Regional Science and Environmental Economics

Good solutions for sustainable development promote social, ecological, and economic aspects in synergistic ways. Wind energy projects have a large potential to achieve this, if their locations are carefully selected. On the contrary, placing wind turbines inside forest areas with high biodiversity, cultural significance, and recreational use generates conflicts between different dimensions of sustainability, and between supporters and opponents of such projects. The resulting green-versus-green dilemma involves a conflict between idealism and pragmatism, as incorporated in literature by the personalities of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Sustainable solutions require both aspects as well as realism. Forest areas have crucial climate benefits ranging from the absorption of CO₂ and other emissions, providing shade and cooling during heatwaves to the storage of humidity and water. Climate change is not solely a problem of rising temperature. It also involves changes in humidity and precipitation, and the related problems of desertification and deforestation. Accordingly, a strategy of deforestation for hosting wind farms seems questionable. Instead, constructing wind turbines with energy storage capacities on deserted ground and using their economic and energetic gains for a subsequent afforestation of the surrounding land would achieve synergetic sustainability benefits for biodiversity, human wellbeing, and the climate. Full article

Energy poverty, defined as the inability to access reliable, safe, and affordable energy services necessary to meet basic needs, represents a critical global challenge alongside traditional poverty concerns. Unlike conventional poverty, energy poverty emphasizes the importance of energy availability and affordability, with inadequate access adversely affecting health, education, and social well-being. Recognized as a primary challenge within the global energy landscape, energy poverty has garnered considerable attention from both international communities and academic researchers. This paper provides a comprehensive overview, starting with the definition and measurement of energy poverty, discussing its current status, exploring its causes and impacts, and proposing actionable policy interventions. Finally, it outlines future prospects for addressing and mitigating energy poverty. Full article

This paper explores the effects of the cessation of forest commodity exports and the implementation of an industrialization strategy in Gabon, drawing on traditional theories of regional growth. The creation of the Nkok Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in 2012, accompanied by its strategic location and significant infrastructure investments, illustrates the application of Rosenstein-Rodan’s “Big Push” and Douglass-North’s “export base” theories. These initiatives also led to a polarization process consistent with the work of Perroux and other theorists of unbalanced regional growth. The study assesses the impact of this SEZ on regions external to the SEZ and the macroenvironment during the period 2014–2022. It highlights the industrial and commercial mechanisms that promote agglomeration economies, technological diffusion, the creation of economic connections, and the structuring into “core-periphery” zones, in accordance with the concepts of Hirschman. The results show a strong positive correlation between industrial income, exports (excluding raw materials), and industrial production. However, the ban on the export of wood raw materials led to a negative relationship between industrial income and exports of these products. Furthermore, the local processing of forest products has promoted industrial diversification, generated new products, and gradually increased added value. The process of economic and geographical polarization is described as a transitional phase of imbalances whose long-term implications require in-depth studies, particularly in the context of countries in the South and underdeveloped environments. Full article

Rural tourism has emerged as a significant option to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life in the new era. Evaluating the competitiveness of the rural tourism industry plays a crucial role in promoting rural revitalization. This article is based on a modified Porter’s diamond model. This study focuses on representative rural tourism demonstration areas in the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, specifically Wenjiang District in Chengdu, Huangpi District in Wuhan, and Jiangning District in Nanjing. The Delphi method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process were employed to construct a competitiveness evaluation index system for rural tourism and to assign weights. This article evaluates and compares the competitiveness of the rural tourism industry in the case study regions. This research reveals that the competitiveness of the rural tourism industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt exhibits a pattern of strong competitiveness in the middle reaches, weaker competitiveness in the upper reaches, and moderate competitiveness in the lower reaches. These differences are significantly influenced by the region’s tourism resource endowments, tourism infrastructure, and market scale. Huangpi District demonstrates strong competitiveness in its rural tourism industry. This strength is attributed to its well-developed rural tourism supply system. Jiangning District has moderate competitiveness in its rural tourism industry. This is supported by a strong market demand and a relatively complete tourism support system. Wenjiang District shows weaker competitiveness in its rural tourism industry. This weakness results from a fragile rural tourism supply system and a sluggish market demand. This article concludes with recommendations for enhancing the competitiveness of rural tourism in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Full article

This study explores the relationships between the digital economy, R&D investment, and carbon emissions, as well as the mediating role of financial technology (fintech). Despite a growing body of research, the impact of the digital economy on carbon emissions remains contested, partly due to the limited scope and inconsistent measures in existing studies. Additionally, while R&D is a pivotal driver of modern development, its potential quadratic effects on carbon emissions in China remain unexplored. By employing a comprehensive Digital Economy Index and analyzing panel data from 2011 to 2020 across Chinese regions, this study provides new insights into how digitalization and innovation influence carbon emissions. The findings reveal a positive linear correlation between the digital economy and CO₂ emissions over the last decade. Moreover, R&D investments exhibit an inverse U-shaped relationship with emissions, acting as an effective factor in reducing CO₂ emissions. Notably, the turning point of this relationship occurs in Quadrant I, where most regions are clustered, indicating substantial efficiency gains from early-stage R&D investments and their significant potential to enhance sustainable development. Furthermore, fintech emerges as a significant mediator in the R&D–emissions dynamic, underscoring its critical role in this context. Full article

