Effects Of Technological Progress Research Articles

The impact of new urbanization on water ecological resilience: An empirical study from central China.

Given the multitude of risks and challenges faced by the water ecological environment during urbanization, enhancing water ecological resilience and improving the water ecological environment have emerged as crucial topics in China's economic and social development, as well as its ecological civilization construction. This study proposes a research hypothesis on the relationship between new urbanization and water ecological resilience. Employing various econometric models such as the extended STIRPAT model, dynamic panel model, panel threshold effect model, dynamic panel mediating effect model and dynamic panel difference-in-difference model, empirical tests were conducted to examine the impact of new urbanization on water ecological resilience in central China. The findings indicate that: (1) there exists a U-shaped curve relationship with a threshold effect between new urbanization and water ecological resilience; this conclusion remains valid even after conducting several robustness tests including extreme value treatment, re-measurement of independent variables, and replacement of econometric models. (2) In regions with lower levels of new urbanization, new urbanization exerts more significant stress effect on water ecological resilience through economic scale effect, population scale effect, investment pulling effect and foreign trade effect; whereas in regions with higher levels of new urbanization, new urbanization exerts more significant positive effect on water ecological resilience through factors agglomeration effect, technological progress effect, human capital effect, industrial structure effect and marketization effect. (3) Compared to non-pilot cities, the implementation of comprehensive pilot policies for new urbanization has significantly improved the water ecological resilience of cities in central China and the promotion of new urbanization of pilot cities contributes to enhancing water ecological resilience.

Micro-mechanisms of digitalization-driven financing for renewable energy: Growing capital pools and shifting flows

Recent facts from China suggest that the advancement of digitalization is altering the market expectations regarding renewable energy. Limited studies have offered evidence encompassing the stock effect of digitalization that enhanced corporate financing and the flow effect that initiated speculative behavior. However, a comprehensive discourse remains insufficient. This paper investigates the synergetic effects of digitalization's stock and flow on renewable energy financing, employing the business data of all listed companies in China from 2003 to 2023. The results demonstrate that: (1) Digitalization's stock has expanded the potential fund pool for renewable energy financing, yet it is challenging to influence the flow of funds; digitalization's flow has triggered a flood of funds into the renewable energy industry, but this relies on the new investors attracted by the stock. (2) The synergetic effect governs the systematic influence of digitalization on renewable energy financing and mitigates the measurement bias when considering only a single effect. (3) We further contemplate the indirect effects of renewable energy market expansion, technological progress, and global energy market fluctuations, alleviating concerns regarding the omitted variable bias. The results of the differential regression and generalized method of moments also indicate the robustness of the conclusion.

Digital economy, technological progress, and carbon emissions in Chinese provinces

The 2023 work report of the Chinese government underscores a pivotal transition towards a “dual-control” policy, prioritizing the management of carbon emissions. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the interplay between the digital economy, technological progress, and their impact on the total volume and intensity of carbon emissions across 30 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2021. Our findings reveal that while the expansion of the digital economy and technological progress contribute to an increase in the total carbon emissions, they also markedly decrease carbon intensity, paving the way for sustainability. Additionally, the research uncovers the positive externalities of the digital economy on carbon emission intensity and the spillover effects of technological progress on both emissions and intensity. The integration of the digital economy in industrial restructuring and the uptake of green technologies are identified as instrumental in mitigating carbon emissions. These insights underscore the potential of policy strategies that leverage the digital economy and technological innovation to meet the “dual-control” policy objectives and foster sustainable development.

Technological Progress as a Catalyst for Energy Efficiency: A Sustainable Technology Perspective

Enhancing energy efficiency through sustainable technological progress is imperative for pursuing sustainable development, particularly in developing countries where economic growth is strongly linked to higher energy consumption. In Tunisia, an open and developing economy, fossil energy consumption can be reduced without compromising economic growth by focusing on diminishing energy intensity. This study investigates the effects of technological progress on the overall energy intensity in Tunisia from 1980 to 2019, examining the role that technological advancements may play in attaining sustainable development goals. This study is based on a growth accounting model that uses time-series analysis and a cointegration estimation approach. Our empirical results suggest the presence of a long-term connection between the variables. The attainment of enhanced energy efficiency is contingent on the growth rate of technological progress, which should exceed capital and labor productivity. The results reveal that the net impact of technological advancements is estimated at -0.0163, which signifies that aggregate energy intensity tends to decrease by an annual average of 1.63% in the long term. These findings underscore the need for developing economies to restructure their energy policies and support sustainable technological initiatives and green entrepreneurship. Developing countries can reduce their energy intensity while boosting their economic growth by fostering technological innovation. This study demonstrates how technological progress and green entrepreneurship can be leveraged to enhance energy efficiency and drive sustainable development in developing nations.

