Evolutionary Game Analysis of Governmental Intervention in the Sustainable Mechanism of China’s Blue Finance
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 3)
The manuscript entitled Evolutionary Game Analysis of Governmental Intervention in the Sustainable Mechanism of Blue Finance written by Zhihan Chen and Wei-Lun Huang has been improved by the author after suggestion of the referees. The authors have been accomplished the issues highlighted and now the manuscript is ready to be accepted and published
Author Response
Thanks for the positive comments. Also, thanks to the reviewers and editors for their help in revising and publishing the paper.
Reviewer 2 Report (Previous Reviewer 1)
Authors presented good written and well-structured paper with clear aim and powerful discussion. I think the article might be accepted as it is.
Author Response
Thanks for the positive comments. Also, thanks to the reviewers and editors for their help in revising and publishing the paper.
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In general, this article has significant implications for the marine industry in sustainable blue finance. The mechanism also provides the state to develop its ocean economy. However, there are still a few suggestions for the authors as follows:
- In the BFM structure shown in Figure 2, what is the difference between the bold and other arrows? What is the relationship and difference between the realized and virtual lines? Finally, a legend should be provided so that more readers can understand it more easily.
- Figure 3 Dynamic Game Tree shows the part of government intervention. It’s suggested that in this paper, the authors can adopt the table to demonstrate a little bit about government intervention strategies or incentives for business investment, government subsidies, etc. so that more readers or countries can use it as a reference.
- It’s recommended that the manuscript could be accepted after minor revision.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
Point 1. In the BFM structure shown in Figure 2, what is the difference between the bold and other arrows? What is the relationship and difference between the realized and virtual lines? Finally, a legend should be provided so that more readers can understand it more easily.
Response 1:
Thank you very much for indicating the lack of a legend to illustrate the difference between the bold and other arrows，the relationship and difference between the realized and virtual lines. We have carefully added the legend in Figure 2 as bellow: The bold solid line indicates the “gaming player”, the solid line indicates the “stakeholders” associated with the blue financial mechanism, the virtual lines indicates and the framework of the “blue financial mechanism”. The two-way bold arrows indicate “alignment of interest”, while general two-way arrows indicate “game-related”. The bold single arrows indicate “including”, while the single arrows indicate “implementation”. The difference between the realized and virtual lines is the virtual lines represent the broader framework, containing many components, while the realized lines represent a specific aspect. And the relationship between the realized and virtual lines is both are closely related to the Blue Financial Mechanism.
Point 2. Figure 3 Dynamic Game Tree shows the part of government intervention. It’s suggested that in this paper, the authors can adopt the table to demonstrate a little bit about government intervention strategies or incentives for business investment, government subsidies, etc. so that more readers or countries can use it as a reference.
Response 2:
Thank you very much for indicating adopting the table to demonstrate a little bit about government intervention strategies or incentives for business investment, government subsidies, etc. so that more readers or countries can use it as a reference. We have added a table on the methods the government intervenes to the article, as shown below.
Based on the pure strategy Nash equilibrium analysis, the PSIMS can be considered as an equilibrium strategy when the government intervenes in a static game. The intervention of the government can take different forms, such as monetary incentives, which involve providing subsidies and tax breaks to reduce the investment costs of private enterprises. Alternatively, non-monetary incentives can also be used, including official recognition, media publicity, and other forms of commendation to acknowledge the contributions made by private sector entities ( Table 1) .
Table 1. Government Intervention Methods.
|
Government Intervention Methods |
Monetary Incentives |
Non-Monetary Incentives |
|
Subsidies |
Official Recognition |
|
|
Tax Breaks |
Media Publicity |
|
|
... |
... |
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
There is a very detailed lead in and extensive referencing in the introduction without much focus. It can be cut down and edited with a clearer aim.
Line 124- according to [21]- name authors
Line 206- what discipline is Health Care Science Ecology? Explain alternatively.
Fig 1- Why did you use R-squared correlation on a bar chart? Not applicable. Remove r-squared.
All figures not sourced herewith-source figures
Line 423-to conclusion- reword with in conclusion
Figures 8 onwards are too small. Enlarge.
This is a very detailed modelling paper. I am unsure of its absolute applicability to this journal or really to Marine Science. Think about resubmitting to a business journal.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
Point 1. There is a very detailed lead in and extensive referencing in the introduction without much focus. It can be cut down and edited with a clearer aim.
Response 1:
Thank you very much for indicating the extensive referencing in the introduction without much focus. We have carefully cut down and edited with a clearer aim. We are also aware that the citation of references should be specific and somewhat targeted. In addition, to achieve greater clarity, we have streamlined the introduction.
Point 2. Line 124- according to [21]- name authors
Response 2:
Thank you very much for indicating the omission of line 124- according to [21]- name authors. We have added the author's name in line 124 and double-checked all the citation formatting in this paper.
