Producer Services Research Articles

Breathing in pollution, breathing out efficiency: how does air pollution affect labour productivity in China’s service sector?

ABSTRACT This paper examines the impact of air pollution on labour productivity in the service industry in China. Utilizing the Chinese National Tax Survey Database and the contemporaneous air pollution data for 2007–2016, we employ an instrumental variable method and find that the average labour productivity for service firms decreases by 2.11% for every 1ug/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration. The influence is more pronounced among producer services firms, non-state-owned firms, small-scale firms, and firms located in less environmentally regulated regions, northern regions, central and western regions, and coastal regions. The detrimental effect of air pollution increases as air quality worsens. Additionally, a 1ug/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration leads to a significant 2.83% increase in overall labour costs, which squeezes out firms’ capital investment and distorts their factor structure. This paper contributes to the literature by providing new evidence on adverse impact of air pollution on labour productivity in the service sector.

Rural public investment and wage inequality under small‐scale agriculture modernization

Increasing rural public investment is crucial for sustainable rural development and can be an effective approach for reducing inequality. However, wage inequality has increased in some developing countries (e.g., China) after increasing fiscal support. This study explores how rural public investment influences skilled‐unskilled wage inequality by incorporating agricultural modernization in small‐scale agriculture. Agricultural modernization refers to introducing modern non‐agricultural intermediate inputs in agriculture. Owing to the small scale of agriculture, an intermediate sector, the agricultural producer service sector, is required to facilitate this process. We establish a three‐sector general equilibrium model with a two‐layer vertical production structure and investigate the effects of increased public investment in rural areas on the wage inequality between skilled and unskilled labour. The theoretical results show that while more rural public investment raises the wages of both skilled and unskilled labour, it also increases wage inequality. Overall, this study explains why inequality widens as rural public investment increases.

Functional preference and spatial response of urban renewal entities in Beijing

In the process of rapid urban renewal, quantitative research on functional preferences and spatial layout norms of multi-type urban renewal entities is crucial for optimizing spatial governance and promoting orderly control of urban renewal. We investigate urban renewal in Beijing from 2006 to 2021 using directional distribution, spatial autocorrelation, and hotspot analysis. The findings are as follows: (1) The functional preference of each type of entity differs. While most private companies and other profit-oriented entities concentrate on producer services and residential functions, policy-oriented entities dominate the urban regeneration of public service activities. (2) Every entity shows a significant agglomeration characteristic, yet exhibits a differentiated spatial response pattern. Those entities with stronger leasing ability prefer the central zone while others are the opposite. (3) Diverse types of entities have differentiated spatiotemporal evolutions. The spatial directional divergence of state-owned enterprises and scientific research institutes has increased between 2006 and 2021. This is mainly influenced by the policy of relieving Beijing of nonessential functions. However, the rest entities show a balanced spatial development trend with the difference in each direction becoming smaller. Furthermore, the center of gravity of profit-oriented entities has shifted from the suburbs to the central zone due to a combination of administrative and market forces, whereas the center of gravity of policy-oriented entities tends to move outward from the central zone.

From sustainable development towards resilience: Does digital finance matter in enhancing ecological resilience?

AbstractDigital finance, as a representative of the digital economy, provides unprecedented opportunities for enhancing the adaptability and resilience of ecosystems. However, there is currently no literature that integrates digital finance and urban ecological resilience into the same research framework. In light of this, we utilize panel data from 2011 to 2019 to investigate the impact of digital finance on ecological resilience. Our results indicate that (1) Digital finance can effectively enhance ecological resilience, a conclusion corroborated by both theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence. Specifically, the coverage breadth and usage depth of digital finance can effectively enhance ecological resilience, while the digitization level has not shown a significant impact. (2) Green technological innovation, improvements in energy efficiency, and the agglomeration of producer services are identified as effective channels through which digital finance promotes ecological resilience. (3) The impact of digital finance on ecological resilience exhibits significant regional heterogeneity, with more pronounced effects observed in cities with advanced traditional financial systems, non‐resource‐based cities, and central cities. These findings will help policymakers better understand the relationship between digital finance and urban ecological resilience, and formulate targeted policies that leverage digital finance development to enhance ecological resilience.

