This study examines the role of news sentiments in the GCC equity markets’ connectedness. We collected news titles for the period from 22nd June 2006 until 31st December 2020 from Gulf News, which is the most widely read English newspaper in the Arab World. We filter these news titles using a carefully designed list of keywords that capture public sentiment on matters related to financial markets. Next, we classify the news titles to compute the geographically distinguished sentiment indexes that allow for a detailed analysis of the source of news sentiment spillovers to compare the impact of domestic versus regional sentiments on the equity markets of GCC countries. Our quantile regression results reveal that equity markets in the GCC are most sensitive to news sentiments when underperforming. Moreover, our results from the connectedness approach suggest that the UAE equity markets are most influenced by domestic sentiments, whilst the KSA equity market is most influenced by regional sentiments from the other GCC countries. Mixed results are found for other countries. The time-varying component of this study also shows that the influence of news spillovers intensified during the major crises events, including the COVID-19 outbreak.

Under the background of digital economy, global tax governance has become one of the important topics in today's world development and change. In recent years, new challenges, such as tax base erosion and profit transfer, and the imbalance of cross-border tax source division, have become prominent, forcing the reform of international tax rules and the reshaping of international tax order. Based on this, the article first deeply digs into the scale and cross-border characteristics of the spatial-temporal aggregation of the digital economy, and comprehensively evaluates its impact on the global tax governance pattern. After that, the article combs out the realistic picture and challenges of the current digital tax reform from the aspects of theoretical basis, basic principles and governance mechanism. Finally, based on China's basic national conditions, the article puts forward some institutional ideas and policy suggestions, with a view to improving China's participation, voice and influence in global tax governance, and also enabling governments, enterprises and residents of various countries to enjoy the fruits of world economic development fairly and promote the construction of Community of Shared Future for Mankind.

Green innovation, as a sustainable development approach, can synergistically promote high-quality economic and social development. We select China's A-share-listed manufacturing corporations from 2011 to 2021 as the research sample to empirically study the impact of executive academic experience on green innovation in manufacturing corporations. Further, we test the relationship between executive academic experience and green innovation in manufacturing corporations under the mediating role of corporate social responsibility and the moderating role of heterogeneous environmental regulations. The study shows that (1) executive academic experience helps to promote green innovation in manufacturing corporations; (2) executive academic experience is conducive to promoting the fulfillment of social responsibility by manufacturing corporations; (3) corporate social responsibility plays a mediating role between executive academic experience and green innovation in manufacturing corporations; (4) environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between executive academic experience and green innovation in manufacturing corporations, and both formal environmental regulation and informal environmental regulation positively moderated the promotion of green innovation in manufacturing corporations by executive academic experience.

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.

Based on the provincial panel data of China from 2011 to 2019 for a total of 9 years, this paper uses the entropy method to construct a comprehensive measure of the digital economy and common prosperity. We theoretically analyzed the impact mechanism of the digital economy on common prosperity using the econometric model. The study found that the digital economy can significantly promote the realization of common prosperity. The digital economy has a significant impact on the development and sustainability of common prosperity. The results of the impact mechanism show that the digital economy promotes common prosperity by increasing entrepreneurial activity. Heterogeneity research shows that the role of digital economy in promoting common prosperity changes with different regions. Specifically, the digital economy in the central and western regions can significantly promote the realization of common prosperity, but this impact is not significant in the eastern region. From the regression results of the digital economy, we can see that industrial digitalization and digital infrastructure play a greater role in promoting common prosperity. Economic openness affects the promotion of digital economy to common prosperity. The conclusion of this work provides an important research reference for the development of digital economy and the realization of common prosperity.

The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan have undergone significant development since the late 1990s. Despite some studies focusing on diplomatic and political relations, the economic dimension of this partnership has not been systematically covered. In this paper, a robust least squares (RLS) approach is used to model bilateral trade between the two countries and identify statistically significant determinants, including economic, institutional, and cultural factors, after analyzing the main economic and subsectoral trade dynamics of both countries. The results reveal that Azerbaijan's imports from Pakistan are significantly associated with the country's higher income and market size, while Pakistan's elevated exchange rate and trade costs hinder bilateral trade. In addition, Pakistan's rising manufacturing output increases exports to Azerbaijan but decreases imports from Azerbaijan. Among institutional determinants, government effectiveness, the trade freedom index (TFI), and political stability play significant roles in bilateral trade. Lastly, it was found that cultural proximity increases Pakistani exports to Azerbaijan but not imports from Azerbaijan. The analysis also indicates that domestic savings stimulate Pakistani exports. These findings underscore the complex nature of bilateral trade between Azerbaijan and Pakistan and highlight the need for institutional arrangements to harmonize trade flows and boost welfare gains from trade. The results may be of great importance to intergovernmental working groups, domestic policymakers, and businesses.

