when examining different complex scenarios, involving for example endogenous private information or imperfect correlated signals. For a critical threshold, an optimal communication strategy designed by fragmented information should be implemented whenever that kind of information is acquired at a high precision.