Producer services agglomeration and low-carbon economic transition: the role of economic growth target constraint

Abstract Objective. Producer services are an intermediate input factor that permeates every link in the industrial production chain and is essential to the growth of a low-carbon economy. This study aims to elucidate the connection between producer services agglomeration (PSA) and low-carbon economic transition. Methods. Based on China’s provincial panel data from 2004 to 2021, we empirically test the influence of PSA on low-carbon economic transition using a two-way fixed effects model, and utilize government work reports to construct an indicator of economic growth target constraints and its characteristics to further explore its moderating effect. Results. PSA contributes to enhancing low-carbon economic transition. The heterogeneity test finds that PSA significantly helps low-carbon economic transition in the east and west regions, but not in the central region. The quantile regression findings demonstrate that PSA is more effective at raising the level of low-carbon economic transition at the 10th and 90th quantiles, which indicates that the carbon reduction and efficiency enhancement effects of PSA play a greater role in regions with lower and higher low-carbon economic transition levels. Further research presents that the economic growth target constraint negatively moderates PSA’s impact on low-carbon economic transition, but this constraint characterized by soft constraints strengthens the positive effect of PSA on low-carbon economic transition. Implications. In view of this, the government can foster PSA in accordance with local conditions, optimize agglomeration area layout, and establish a scientific and reasonable government target management system to strengthen low-carbon and high-quality economic development.

Exploring the impacts of producer services agglomeration on manufacturing carbon emissions: Empirical evidence from China.

This study employs panel data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2004 to 2019 to empirically estimate the relationship between producer services agglomeration (PSA) and manufacturing carbon emissions. The findings suggest that such agglomeration is beneficial for lowering carbon emissions in manufacturing, and this conclusion passes multiple robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis results show that PSA in the east and west regions significantly lowers manufacturing carbon emissions, while its impact in the central region is not significant. High-end PSA is beneficial for cutting carbon emissions in manufacturing, but the inhibitory effect of middle- and low-end PSA is not significant. PSA significantly suppresses carbon emissions from capital- and technology-intensive manufacturing, while it has little impact on carbon emissions from labor-intensive manufacturing. Further analysis reveals that PSA has a dual-threshold impact based on absorptive capacity and a single-threshold effect based on infrastructure level on manufacturing carbon emissions. As the absorption capacity crosses the second threshold or the infrastructure level crosses the first threshold, the inhibition effect of PSA on manufacturing carbon emissions begins to become prominent and shows a trend of enhancement. Our research findings provide theoretical and empirical bases for lowering carbon emissions in the manufacturing sector and fostering its ascent to the highest position of the value chain.

Industry 5.0 Research in the Sustainable Information Systems Sector: A Scoping Review Analysis

Industry 4.0, centered on cyber-physical production systems, has been criticized for prioritizing profit over social and environmental concerns. In contrast, Industry 5.0 emphasizes AI efficiency while promoting human-centric, resilient, and sustainable approaches, integrating economic, social, and environmental systems. Previous research has often focused solely on conceptual frameworks and technologies, overlooking Industry 5.0's sector-specific impacts. This study addresses that gap by conducting a scoping review to map research findings, identify trends, and highlight knowledge gaps and future research opportunities. By systematically analyzing literature from the Scopus database (2016-present), the study refined a large dataset to focus on Industry 5.0's relevance. The analysis revealed significant attention to sectors like Industry and Producer Services, while Agriculture and Retail, particularly natural resource-based sectors like agriculture and fisheries, are often neglected. Key findings indicate that Industry 5.0 is likely to be driven by the industrial sector, followed by product services and financial industries. The study also highlights the strong connection between IoT and AI in optimizing operations with real-time data and automation and identifies blockchain as a promising technology for enhancing transparency and security, despite existing implementation challenges. This research not only serves as a foundational record of Industry 5.0's implications across various sectors but also provides valuable insights into its role in Information Systems (IS). It lays the groundwork for future exploration of Industry 5.0 in diverse sectors and industries.

Review of Enset (Tree Against Hunger and Drought) Value Chain Opportunities and Constraints in Agricultural Food Sector of Ethiopia

In sub-Saharan Africa Enset is widely dispersed wild plant species that ensures food security for many Africans. In similar view, in South and South-west parts of Ethiopia more than 20 million people depends on Enset as stable food and it is called drought tolerant food of root crop. Due to its multidimensional significant roles, its resilience and versatility during the times of famine Enset has earned the name 'The Tree against Hunger'. Besides, food items like ‘Amicho’, ’Kocho’, and ‘Bulla’ are obtained from Enset for home consumption and marketing. Besides, the value chain is the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the different phase of production which involves a combination of physical transformation and the input of various producer services, delivery to final consumers, and final disposal after use. Thus, the main intent of this article was to review the value chain of Enset from its respective opportunities and challenges from perspective of Ethiopia. Regarding to this, the information used in this paper was the secondary source information that was extracted from journal articles and dissertation papers. Then the collected information were analyzed qualitatively and presented in narrative ways. Finally, based on the review results of this article conclusions and recommendations are given in advances.