Stock indexes are used as a barometer of economic health, and fluctuations in these markets can have a substantial influence on the economy. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic caused severe economic disruption, as reflected in stock market indexes. Similarly, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has geopolitical implications that might undermine global trade and economic stability, impacting stock market indexes. Considering these developments, the purpose of this article is to examine the co-movements of the stock markets of Austria (ATX), Poland (WIG), the Czech Republic (PX Prague), Hungary (BUX), Croatia (CROBEX), Serbia (BELEX 15), Romania (BET), and Slovenia (SBI TOP) from February 16, 2018, to February 15, 2023. To achieve the research objectives, the aim is to answer the following research question: i) Have the events of 2020 and 2022 accentuated the co-movements between the stock markets in Central Europe? The results show the presence of 21 shocks between markets (out of a potential 56) during the Tranquil subperiod, with the WIG stock index having a greater predictive influence on the behavior of its peers (4 shocks out of 7 possible). During the Stress subperiod, 45 shocks were confirmed (out of 56 possible). The markets that triggered the most market shocks (7 out of 7 possibilities) were BET, BUX, CROBEX, and SBI TOP. The research question was validated based on the conclusion supplied, as all markets increased their movements, showing a considerable effect of the 2020 and 2022 events on these markets.

Carbon emissions trading is essential for reducing carbon emissions, and its role in regional carbon unlocking needs further clarification. This study uses the difference-in-differences (DID) model and synthetic control model (SCM) to evaluate the carbon unlocking effect of China’s six pilot carbon trading provinces. This study found that (1) carbon lock-in effects in China are mainly influenced by technology lock-in and fixed input lock-in; (2) each province’s overall carbon lock-in level presents a decreasing trend yearly, and the regional distribution presents characteristics of “low in the east and high in the west”; (3) carbon emissions trading pilot policies effectively promote the carbon unlocking effect in pilot regions overall, with Guangdong having the most significant unlocking effect. Conversely, Beijing, Hubei, Chongqing, and Shanghai also had different degrees of carbon unlocking. Finally, (4) an assessment of impact mechanisms indicates that technology and institutions have a significant mediating role in effectively promoting carbon unlocking under the carbon trading policy. Conversely, social behavior has an inverse effect, and fixed assets are not affected by the policy. This study demonstrates the carbon unlocking effect of carbon emissions trading and provides a quantitative reference for implementing carbon emissions trading policies and determining carbon unlocking paths.

As the COVID-19 epidemic swept the world in early 2020, it is worth watching how it affects the total factor productivity of enterprises. Based on the theory of information asymmetry and the data of A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2021, this paper conducts an empirical study on the relationship between COVID-19 and the total factor productivity of enterprises. The results show that the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic can significantly reduce the total factor productivity of enterprises, and the conclusion is still true after a series of robustness tests. Taking the financing constraint as an intervening variable, it clearly reveals a transmission mechanism, that is to say, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic exacerbates the financing constraint of the enterprise, thus it makes the total factor productivity of the enterprise reduce. It is further found that the above effects are more obvious for small and medium-sized enterprises and non-intelligent enterprises. Based on this, the government should implement some active economic development policies to create a free, relaxed and orderly market environment for enterprise financing. At the same time, enterprises should not only pay attention to digital and intelligent development, and transform into technology-intensive enterprises, but also strengthen the awareness of worry. Enterprises should store "more grain" for preparing for the cold winter.

This paper provides an overview of the existing literature on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in various fields, including economics, finance, mining, manufacturing, and innovation. The paper identifies the drivers and effects of AI deployment in the context of innovation and highlights the challenges and opportunities that arise from the use of AI. The studies reviewed in this paper cover various topics related to forecasting, including the impact of AI on professional skills, hybrid forecasting techniques for predicting commodity prices, and novel deep reinforcement learning algorithms for crude oil price forecasting. The paper’s contribution lies in its systematic and comprehensive approach to reviewing the literature, which allows for a better understanding of the impact of AI on various fields and the identification of strategies to address the challenges that arise from its deployment.

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.

The sensitive nature of interest rate has spurred empirical interests on the factors that determine it. This paper examined the joint impact of exchange rate and foreign direct investment inflows on interest rate in Nigeria over the period from 1981-2022. The study made use of the auto regressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test and results of findings reveal that in both the short-run and the long-run the impact of the interaction between FDI inflows and exchange rate on real interest rate was negative and significant. Also, while credit to the private sector was found to have significant positive impact on real interest rate in both the time horizons, the impact of consumer price index was negative only in the short. Oil revenue was found to impact positively on real interest rate only in the long-run, but the impact of broad money supply was negative and significant in both the short-run and the long-run. The study suggests that policies to regulate domestic interest rate should focus on joint regulation of both exchange rate and FDI inflows and this requires a synergy between monetary and fiscal policies.

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.