Point 3. Line 206- what discipline is Health Care Science Ecology? Explain alternatively.
Response 3:
Thank you very much for indicating the mistake of Health Care Science Ecology. We have amended the text to Health Care Science. To prevent similar errors, we have carefully checked the proper nouns in the entire article.
Point 4. Fig 1- Why did you use R-squared correlation on a bar chart? Not applicable. Remove r-squared.
Response 4:
Thank you very much for indicating the R-squared correlation on a bar chart. We have removed r-squared. At the same time, we are aware that any superfluous information may bring misunderstanding to the readers, so we have carefully checked the whole article and removed some unnecessary information from the article.
Point 5. All figures not sourced herewith-source figures
Response 5:
Thank you very much for indicating all figures not sourced herewith-source figures. We understand that the source of the data may indeed make the reader doubt the authenticity of the data in the reading of the figure, so its essential. Therefore, we have carefully added source of all figures.
Point 6. Line 423-to conclusion- reword with in conclusion
Response 6:
Thank you very much for indicating the improper of the line 423-to conclusion. The paragraph was reword as follows. Also for the convenience of readers, the table on the methods of government intervention have been added.
Based on the pure strategy Nash equilibrium analysis, the PSIMS can be considered as an equilibrium strategy when the government intervenes in a static game. The intervention of the government can take different forms, such as monetary incentives, which involve providing subsidies and tax breaks to reduce the investment costs of private enterprises. Alternatively, non-monetary incentives can also be used, including official recognition, media publicity, and other forms of commendation to acknowledge the contributions made by private sector entities (Table 1) .
Table 1. Government Intervention Methods.
|
Government intervention methods |
Monetary incentives |
Non-monetary incentives |
|
Subsidies |
Official recognition |
|
|
Tax breaks |
Media publicity |
|
|
... |
... |
Point 7. Figures 8 onwards are too small. Enlarge.
Response 7:
Thank you very much for indicating that Figures 8 onwards are too small. We have enlarged not only Figures 8, but also Figures 7, Figures 9-11. Besides, all figures have been carefully checked to ensure that the reader can see what is in them clearly.
Reviewer 3 Report
The revised manuscript entitled Evolutionary Game Analysis of Governmental Intervention in the Sustainable Mechanism of Blue Finance written by Zhihan Chen and Wei-Lun Huang is in the now called frontiers of the sciences because they are aboard a interesting topic of the blue economy. The blue economy looks for a sustainable use of the ocean through many activities working together such tourism, fisheries and maritime transport. The manuscript proposed a quantitative analysis using a numerical simulation. The findings are very interesting and should be know by academics and decision maker. The manuscript is well presented and developed to achieve the conclusion. Even the authors acknowledge some weaknesses on their proposal, the model is a very good starting pint for future work in the field. The government and private sector should to work together solving some of the actual marine issues. I recommend publishing the manuscript in sustainability journal.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
The revised manuscript entitled Evolutionary Game Analysis of Governmental Intervention in the Sustainable Mechanism of Blue Finance written by Zhihan Chen and Wei-Lun Huang is in the now called frontiers of the sciences because they are aboard a interesting topic of the blue economy. The blue economy looks for a sustainable use of the ocean through many activities working together such tourism, fisheries and maritime transport. The manuscript proposed a quantitative analysis using a numerical simulation. The findings are very interesting and should be know by academics and decision maker. The manuscript is well presented and developed to achieve the conclusion. Even the authors acknowledge some weaknesses on their proposal, the model is a very good starting point for future work in the field. The government and private sector should to work together solving some of the actual marine issues. I recommend publishing the manuscript in sustainability journal.
Response:
Thank you very much for your recommendation.
Reviewer 4 Report
Dear authors,
The article is interesting. The authors address a new aspect of governmental intervention in the sustainable mechanism of blue finance, using the method of game analysis. The course of the study and the results are of interest to a wide range of readers. The article is well written, but it has defects:
1.The paper uses the analysis method of game theory. It should be stated more clear why this research method is adopted and what is the advantage of this method.
2.As mentioned in the manuscript, “marine economy”“ocean economy”(line 37)” “maritime economy”and “blue economy”. Maybe the expression of some proper nouns should be consistent.
3.As mentioned in the manuscript of the introduction, the theoretical and practical contribution of this study are explained respectively. However, it does not point out the contributions in the conclusions. Lines 886-942 provide scant evidence of this.
4.Please ensure that all abbreviations that appear in the main text are defined upon first use (or only mention). If a term is used fewer than three times in the paper, no abbreviation should be introduced.
5.There should be a consistent reference style throughout the paper; MDPI uses the numeral in square brackets format. The citation order of references in the article is disordered.
6. In the literature review part , the author only do some literature review on the background of BFM. There are also some literature reviews in the introduction. Maybe it should be consolidated into one part.