Does transportation infrastructure contribute to urban entrepreneurship? Evidence from the high-speed railway in China

High-speed railways have a profound impact on entrepreneurship. Adopted China's city panel data, we use a time-varying DID model to estimate the influence of the high-speed railways on urban entrepreneurship and study its mechanism. The analysis results reveal that high-speed railways have improved the entrepreneurial vitality of cities. The mechanism test suggests that high-speed railway promotes entrepreneurship activities by accelerating human capital flow, strengthening producer services agglomeration, and promoting market integration. A range of robustness tests including a parallel trend test, placebo test, and PSM-DID model are used to ensure the reliability of the empirical results. Heterogeneity analysis and spatial analysis are used to deepen the research. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that high-speed railway construction is likely to motivate entrepreneurship in eastern cities, big cities, and cities with high-level business environments. The spatial analysis results show that the opening of the high-speed railways promotes the entrepreneurial level of surrounding cities. The research results help to evaluate the economic benefits of high-speed railway network expansion, and provide decision-making references for stimulating urban entrepreneurship.

How producer services agglomeration affects urban green innovation efficiency in China: a spatial correlation and nonlinear perspective

How producer services agglomeration affects urban green innovation efficiency in China: a spatial correlation and nonlinear perspective

Advancing towards a low-carbon urban future in China: the role of producer services agglomeration

Advancing towards a low-carbon urban future in China: the role of producer services agglomeration

Cross border e-commerce development and enterprise digital technology innovation—empirical evidence from listed companies in China

As the main form of digital trade, cross-border e-commerce plays an important role, allowing China to expand its opening-up and promote the optimal foreign trade structure. It also provides opportunities for Chinese enterprises to develop digital technology. From the perspective of the establishment of China's cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone (CBECPZ), this article uses the multi-period DID method to examine the effects of cross-border e-commerce on enterprise digital technology innovation based on listed companies in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2007 to 2020. The CBECPZ dramatically promotes enterprise digital technology innovation. The mechanism test shows that the CBECPZ promotes digital technology innovation by financing constraint alleviation, digital transformation, and producer service industry agglomeration. The heterogeneity test shows that the direct effect is more significant in the enterprises of large-scale, non-state-owned, with high ICT correlation and in areas with strong government resource allocation capabilities. The research findings have important reference value for how to utilize cross-border e-commerce to promote digital technology innovation, and they also provide directional references for other developing countries to develop cross-border e-commerce.

The Empirical Study on Producer Service Industry and Economic Growth in China: Implication on Economic Integration

The Empirical Study on Producer Service Industry and Economic Growth in China: Implication on Economic Integration

The role of financial and marketing services on rural shea-producing women

Purpose: This study aims to empirically investigate the impact of financial and marketing services on shea butter production, with an emphasis on the Tolon district of Ghana, to inform evidence-based policies and practices. Research methodology: This study employed a quantitative research design, utilizing a survey approach to collect data from a sample of shea butter producers in the Tolon District of Ghana. In total, 151 Shea nut processors from Tolon, Dimabi 1, and Dimabi 2 were selected using a combination of purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, which were subsequently analyzed using quantitative methods. Furthermore, the study employed linear regression analysis with an endogenous treatment effect model in STATA version 17 to examine the relationship between financial and marketing services, and shea butter production. Results: The empirical evidence derived from the linear regression with the endogenous treatment model indicates a statistically significant and positive relationship between financial and marketing services and shea butter production, indicating that financial and marketing services are significant factors in predicting the productivity of shea butter production. Limitations: The sample size of the study was small, which may restrict the generalizability of the findings. Contribution: This study provides novel insights into the dynamics of shea butter production in Ghana’s Tolon District by highlighting the quantitative effect of financial and marketing services on shea butter production, and the importance of improving access to these services. This study also provides evidence-based recommendations for collaborative synergies between government and non-governmental organizations to establish microfinance programs and marketing service centers to facilitate easier access to these essential services for shea butter producers.

РАЗВИТИЕ ФИНАНСОВОГО МЕХАНИЗМА В ЖИВОТНОВОДЧЕСКОМ СЕКТОРЕ КЫРГЫЗСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ: ПРОБЛЕМЫ ЦЕНООБРАЗОВАНИЯ И КОНКУРЕНТОСПОСОБНОСТИ

This article examines the development of financial mechanisms in the livestock sector with a focus on the impact of modern pricing methods on financial efficiency. This emphasizes the need for a contemporary approach to price livestock products to ensure market competitiveness and sustainability amid economic uncertainty. This study analyzes the historical pricing context, including the disproportionality in agricultural product exchanges and their influence on purchasing power. It also discusses the challenges of overpriced public services for producers that affect the final product price. The proposed solutions include improving public financial management through support for veterinary and sanitary services and the potential impact of the Kyrgyz Republic's EAEU accession on competitiveness.

