The Transnational Tilt of the Treadmill and the Role of Trade Openness on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative International Study, 1965–2010

There are various schools of thought regarding the relationship between the environment and economy. Ecological modernization argues that the harmful effects of economic growth and development on the environment decline through time, whereas the treadmill of production and ecologically unequal exchange postulate different perspectives. This study relies on World Bank and World Resources Institute data for the period of 1965–2010. Time‐series cross‐sectional Prais‐Winsten (PW) regression models with panel‐corrected standard errors (PCSE) are employed to examine whether economic growth and trade openness intensified or decoupled in relation to three measures of carbon dioxide (CO₂₎ emissions during this period. The findings of this study indicate that there has been a “tilt” in the treadmill of production—that is, the most environmentally degrading production processes have moved to less developed countries. Furthermore, integration into the world economy has been associated with an intensification in CO₂ emissions for less developed countries. Surprisingly, however, this phenomenon does not seem to be driven by exports sent to high‐income nations, suggesting that there are mechanisms embodied within the global organization of production that require further exploration.     

‘Surrounded with so much uncertainty’: asylum seekers and manufactured precarity in Australia

In Australia, nearly 30,000 asylum seekers have the legal right to work, but their temporary and conditional migration status exposes them to work-related precarity. This article draws on a small qualitative study that examined asylum seekers’ experiences of seeking work and achieving economic security. Over an 18-month period, 29 semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers who had work rights in Australia were conducted. It provides insights into how restrictive immigration policies manufacture precarity through short-term, conditional visas, resulting in employer risk aversion, segmentation into insecure work, and in-work instability and mistreatment. Asylum seekers manage their experiences and feelings of pervasive insecurity through individual coping and survival strategies.     

数字经济发展的评估指标体系研究——基于投入产出视角

发展数字经济是我国重要国策，对其评估指标体系的研究受到多方关注，但目前我国数字经济测度仅仅局限于数字化产业和数字化创新，尚未形成一个完整、系统的数字经济评价指标体系。文章在引入治理环境的基础上，基于经济学上的投入产出视角探讨我国数字经济发展的有效测度方法，在研究数字经济的发展效应中新添了数字化治理和数字知识型人才供给两项指标，构建了一套基于投入产出视角的数字经济发展评价指标体系，为衡量数字经济发展提供了一个系统的体系。为提升数字治理现代化水平，更好发挥数字经济在促进经济高质量发展中的作用提供了实践意义和政策参考。     

The “Absence” of Asian Regional Economic Integration and the Development Orientation of the Belt and Road

Asia has a special significance in China’s neighborhood strategy. Geographically, the Belt and Road Initiative faces the countries of Asia or China’s neighbors in the first place. Asia is clearly marked by an imbalance in and “absence” of regional economic integration. This “absence” is two-fold: it is expressed on the one hand as a lack of unified institutional arrangements for regional economic integration, and on the other as the inability of underdeveloped countries in the region to truly participate in regional economic integration and thereby gain opportunities for development. Compared with the rule-oriented nature of existing regional economic integration mechanisms, the Belt and Road Initiative, as a new type of regional cooperation mechanism, displays an orientation towards development. All existing regional economic integration arrangements, regardless of their form, establish specific rules on access thresholds, the rights and duties of member countries, schedules and roadmaps, dispute resolution mechanisms and so forth. This is not the case for the Belt and Road, which is not predicated on specific rules, but establishes its overall framework by orienting itself towards development. Overall, the development orientation of the Belt and Road is helpful not only in overcoming the inherent defects of Asian regional economic integration, but in responding to the new challenge of anti-globalization. This is an institutional public good that China offers to Asia and to the world.     

Gender egalitarianism,perceived economic insecurity,and fertility intentions in Spain: A qualitative analysis

Economic uncertainty contributes to low fertility in many European countries. On the other hand, greater gender equality may positively influence fertility. This paper examines how these two forces interact in Spain. We use in-depth interviews to analyse fertility decision-making among young and highly educated partnered adults living in urban areas. Highly gender-egalitarian interviewees are less likely to perceive economic insecurity as an obstacle to proceeding to a next birth than less egalitarian interviewees. But there is not necessarily a difference in these two groups’ overall fertility intentions, as highly egalitarian interviewees’ greater valuation of stable employment for both partners requires institutional and policy support for dual-earner couples’ childrearing. When we look only at interviewees who express economic insecurity, somewhat higher fertility intentions are expressed by those holding less gender-egalitarian attitudes. Our results underline the complexity of the interrelationships between economic insecurity, gender egalitarianism, and fertility intentions.     

Multivariate normal estimation: the case (n < p)

Estimation in the multivariate context when the number of observations available is less than the number of variables is a classical theoretical problem. In order to ensure estimability, one has to assume certain constraints on the parameters. A method for maximum likelihood estimation under constraints is proposed to solve this problem. Even in the extreme case where only a single multivariate observation is available, this may provide a feasible solution. It simultaneously provides a simple, straightforward methodology to allow for specific structures within and between covariance matrices of several populations. This methodology yields exact maximum likelihood estimates.     

全域旅游视角下的天府旅游名县竞争力研究——以四川省县域城市为例

天府旅游名县创建是按照全域旅游发展理念开展的，以建设世界重要旅游目的地为目标的建设工程。文章在系统整理旅游目的地竞争力主要研究成果基础上，建立15个天府旅游名县竞争力评价指标，基于可量化数据，采用主成分和聚类分析方法，对进入天府旅游名县的40个县(市、区）进行实证研究。结果显示，旅游核心竞争力、旅游发展规模、旅游综合实力、非优势资源品牌创建能力等因素是构成天府旅游名县评判的主要因子；从空间结构上看，呈现成都平原最强，川西、川北居中，川南最弱的局面；从创建动力上看，不应仅关注创建结果，而应通过创建工作，促进县域经济综合发展水平和城市发展潜力提升。     

习近平“以人民为中心”经济发展思想探微

习近平“以人民为中心”的经济发展思想是其对唯物史观人民主体地位、党的宗旨思想的继承与发展；是早期基层工作经历、主持福建和中央工作经验的实践养成；其核心内容体现在“以人民为中心”的新发展理念和全面深化改革思想之中。其价值意蕴在于顺应了新时代社会主要矛盾的变化，彰显了我国传统“民本”思想，具有一定的民族性与世界性。