Promoting green innovation is an important way to implement the dual carbon strategy and build an innovative country. Based on the panel data of 250 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper constructs a two-way fixed-effect model, an intermediary effect model and a spatial Durbin model, and empirically studies the impact and mechanism of digital finance on urban green innovation. The results show that digital finance can improve the ability of urban green innovation, and its enabling effect mainly comes from improving the financial service model and improving the digital level. However, the role of digital finance in improving the efficiency of green innovation is not significant. Digital finance can promote urban green innovation by promoting the development of the Internet and alleviating the distortion of labor factors. A good environment for innovation will enhance the role of digital finance in promoting green innovation. Through further analysis, the spatial spillover effect of digital finance on green innovation at this stage is dominated by the siphon effect while the “trickle-down” effect is blocked. Full article

As a branch of regional innovation theories, social filter theory fundamentally reveals the reasons behind the geography of innovation in different countries and regions. However, compared with other regional innovation theories, social filter theory has remained largely ignored and has not been fully developed. To enrich and develop social filter theory, this article systematically traces its origins and comments on four aspects: the concept of social filters, the construction and measurement of social filter indicators, the mechanisms, and empirical research on how social filters affect regional innovation and the transformation of innovation. Until recently, regional innovation theories primarily focused on superficially describing the phenomenon of innovation, but they paid little attention to the local social filter conditions necessary for innovation generation and transformation, which are prerequisites for constructing a mature innovation system. Therefore, further efforts are needed to address the current knowledge gap based on the recommended directions in this article. Full article

Spatial distribution is a critical factor influencing the success or failure of hotel management. This study examines the spatial distribution patterns of foreign star-rated hotels in China from 2000 to 2015 based on 27 typical city cases, using global and local spatial autocorrelation methods within GIS spatial analysis. The research explores the evolution of these patterns, analyzes key characteristics, and combines these insights with a stepwise regression method. Pearson correlation analysis is used to identify factors that influence the evolution of the spatial pattern. This study reveals that, first, the Z-value of global spatial autocorrelation of foreign star-rated hotels in China decreases from 2.38 to 1.63, indicating that the spatial distribution of foreign star-rated hotels in China has shifted from imbalanced to balanced, transitioning from economically developed regions such as areas with overseas Chinese populations, provincial capitals, and municipalities directly under central government control, toward tourist cities. Second, star-rated hotels hold a critical position within the spatial pattern, highlighting their central role in shaping the hospitality landscape. Third, the spatial distribution of foreign star-rated hotels is primarily influenced by the number of inbound tourists, followed by the presence of scenic spots rated 4A and above. The influence of other factors is found to be less significant. Fourth, the correlation coefficient between tourism demand and foreign star-rated hotels increased by 0.004, whereas the correlation coefficient between tourism supply and foreign star-rated hotels decreased by 0.036, indicating that market factors are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the evolution of foreign star-rated hotels in China, reflecting broader market dynamics. This study provides practical guidance for local Chinese hotels facing competition from foreign-funded establishments and offers theoretical insight into the strategic implementation of transnational operations. It points out the expansion direction of local Chinese hotels across different developmental stages. Full article

Fishery plays an important role in world trade; however, the embodied energy associated with fishery remains incompletely quantified. In this study, we applied the multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) approach to understand the evolution and drivers of embodied energy in the intermediate and final fishery trade between China and countries along the 21st century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) from 2006 to 2021. The findings are as follows: (1) Embodied energy in the intermediate fishery trade averaged 92.2% of embodied energy from the total fishery trade. China has gradually shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer of embodied energy in intermediate, final, and total fishery trade with countries along the MSR. (2) From a regional perspective, the embodied energy in China’s fishery trade with Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia comprises the majority of the embodied energy from China’s total fishery trade (82.0% on average annually). From a sectoral perspective, petroleum, chemical and non-metallic mineral products, and transport equipment were prominent in the embodied energy of China’s intermediate fishery trade (64.0% on average annually). (3) Economic output increases were the main contributors to the increasing embodied energy in all types of fishery trade in China. The improvement in energy efficiency effectively reduced the embodied energy in all types of fishery trade in China, but its negative driving force weakened in recent years owing to minor energy efficiency improvements. Understanding the embodied energy transactions behind the intermediate and final fishery trade with countries along the MSR can provide a theoretical reference for China to optimize its fishery trade strategy and save energy. Full article