7. The author puts forward a series of suggestions and policy recommendations in section 5. But it still lacks some targeted suggestions according to marine economy, society, and environment respectively.
8. The language of the paper needs to be polished as a whole. There are some detailed errors that need to be adjusted and improved.(For example, Line 896, The beginning of a sentence needs to be capitalized)
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer Comments
Point 1. The paper uses the analysis method of game theory. It should be stated more clear why this research method is adopted and what is the advantage of this method.
Response 1:
Thank you very much for indicating the suggestions of stating more clear why this research method is adopted and what is the advantage of this method. We have added the reasons and the advantage of this method as below.
The government aims to minimize the provision of subsidies and tax exemptions in order to achieve PSIMS, while the PS strives to maximize the availability of subsidies and tax concessions in order to minimize the investment costs incurred. Each participant strives to optimize their individual benefits. Accordingly, a game between government and PS is formed. Furthermore, the interplay between government and PS is a longstanding issue, and during the course of this interaction, both parties may take into consideration their respective interests and adjust their strategies accordingly. Consequently, the two participants in BFM exhibit a level of sustainability and adaptability, rather than being static entities. Through a process of trial and error, they continually modify their strategies in response to evolving circumstances, striving to achieve optimal results and ultimately attain a state of dynamic equilibrium [20]. As a result, this paper utilizes dynamic game theory to investigate and analyze the optimal strategies in the game played between government and PS, which is consistent with the principles of dynamic game theory. Understanding the evolution sheds light on the dynamics and sustainability of BFM. In evolutionary games, the assumption of complete rationality is abandoned in favour of analysing the dynamic adjustment process, which compensates for the lack of a rational and static perspective [21] and is more in line with real-life human decision-making situations in which game parties can choose to cooperate or not cooperate based on the analysis of realistic factors, their own cognition, and the continuous trial and error process [22].
Point 2. As mentioned in the manuscript, “marine economy” “ocean economy”(line 37)” “maritime economy” and “blue economy”. Maybe the expression of some proper nouns should be consistent.
Response 2:
Thank you very much for indicating the consistent expression of some proper nouns. We have unified the proper nouns and revised them to “ocean economy”. Besides we have double-checked all proper nouns in the full article and revised them for consistency.
Point 3. As mentioned in the manuscript of the introduction, the theoretical and practical contribution of this study are explained respectively. However, it does not point out the contributions in the conclusions. Lines 886-942 provide scant evidence of this.
Response 3:
Thank you very much for indicating the theoretical and practical contribution of this study are not pointed out the contributions in the conclusions. We have revised the conclusion section by combining theoretical and practical contributions. Also we are aware that the contribution needs to be closely associated with the research conclusions, and we will pay more attention to this issue in our future studies.
Point 4. Please ensure that all abbreviations that appear in the main text are defined upon first use (or only mention). If a term is used fewer than three times in the paper, no abbreviation should be introduced.
Response 4:
Thank you very much for indicating ensuring that all abbreviations that appear in the main text are defined upon first use (or only mention). We have trimmed some of the abbreviations and carefully checked the number of citations for all of them.
Point 5. There should be a consistent reference style throughout the paper; MDPI uses the numeral in square brackets format. The citation order of references in the article is disordered.
Response 5:
Thank you very much for indicating the reference style throughout the paper and citation order of references in the article. We corrected the reference style and maintained a consistent style. Besides, we have carefully reordered the citation order of references in the article. There are references that have been cited more than twice, so the same citation order will appear in the paper.
Point 6. In the literature review part , the author only do some literature review on the background of BFM. There are also some literature reviews in the introduction. Maybe it should be consolidated into one part.
Response 6:
Thank you very much for indicating some literature review on the background of BFM and in the introduction should be consolidated into one part. We have merged the literature review on BFM in the introduction into literature review on the background of BFM. Besides we are also aware that the introduction and literature review sections need to be well differentiated and there should not be a mix of similar content.
Point 7. The author puts forward a series of suggestions and policy recommendations in section 6. But it still lacks some targeted suggestions according to marine economy, society, and environment respectively.
Response 7:
Thank you very much for indicating the lack of targeted suggestions according to marine economy, society, and environment respectively in section 6. As suggested, we have made corrections and additions to section 6. And with the conclusion of this paper, we have proposed practical policies and recommendations for the development of marine economy, society and environment from three perspectives: government, marine sector and private sector.
Point 8. The language of the paper needs to be polished as a whole. There are some detailed errors that need to be adjusted and improved. (For example, Line 896, The beginning of a sentence needs to be capitalized)
Response 7:
Thank you very much for indicating the detailed errors that need to be adjusted and improved. We have carefully checked the language in the paper carefully and corrected inappropriate expressions. Meanwhile, we realized the importance of the language of the paper needing to be polished as a whole, so we unified some professional expressions in conjunction with the preceding and following texts.