Effects and mechanisms of intelligent electricity system on urban carbon reduction

This paper provides evidence on the effectiveness of China's intelligent electricity system in reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the electricity sector at the city and plant levels. The actual application level of intelligence technology in cities was quantified through text analysis of newspaper reports, demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing urban carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, this paper explores four potential pathways through which intelligent electricity system measures impact the power industry: the adjustment effect, technological progress effect, and carbon transfer effect of energy supply structure, as well as the electricity substitution effect on the demand side. The findings suggest that combining information technology and intelligent technology in the electricity sector could enhance carbon reduction efforts.

Evaluating the efficiency of online course resource allocation in universities of China

Curriculum is the core element of talent cultivation in universities, and its quality directly determines that of the talent cultivation. However, the efficiency of online course resource allocation in universities of China is unacceptable, and the corresponding driving mechanisms are unclear. Based on the data of iCourses platform for a top university (H University) of China, this paper develops the DEA-Malmquist index and Tobit regression model to evaluate the efficiency of university online course resource allocation and explore its main influencing factors. The empirical results indicate that, first of all, humanities and social sciences outperform natural sciences in the resource allocation efficiency of online courses. Compared with non-national premium online courses, the resource investment redundancy of national premium online courses appears relatively lower. Secondly, from the perspective of temporal changes, the total factor productivity of online course resource allocation generally has a downward trend. The innovation effect of technological progress is more significant, while the catch-up effect of technical efficiency is clearly insufficient. Scale efficiency is the main factor hindering its improvement. Finally, in terms of the factors affecting the efficiency of online course resource allocation, teachers’ research guidance capability, teaching research skills, and the number of courses offered have significantly positive impact.

The impact of China’s total carbon emission control policy on low carbon total factor productivity

ABSTRACT The evaluation of the policy effect of total carbon emission control policy (TCP) is crucial to achieve high-quality economic development in China. This paper measures the low-carbon total factor productivity (LCTFP) of 282 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2021, and examines the impact of TCP on LCTFP through differences-in-differences (DID) method. The results show that TCP can effectively improve LCTFP in policy implementation areas. TCP has a stronger LCTFP promotion effect on eastern cities, resource-based cities and higher-level cities. Technological progress effect and industrial structure effect are important channels for TCP to improve LCTFP. TCP has a negative spatial spillover effect on LCTFP. This paper provides valuable references to promote the implementation of TCP in China.

Does digital inclusive finance promote carbon emission reduction of enterprises.

Can the information technology revolution lead to carbon emission reduction for firms? This study extends the limited evidence in the literature and investigate the role and mechanism of digital inclusive finance on enterprises' carbon emissions using panel data of 247 prefectural-level cities and 6019 industrial enterprises in China. Our findings indicate that digital inclusive finance can promote enterprise carbon emission reduction, and this effect remains significant after the instrumental variable estimation test. The effect has regional heterogeneity and the development of digital inclusive finance in the area east of Hu Huanyong line has a significant impact on reducing enterprise carbon emission. The role of digital inclusive finance is heterogeneous in enterprise ownership, with a remarkable effect in non-state-owned enterprises. Sub-dimension analysis indicates that the breadth of coverage, depth of use, and degree of digitalization of digital inclusive finance have differential effects on reducing enterprise carbon emissions. The stepwise regression method shows that the impact of digital inclusive finance on enterprise carbon emissions can be passed through effect of technological progress, environmental protection investment and financing constrain. This study has significant reference value for evaluating the impact of financial inclusion and policy implications in formulating differentiated strategies for achieving carbon emission reduction efficiency in enterprises.