Helium, as a by-product of the natural gas industry, will be impacted by the decline in consumption of fossil fuels as the world moves towards net-zero carbon emissions. In September 2022, all assets relating to the US government’s previous helium industry were sold. In the US, helium is now only available from private suppliers. In June 2022, Russia banned the export of helium to “unfriendly” countries, highlighting the geopolitical issues surrounding the industry. In the past, helium was popularized, and the industry was supported by its military applications (filling dirigible aircraft, welding fighter jets and purging rocket engines). It also plays an important role in supporting present-day technologies (e.g., MRI machines and spectroscopy) and will also be important for a high-tech future (e.g., in quantum computing, fusion power, and space exploration). Shortages of helium will inevitably cause skyrocketing prices and consequently lead to significant challenges for research and development (as has happened in the past) and technological progress, as well as a slowdown in world economic growth and prosperity. Anticipated declines in natural gas production, associated with moves towards net-zero carbon emissions targets, make helium less accessible. While this is problematic for industry in the short term, it perhaps preserves some low entropy helium within the ground, making it more accessible to future generations. Given anticipated limitations to the future supply of helium, technological developments are currently focused on a few areas: the replacement of helium by other gases in industrial applications, changing technological approaches to not require helium, and reducing the cost of obtaining helium from the atmosphere. This paper explores the past, present and future of helium, focusing on the sustainability of the helium industry. Full article

Education, science and technology, and talent are significant factors driving economic growth. Coordinating the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent is not only an important way to achieve the development of education, technology, and talent themselves, but it is also a crucial path to sustainable development. The research objectives of this paper are to explore the coupling coordination relationship among the three subsystems of education, science and technology, and talent and to investigate their spatiotemporal pattern evolution characteristics. This paper, based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2001 to 2022, constructs an evaluation index system for “education–science and technology–talent” (EST) development from three dimensions: education, science and technology, and talent. It comprehensively employs methods such as spatiotemporal pattern evolution, LISA time path, and spatial transitions to evaluate the level of China’s EST. The results indicate the following: (1) During the research period, the level of China’s EST shows a significant upward trend, with the educational subsystem being the most prominent. (2) The level of China’s EST development has a significant spatial differentiation characteristic, generally showing a decreasing trend from the eastern to the central and western regions. (3) In terms of the stability of the spatiotemporal pattern, the spatial pattern of China’s EST development is relatively stable, and there is no significant spatial shift during the research period. This study provides a new method for the evaluation of complex systems and also offers a reference for the economic growth of many developing countries. Full article

This paper presents an urban resilience evaluation index system and evaluation on the clustering of educational resources based on the data of 80 prefecture-level cities in China’s central region in 2012, 2016, and 2020. The results reveal a rising trend of urban resilience in the central region of China, with the provincial capital cities exhibiting the highest levels of resilience. Educational resources are clustered in urban areas of provincial capital cities and other prefectural-level cities. Furthermore, clustering of educational resources has a significant impact on urban resilience. Policy factors play a significant role in moderating the relationship between educational resource clustering and urban resilience in large cities; however, this moderating role is not significant in small cities. These findings have significant implications for the optimal allocation of educational resources, promotion of urban resilience, and advancement of social equity. Full article

In an era of global economic slowdown, effectively stimulating urban economic development has become a critical challenge for governments around the world. Based on the panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2017, this study adopts the double-difference method to evaluate the impacts of innovative cities pilot policies on urban economic growth, explore the mechanism through the intermediary effect model, and study the heterogeneity of cities with different development endowments by sub-samples. This study shows the following: (1) The policy of innovative pilot cities has significantly promoted their economic growth: GDP growth rates in the pilot cities are 1.14 percent higher than those in non-pilot cities. (2) The innovative city policy can effectively improve technological progress and human capital, thereby promoting economic growth. (3) The promotion effect of the pilot policy on the economy varies by region, city size, administration grade, market level, and government efficiency. Specifically, the policies have the most substantial positive effects in cities with lower administrative levels, smaller sizes, less market orientation, and higher government efficiency. This research, based on the city data from the world’s largest economy, evaluates the impact of government intervention—targeted urban innovation policies—on economic development, providing valuable insights into how innovation policies can be tailored and optimized for diverse urban contexts. Full article

This study examines hydrogen production across 27 European countries, highlighting disparities due to varying energy policies and industrial capacities. Germany leads with 109 plants, followed by Poland, France, Italy, and the UK. Mid-range contributors like the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Belgium also show substantial investments. Countries like Finland, Norway, Austria, and Denmark, known for their renewable energy policies, have fewer plants, while Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, Lithuania, and Slovenia are just beginning to develop hydrogen capacities. The analysis also reveals that a significant portion of the overall hydrogen production capacity in these countries remains underutilized, with an estimated 40% of existing infrastructure not operating at full potential. Many countries underutilize their production capacities due to infrastructural and operational challenges. Addressing these issues could enhance output, supporting Europe’s energy transition goals. The study underscores the potential of hydrogen as a sustainable energy source in Europe and the need for continued investment, technological advancements, supportive policies, and international collaboration to realize this potential. Full article