American Journal of Economics and Sociology最新文献

In the wave of the digital economy, supply chain digitalization is a visual manifestation of businesses integrating digital technology into their production and operations. It helps companies enhance operational efficiency and competitiveness, gradually becoming a key driver for corporate sustainable development. This study selects Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021 as research samples and empirically tests the impact of supply chain digitalization on corporate environment (E), social responsibility (S), and corporate governance (G) (ESG) performance. We find that supply chain digitalization significantly promotes corporate ESG performance, which is achieved by reducing information asymmetry and easing financing constraints. The positive effect of supply chain digitalization on corporate ESG performance varies significantly among different enterprises, with more prominent effects in mature enterprises, those at both ends of the industrial chain, and those located in regions with lower degree of marketization. Further analysis reveals that supply chain digitalization brings about an innovation effect for enterprises. These findings enrich the research on supply chain digitalization and corporate ESG performance, providing valuable insights for promoting supply-side structural reforms and corporate sustainable development.

Entrepreneurial activity is crucial for economic progress and resolving societal issues. Utilizing the technology–organization–environment (TOE) theoretical framework, this study builds a systematic model to investigate the trajectories of entrepreneurial activities across 31 provinces in China from 2019 to 2021. We employ the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. Our analyses indicate that (1) multiple factors impact both high entrepreneurial activity and non-high entrepreneurial activity; entrepreneurial activity is significantly different between advanced and catching-up regions; (2) there are two types of paths that lead to high entrepreneurial activity, namely technology driven and technology–institution driven. These paths are dynamic, gradually transitioning from technology driven and technology–institution driven to industry–resource driven; and (3) non-high entrepreneurial activity may result from poor technological infrastructure and lack of human capital. These findings elucidate the different routes through which entrepreneurial activity is generated in China and offer valuable theoretical and practical insights.

In recent years, the continuous development of China's digital inclusive finance has provided favorable conditions for improving the consumption level of domestic residents and stimulating national economic growth. Based on the theory of financial development and deepening, this paper studies the mechanism and effect of digital inclusive finance on rural residents’ consumption and economic growth. The results show that (1) the development of digital inclusive finance can directly promote economic growth. Specifically, the breadth of coverage, the depth of use and the degree of digitization of digital inclusive finance all contribute to economic growth. (2) Digital inclusive finance significantly promotes rural residents’ consumption, and rural residents’ consumption significantly promotes economic growth, that is, digital inclusive finance can indirectly promote economic growth by promoting rural residents’ consumption. (3) When digital inclusive finance is at different levels of development, rural residents’ consumption has different effects on economic growth. The higher the development level of digital inclusive finance, the better the promotion effect of rural residents’ consumption on economic growth. Therefore, we should continue to promote the development of digital inclusive finance, give full play to the inclusiveness and convenience of digital inclusive finance, and contribute to the promotion of rural residents’ consumption and economic growth.

A large portion of the American electorate holds contempt for elected representatives who skip floor votes. As a result, political challengers, and the national political media in the U.S., rarely miss a chance to inform the electorate of the shirking behavior of its representatives. New research suggests that, in 2020, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives may have developed protection, albeit temporary, to legislators who engage in shirking behavior. That protection came via passage of House Resolution 965, which authorized “remote voting by proxy” in the U.S. House of Representatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extends the literature on proxy voting by empirically examining the factors that influenced the tendency of members of the U.S. House of Representatives to either shirk (i.e., skip) the vote on proxy voting (i.e., HR 965) or to vote in favor of the resolution (i.e., HR 965) allowing for the proxy vote. Econometric results suggest that Representatives' gender, age, legislative tenure, and past penchant for participatory shirking worked to determine parliamentary participation, and the direction of one's vote, on HR 965.

With the development of Internet technology and modern supply chains, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) has become one of the most important forms of international trade. The impact of this new mode of trade on economic growth and income disparity is worthy of further examination. This study treats the CBEC pilot zone policy as a quasi-natural experiment, using the difference-in-differences approach to examine its impact on the urban–rural income gap. The findings showed that: (1) This policy significantly widened the urban–rural income gap; (2) innovation, entrepreneurship, and export are important paths toward expanding the impact of the CBEC pilot policy on the income gap, but the digital environment suppresses these expanding paths; and (3) the impact of this policy on the income gap shows distinct regional heterogeneity. This study provides several recommendations on how to promote balanced incomes.

Prior to the mid-19th century, Earth was in the grip of the Little Ice Age. Since then, temperatures have on average trended upward. At the same time, human emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) have increased, and the interest of scientists has turned to consider the extent of the relative contributions of anthropogenic CO₂ and natural forces to warming.

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Working Group II (WGII) claims that human-caused climate change or global warming is dangerous. According to the report, “Human-induced climate change … has caused widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people, beyond natural climate variability. … The rise in weather and climate extremes has led to some irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are pushed beyond their ability to adapt (high confidence)” (IPCC, 2022a, p. 9).

The AR6 WGI and WGII reports measure climate change as the global warming since 1750 or 1850. The period before these dates is commonly referred to as the “pre-industrial period.” The Little Ice Age, a phrase rarely used in AR6, extends from about 1300 to 1850. It was a very cold and miserable time for humanity, with a lot of well documented extreme weather in the historical record from all over the Northern Hemisphere. It was also a time of frequent famines and pandemics. Arguably today's climate is better than then, not worse.