Research on the Impact of Agricultural Socialization Services on the Ecological Efficiency of Agricultural Land Use

This study intends to build a theoretical mechanism of agricultural socialization services for the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use from two paths, namely the agricultural division of labor and technological progress, and empirically calibrate the Tobit model based on the data of the China Family Tracking Survey (CFPS) for 4453 farming households in 23 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across China. The results of the study show the following: (1) Agricultural socialization services can significantly improve the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use. (2) Hired labor services are more likely to promote eco-efficiency in agricultural land use than farm machinery leasing, especially in major food-producing areas; however, in non-major food-producing areas, the effectiveness of farm machinery leasing services is limited or affected by regional policy differences. (3) In the analysis of the mechanism of agricultural socialization services on the eco-efficiency of agricultural land use, the division of labor in agriculture plays an intermediary role, and the intermediary effect accounts for about 11.4%; however, there is a masking effect of technological progress. This means that China should further develop the role of agricultural socialized services in promoting the ecological efficiency of agricultural land use by developing agricultural socialized service organizations, accelerating the integration of farmers into the modern agricultural division of labor, and promoting the application of green agricultural machinery, among other measures.

Impact of capital and labour based technological progress on carbon productivity

In 2020, China pledged at the United Nations General Assembly to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, and so far, China has made remarkable achievements in actively realizing carbon emission reduction and maintaining the international ecological environment. Among them, the role played by the technological progress bias of different elements is worth paying attention to. In addition, according to the current situation of energy consumption in China, based on the capital-labor technological progress bias, considering the introduction of the direction of technological progress of the energy factor plays a key role in analyzing the carbon productivity of China. This study utilizes panel regression to explore the paths and effects of capital-labor and factor-augmenting technological progress biases on carbon productivity. We also closely examine the regional heterogeneity and spatial spillover effects of technological progress biases. This study is based on inter-provincial panel information from China from 2006 to 2020. The study found that: (1) When the technological progress bias favors the capital factor among capital and labor, it will significantly increase the level of carbon productivity; The introduction of energy factor innovations,energy-enhanced technological progress, base on the technological progress bias of capital and labor will significantly reduce the level of carbon productivity. (2) Through the threshold model analysis, it is found that there is a nonlinear effect of technological progress bias on carbon productivity. Among them, in capital-biased and energy-enhanced provinces, the impact of capital-technology progress bias on carbon productivity shows an inverted “U" trend of first increasing and then decreasing. (3) In capital-labor technological progress, when technological progress is biased toward capital, it will significantly increase carbon productivity in the Northeast, East and West regions, while the opposite is true in the Central region, and the spillover effect of capital-labor technological progress is not significant; energy-enhanced technological progress bias has a negative impact on carbon productivity in all four major regions, and there is a significant spillover effect in all four major regions.

Drinking in despair: Unintended consequences of automation in China.

The side effects of technological progress on the economy have been discussed frequently, but little is known regarding its health consequences. By combining the national individual-level panel data of alcohol drinking with the prefecture-level robot exposure rate in China, we find that one more robot exposure rate could induce up to 2.2% points increase in the probability of problem drinking. Such a pattern of problem drinking is explained by negative emotions, which can be ascribed to job loss due to substitution, higher income vulnerability, and reduced organization participation. Further, we provide evidence that automation can incur health costs, particularly for easily substituted workers, which would exacerbate health inequality in China. This paper sheds light on the impact of automation and the social incentives of problem drinking, emphasizing the possibly heterogeneous health cost accompanied by the automation process.

Research on the Impact of Digital Trade on Urban Carbon Emissions in China under the "Dual Carbon" Target

After the "dual carbon" goal was put forward, low-carbon development has gradually become the focus of attention from all walks of life, and digital technology plays an important role in the process of helping carbon emission reduction. Digital trade, as an active field in international economy and trade, is of great significance to the economic growth of all countries and to deal with the problem of carbon emission reduction. This paper analyzes the transmission path of digital trade on urban carbon emission reduction in China from the theory of scale effect, structure effect and technological progress effect, and based on the panel data of 280 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, uses two-way fixed effect model to conduct regression analysis on the carbon emission reduction effect of digital trade. The study finds that China's digital trade development reduces urban carbon emission intensity, and the conclusion is still valid after the robustness test. Heterogeneity analyses show that the carbon emission reduction effect of digital trade varies in different regions in the East, West and Centre, as well as in regions with different degrees of carbon emissions. In terms of the transmission path, digital trade reduces regional carbon emission intensity by promoting scale effects, technological progress and industrial structure upgrading. Therefore, on the road of actively realizing the goal of "dual carbon", China should vigorously promote the development of international trade mode mainly represented by digital trade. At the same time, we fully recognize the heterogeneity of the impact of digital trade on carbon emissions, and adopt differentiated policies according to the different utility levels of digital trade on carbon emissions in different regions. This will narrow the "digital divide" between cities and help achieve China's "dual carbon" goal.