The issue of food security has become a global challenge, and it is therefore crucial to seek measures to ensure food security. As an emerging economic model, the digital economy is regarded as the most effective tool for the modernization of agricultural development. As a large food-producing country, China faces serious problems of agricultural non-point source pollution and food loss and waste. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of digital village construction on food security. We measure the level of digital village construction and food security by entropy method and use the spatial Durbin model to analyze them. In this paper, we found that digital village construction facilitates food security not only in the region but also in neighboring regions. In addition, we found that the promotion effect is significant in main grain producing regions, while the opposite result is found in non-main grain producing regions. We hold that the application of the digital economy in the countryside has played an obvious role in promoting food security in main grain producing provinces, and provides important experimental evidence for reference to ensure food security in the future.

Based on the panel data of western central-cities from 2002 to 2021, this paper uses the intermediary effect model to analyze the relationship between urban internationalization, innovation ability and urban competitiveness. It is found that: (1) The internationalization of western central-cities has a positive and direct impact on the promotion of urban competitiveness, which has a significant impact on economic strength and infrastructure, and a weak impact on government efficiency and market efficiency The marginal growth effect of internationalization on urban scale will gradually decrease with the improvement of urban development level. (2) The continuous promotion of city internationalization can promote the innovation ability to enhance the competitiveness of the city. Compared with the internationalization of cities, the influence of innovation ability on the competitiveness of cities is small, and the innovation ability of western central-cities and each city is weak. The scale effect has become the main motivation to promote the competitiveness of cities. (3) In the process of internationalization of western central-cities, innovation ability has a part of intermediary effect on the improvement of urban competitiveness, and the effect on urban “hard environment” is significantly greater than that on urban “Soft-environment”. The results of direct and indirect impact tests show that the impact of the process of internationalization of western central-cities on urban competitiveness is exogenous.

On the basis of the background of the global green development wave, this paper studies the mechanism between ecological value transformation and urban-rural common prosperity as well as selects 24 data indicators in relation to ecological value transformation, i.e., green development level from 2008 to 2017, calculate the comprehensive score of China's green development level by entropy method, measures the gap between the rich and the poor between urban and rural areas by urban-rural income ratio, and using correlation analysis, she examines the relationship between green development level and the urban-rural income ratio. Moreover, through empirical analysis, there is a significant negative correlation between the level of green development and the ratio of urban to rural income, according to the findings. The improvement of the level of green development will assist narrow the income gap between urban and rural residents as well as achieve common prosperity.

A differences-in-differences (DID) model and financial data from Chinese listed firms from 2011 to 2019 are used to empirically investigate the effects of the digital economy on corporate financial asset holdings using the "Broadband China" policy as a quasi-natural experiment. After robustness testing and heterogeneity effects are disposed of, the digital economy dramatically boosts corporate financial asset holdings. According to the channel analysis, the digital economy can reduce corporate financing constraints and boost corporate financial asset holdings, notably based on speculative demand. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the digital economy has a greater impact on corporate financial asset holdings for firms with higher market competition, small-scale firms with a short-listed age, and firms in the western region. This paper provides policy guidance for enterprises returning to the real economy.

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.

A high inflation period of seven years (1978-1985) in Israel, which turned into a hyperinflation, puzzled Israeli economists, who tried to understand its causes and mechanisms. As a result, they provided fourteen different explanations. Although all of the explanations were based on the same data, the researchers’ conclusions were either different or contradictory. This situation provides a virtual laboratory for the study of the ways and methods of economic thought; it is a classical Ceteris patribus situation. This laboratory further raises other subjects and questions. Are there principal differences between the economists' explanations? Is it possible to classify these differences? How do economic explanations for inflation differ from non-economic ones? In this article, I classified thirteen economic studies and one non-economic study into five clusters. This was the methodological tool used to inquire into the economic thought in this virtual laboratory.

The objective of this study is to explore the link between the financial sector, macroeconomic fluctuations, and sustainable energy production in South Asia. It evaluates existing research, identifies gaps, and suggests future directions. The study emphasizes the need to understand how economic activities influence the environment and how environmental factors impact economic and financial outcomes. It also examines financial market responses to understand the manifestation of economic and environmental factors, using data from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka spanning 1987 to 2022. The results show that investment in green energy is essential for developing countries. The study suggests that the relationship between the region's stock market, GDP, carbon emissions, and green energy is complex, with a negative response to domestic credit indicating potential obstacles to investment, such as policy barriers or insufficient incentives. Mixed responses highlight the need for credit directed towards sustainable projects. Variations in responses across economic indicators may indicate policy challenges or structural issues, necessitating a reassessment of government policies to incentivize sustainable investments and promote green technology adoption. These results imply that policymakers should precisely assess the environmental ramifications of economic growth and stock market activities. This presents an opportunity to craft policies that guide investments toward cleaner technologies and industries, aligning economic growth with sustainable practices. Policymakers and financial institutions should explore ways to incentivize green energy investments and promote sustainable economic growth.