None-the-less, the IPCC claims that extreme weather events are worse now than in the past, however observations do not support this. Some extreme weather events, such as the land area under extreme drought (Lomborg, 2020), is decreasing, not increasing. Globally the incidence of hurricanes shows no significant trend (IPCC, 2013, p. 216; Lomborg, 2020).

Observations show no increase in damage or any danger to humanity today due to extreme weather or global warming (Crok & May, 2023, pp. 140–161; Scafetta, 2024). Climate change mitigation, according to AR6, means curtailing the use of fossil fuels, even though fossil fuels are still abundant and inexpensive. Since the current climate is arguably better than the pre-industrial climate and we have observed no increase in extreme weather or climate mortality, we conclude that we can plan to adapt to any future changes. Until a danger is identified, there is no need to eliminate fossil fuel use.

Climate change mitigation is a global imperative, necessitating multifaceted efforts from various sectors. This paper digs into civil society's critical role in mitigating climate change, focusing on the ways that civil society organizations empower communities, advocate for policy reforms, and implement grassroots projects. The goal of this study is to thoroughly examine civil society's various contributions to climate change mitigation and provide conclusions that can guide more effective collaboration strategies. The study's fundamental research topic is the need to understand the exact mechanisms by which civil society plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation. This includes their involvement in community empowerment, public awareness campaigns, legislative advocacy, and the of sustained programs. The study intends to offer light on the particular characteristics of civil society in stimulating climate action by exploring these aspects. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach in its methodology in Ernakulam district, Kerala. It entails doing a qualitative analysis of case studies to examine the numerous ways in which civil society organizations work to mitigate climate change. Quantitative data are also collected to analyze the impact of their activities on policy reforms, community participation, and climate resilience. Civil society encourages communities to take ownership of climate action through education, capacity-building, and resource allocation, supporting sustainable practices at the grassroots level. The study further demonstrates that civil society plays a significant part in holding the government to account regarding their climate guarantees. Their activities, such as renewable energy projects and sustainable agriculture practices, generate community-led solutions that help to accomplish global climate targets while additionally enhancing local resilience. Furthermore, civil society promotes collaboration among the commercial sector, governments, and communities, leading to a more inclusive approach to climate change mitigation. These insights may assist policymakers, stakeholders, and civil society organizations develop more effective climate change mitigation strategies, thereby ensuring a sustainable and resilient future.

This paper extends the climate literature by examining the feasibility of integrating sub-national governance into global club governance for mitigating CO₂ emissions. Global climate clubs become an argument for having separate bundles of emission targets and incentive mechanisms in the form of opportunities for climate finance and technology sharing among the club members. An exploratory analysis is important to examine the role of import and export taxes and other channels, such as the clean development mechanism, in meeting the objective of nonmember countries to join the club. The crux, however, is how, after determining national-level quotas, the mitigation responsibilities are shared with subnational entities. We propose a design of a carbon entry tax at the subnational level, namely states, districts, and municipalities. The carbon entry tax uses the nighttime luminosity data published by NASA as a measure of carbon, which constitutes the tax base. The carbon entry tax serves as a fiscal instrument of decarbonization in a decentralized framework.

This paper provides insights into the apparent seesaw between the generation of theoretical and empirical economics research over time. A dynamic model considers the incentives of researchers to focus on empirical versus theoretical papers. It yields the main characteristics of the path-changing of economics research, from theoretical-intensive to empirical-focused. The model has two equilibria, one with a higher proportion of theoretical papers and another with a higher proportion of empirical papers. Curiously, the equilibrium with greater theoretical papers is stable, while the one with more empirical papers is a saddle point. This suggests that the current trend of increasing empirical research is unlikely to last.

Energy and environment views of over 10,000 American respondents are captured in a complex survey created by the Pew Research Center (PRC). This paper is based on data collected during a panel wave that took place in May 2022. The survey aims to capture the nuanced perspectives of a nationally representative group of U.S. adults, with particular attention to ensuring participation from traditionally underrepresented or hard-to-reach demographics. To analyze the responses, we cluster raw and encoded data and identify the main groups of respondents and their characteristics. Three main clusters are identified using K-means (silhouette score of .78) with a larger cluster “Mainstream Respondents” that shows moderate views on energy and environmental issues. The second cluster “Outliers or Niche Group” is the smallest cluster representing respondents with unique or extreme views, high income or education levels or specific demographic attributes that set them apart from the majority. The third cluster “Specific Interest Group” has moderate size and characteristics that are distinct but not as extreme as the second cluster. On the other hand, two more balanced clusters (4265/6017) are obtained with K-modes (Davies–Bouldin Index 2.61) using the unencoded data: “Traditional Energy Advocates” highlights the cluster's preference for traditional energy sources over alternative or renewable energy sources (RES), and “Sustainable Future Supporters” emphasizes the cluster's support for environmental sustainability and RES. These names aim to succinctly capture the essence of each cluster's predominant attitudes toward energy and environmental issues, reflecting their preferences and priorities. The results are significant for understanding trends within the U.S. population, informing policymakers and contributing to academic research.