Pengaruh Financial Development, Kemajuan Teknologi dan Modal Manusia Terhadap Pertumbuhan Ekonomi ASEAN-8

Economic growth is an indicator of economic performance that is a measure of the success of a country. The 2008 global financial crisis demonstrated the critical role of the financial sector in economic growth. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effect of financial sector development, technological progress, and human capital on economic growth in 8 ASEAN countries from 2000 to 2019.This study uses secondary data consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), financial development index, gross fixed capital formation (PMTB), individuals using the internet, and education index. The analytical tool used in estimating the regression model in the study is the fixed-effect model with the generalized least square (GLS) method. The results show that financial development has a negative and significant effect on economic growth in 8 ASEAN countries. Meanwhile, technological progress, human capital, PMTB, and the interaction between financial development and PMTB have a positive and significant impact on economic growth in 8 ASEAN countries.

Integrated Models of Cleaner Production Technologies for Maize Cultivation in China’s Black Soil Regions

Incorporating carbon footprints into the production efficiency framework to construct a standardized technology model for cleaner production in black soil regions is of great significance for improving the soil environment and the sustainable development of agriculture. This study used an orthogonal experimental design and the DEA–Malmquist method to calculate the carbon footprint and total factor productivity of orthogonal experimental groups of cleaner production technologies for maize cultivation in China’s black soil region and then identified integrated models of cleaner production technology in the black soil region. The results showed that the carbon footprint of maize cultivation and total factor productivity were generally higher in the experimental group using cleaner production techniques than in the control group. Still, none of them reached the optimum. In the future, the synergistic effect of technological progress and technological efficiency enhancement should be brought into play, and the integrated models of “Soil testing and formulation + Full mobile sprinkler irrigation + Straw tilling and field return” and “No tillage in spring + Soil testing and formulation + Straw tilling and field return” should be promoted in semi-arid and semi-humid black soil regions, which can improve the low carbon productivity of maize by 20.3% and 15.4%, respectively.

The Effects of Labor-Saving Technological Progress on Capital Accumulation: Evidence from NASDAQ-100 Firms

This study delves into the impact of labor-saving technological progress on the capital accumulation of technology companies that have a substantial workforce consisting of highly skilled workers over the sample period from 2000/Q2 to 2021/Q3. To begin with, we estimate a three-equation system of the normalized-CES production function to derive labor-saving technical progress and the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor for NASDAQ-100 firms. Secondly, two linear regression models are estimated by using parameters acquired in the initial step to assess the impacts of labor-saving technological progress on capital accumulation. Based on the estimation results, labor-saving technological progress and the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor mitigate the upward trend of capital accumulation despite their stimulating impacts on economic value added in the NASDAQ-100 firms. These two adverse results are consistent with the concept of skill intensity in technology firms, referring to the difficulties of replacing automation with non-routine tasks and highly skilled workers. In this sense, along with the insufficient replacement of technological progress with labor, the detrimental effects of technological progress on capital accumulation widen the gap between labor productivity and labor compensation during profit expansion periods. These negative consequences are mitigated by worker layoffs during profit-downsizing periods, despite its accelerating impact on economic value added.

How can low-carbon help high-quality urban development?-Empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilot policies.

High-quality development is the paramount task for comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. The low-carbon city pilot policy, with cities as the unit of action, provides new opportunities for high-quality economic transformation. Based on panel data from 261 cities between 2005 and 2018, this study calculates the level of high-quality economic development in Chinese cities, constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences model, analyzes the impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on high-quality economic development, and explores the policy's heterogeneous effects on high-quality development in different types of cities and its transmission mechanism. The research findings show that the low-carbon city pilot policy can significantly promote high-quality economic development in cities and has heterogeneous effects in terms of regional differences, city types, and city scale. The effects are relatively greater in the eastern region, non-resource-based cities, and mega-cities. The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes high-quality economic development through mechanisms such as technological progress effects, resource agglomeration effects, and government action improvement effects. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical results, this study proposes policy recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the low-carbon city pilot policy in promoting high-quality development.