The Economic Spillover Effect of the Collaborative Agglomeration between Manufacturing and Producer Services

High-quality economic development is an inevitable requirement for promoting sustainable development. Stacks of research papers have suggested that the quality of China’s economic development will make an important contribution to promoting global sustainable development. The collaborative agglomeration between manufacturing and producer services is determined by multiple factors, including industrial characteristics and industrial associations. This is conducive to the efficient evolution of the industrial structure and to further achieving high-quality economic development. Based on the provincial data from 2010 to 2021 in China, this research evaluated the impact of co-agglomeration between manufacturing and producer services on high-quality economic development by using the double-fixed-effect spatial Durbin model. The benchmark regression results showed that industrial co-agglomeration impacted high-quality economic development in an inverted U-shaped. This result had a significant positive spatial spillover and was robust. In the spatial heterogeneity tests, the co-agglomeration of industries had different effects on high-quality development in regions. The strongest spillover effect of positive externalities was in the eastern region, which played an active role as a “growth pole”. The “siphon effect” happened in the central region. The spillover effect had a “U” shape in the western region, and the co-agglomeration inhibited current high-quality development. In the mechanism analysis, the industrial co-agglomeration enhanced high-quality development by stimulating green innovation, and the digital economy had a positive moderating effect. The study presented in this article provides empirical evidence and offers policy recommendations for formulating industrial policies and improving the quality of economic development.

Neighborhood externalities modify the nexus between residential land and housing prices: A joint analysis using regression tree models

Neighborhood externalities influence residential land prices and housing prices simultaneously, contributing to a nexus relationship between them. Most existing studies have focused on the causal relationship between the two, with limited attention to their nexus. This research matched land parcel transactions from 2003 to 2015 and housing transaction records with purchasers’ housing purchase records before 2019 to construct a spatial-temporal land-housing dataset in Shanghai. Both spatial statistical tools and regression tree models were employed to explore the underlying mechanism, focusing on proximity to industries. According to the modeling results, residential land prices and housing prices are highly sensitive to polluting industries and producer service industries. The impacts of polluting industries on residential land prices have intensified, but the impacts on housing prices have not. The regression tree models further showed that living service industries were the primary positive contributor to residential land and housing prices. Regarding the social environment, non-local people are taking over communities with high-priced housing on high-value residential land parcels. These research outcomes encourage more efforts to explore the determinants of the nexus between residential land prices and housing prices, rather than discussion of the causality relationship.

Service sectors and trade through a digital medium: a modified gravity approach

ABSTRACT Given the increasing role played by services delivered through online platforms, this study is a first to undertake cross-sectoral examination of the trade performance of nine service sectors exploring only the digitally delivered components of these. The article makes two main contributions. First, in the absence of bilateral trade data, it develops gravity-like indices using a methodology to capture the influence of common variables used in the gravity literature. Sector-level unilateral import data on the WTO, GATS mode 1 of service delivery or cross-border trade, which is largely synonymous with digital trade, is drawn from the relatively new OECD-WTO-TiSMoS database. Next, the constructed gravity-like variables along with an index of the importer’s services trade restrictiveness, the level of internet penetration of the importing economy and their interaction are examined across the said sectors using a panel of 50 countries for the years 2014–2017. The findings of the constructed gravity variables support earlier literature using bilateral service trade data. The outcomes of the interactions reveal that the trade dampening effect of larger service trade restrictions is somewhat mitigated by deeper internet penetration in consumer services like education in contrast to others like insurance & financial services which are usually producer services.

Pilot policies for low-carbon cities in China: a study of the impact on green finance development and energy carbon efficiency

ABSTRACT Improving the efficiency of energy carbon emissions (ECEE) is crucial for China's pursuit of high-quality development. This paper assesses the low-carbon city pilot policy (LCCPP) as a strategic measure to enhance ECEE and its alignment with global efforts to mitigate climate change. By analyzing panel data from 205 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2016, this study evaluates the LCCPP's effectiveness and its spatial spillover effects on ECEE. Results indicate a 6.5% increase in ECEE in pilot cities compared to non-pilot counterparts, with these findings substantiated through extensive robustness checks. The analysis of underlying mechanisms reveals that the LCCPP boosts ECEE by promoting green finance and the co-agglomeration of producer services and manufacturing. Furthermore, the policy's impact varies: it is more substantial in non-resource-based cities and in those with advanced green finance and synergistic industry agglomerations. Employing a spatial difference-in-differences approach, the study uncovers an inverted U-shaped pattern in the spillover effects of the LCCPP on ECEE, suggesting a nuanced regional influence of the policy. This research contributes to the understanding of policy-driven environmental improvements and their economic co-benefits within urban settings.

Effect of Agglomeration of Producer Services on Asynchronous Development of Industrialization and Urbanization: Provincial Panel Data of China

Effect of Agglomeration of Producer Services on Asynchronous Development of Industrialization and Urbanization: Provincial Panel Data of China