The Effect of Technological Progress on Yarder Productivity: An Example from the Bulgarian Mountains

In recent years, a significant import of modern tower yarders has been registered in Bulgaria, where official productivity standards are routinely used for operational planning and control. Given the higher potential of the newer yarder models, the Bulgarian forestry sector has started a review of the older productivity standards dating back to the 1970s. This new endeavor has offered an ideal opportunity for gauging the effect of technological progress in yarder technology. Therefore, the authors have used the very first results achieved during the development of the new standards for conducting a preliminary quantitative comparison between older and newer yarder types. Modern yarders (e.g., Konrad Mounty 4000) are much faster than the older ones (e.g., Koller K300), and their time consumption per cubic meter is half as large, especially on longer distances. At short distances, however, their performance evens out. Regardless of the distance, the installation time of the Konrad Mounty 4000 is twice as short. As they are largely automated, the new machines can be manned by smaller crews (e.g., two workers instead of three) and are easier and safer to operate. Finally, the new machines are equipped with built-in loaders and processors, which allows them to integrate delimbing, crosscutting and stacking within the same work cycle. With older models, a separate team must be deployed for those tasks.

Digitalization and net-zero carbon: The role of industrial robots towards carbon dioxide emission reduction

The increasing adoption of industrial robots has raised concerns about their potential impact on carbon dioxide emissions. To address this issue, this study investigates both the effect of industrial robot adoption on carbon dioxide emissions, as well as the mechanism through which this effect is transmitted using data from OECD and BRICS countries spanning from 1993 to 2015. In particular, we present three possible influence mechanisms of industrial robots on carbon dioxide emissions, namely, the economic growth effect, technological progress effect, and structural transformation effect. Employing the STIRPAT and environmental Kuznets curve models, we estimate the negative and significant effects of industrial robot adoption on carbon dioxide emissions, analyze their effect under different conditional distributions and in different countries, and verify the effect channels of industrial robots on carbon dioxide emissions using the stepwise regression method and the bootstrap method. The empirical results indicate that the increased use of industrial robots can significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, particularly at higher quantiles of emissions. Moreover, the negative impacts of industrial robot adoption on carbon dioxide emissions are more pronounced in OECD, developed, and European and American countries compared to BRICS, developing, and non-European and American countries. Finally, the adoption of industrial robots primarily achieves its impact on carbon dioxide emissions through the facilitation of an economic growth effect. This study fills a critical gap in the literature and provides a basis for policymakers and industry leaders to develop effective strategies to promote sustainable industrial development.

Digitization and carbon emissions: how does the development of China's digital economy affect carbon intensity?

The digital economy and the pursuit of carbon peak and carbon neutrality have emerged as crucial focal points for China's future development. However, the intricate relationship between the digital economy and carbon intensity remains uncertain. Based on the construction of the digital economy evaluation index system, using panel data for 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, this study estimates the impact of the digital economy development on carbon intensity by adopting the system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) technique. The results show that the digital economy can effectively reduce the carbon intensity. This conclusion was supported by robustness tests. However, the carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy exhibits heterogeneity with respect to the digital economy dimensions and regions. In addition to digital industrialization and industrial digitization reducing the carbon intensity, the digital economy development carrier has an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship with carbon intensity. Additionally, the digital economy has a more obvious inhibitory effect on carbon intensity in the eastern region. Most importantly, besides the mediating effects of technological progress and financial development, this paper finds that the digital economy can increase carbon intensity through human capital accumulation. These conclusions provide a certain scientific basis for the effective implementation of China's digital economy and carbon peak and carbon-neutral development strategy.

THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION, HETEROGENEOUS TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS ON MUNICIPAL INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER DISCHARGES: EVIDENCE FROM YANGTZE RIVER ECONOMIC BELT IN CHINA

The large amount of industrial wastewater discharges has significantly limited the sustainable development of China’s resources and posed hazards to human health. In order to contain industrial wastewater discharges, the government has formulated a series of environmental control policies, but the effectiveness of these policies remains a controversial issue. With the rapid development of science and technology, how likely can China rely on technological progress to achieve a win-win outcome for both economic growth and environmental protection? This paper uses data from 105 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt over the period 2005–2020 to investigate the effects of environmental regulation and heterogeneous technological progress on industrial wastewater discharges. The results show that environmental regulation and technology introduction effectively reduce industrial wastewater discharges, and independent innovation aggravates industrial wastewater pollution. The interaction analysis reveals that under the influence of environmental regulation, independent innovation will significantly alleviate industrial wastewater discharges in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. In addition, this study also reveals spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the effects of environmental regulations and different types of technological advances on industrial wastewater discharges.