The European Union faces long-term governance challenges in contested domains, such as migration management, health data sharing, and facial recognition technology. Across these fields, political debates are shaped by shifting ways in which actors frame problems and solutions. Understanding how such framing contests evolve over time is crucial for explaining both integration dynamics and the capacity of EU institutions to govern effectively. This article develops the mathematical foundations of a comparative approach to frame evolution by extending discourse network analysis, acknowledging the relational nature of collective action framing. Partitioning trajectories into distinct states and phases reveals key types of frame evolution: progressive versus regressive, entangled versus disentangled, and fast-paced versus slow. This typology provides a basis for linking framing dynamics to EU integration and policymaking processes. The article makes three contributions: operationalising collective framing trajectories; introducing a temporal kernel smoothing approach; and identifying comparative dimensions across policy debates.
This paper provides new evidence on the within-city relocations of polluting sources. We focus on industrial land use, which can create long-lasting effects on pollution distribution. The research design exploits the first comprehensive air-pollution prevention plan in China creating within-city variations on incentives to relocate polluting sources. Using a triple-difference model, we find that after the regulation, the locations of land leased by polluting firms in the cities receiving more stringent regulation are farther away from monitoring stations. Mechanism analysis shows this shift is partly due to the demand side, but primarily driven by land supply decisions: local governments provide new polluting land parcels in more distant areas of the city. We show that the welfare gains from improved air quality are partly offset by losses in production due to remote locations.
Purpose: This paper examines the effect of fintech on entrepreneurship to ascertain the role of financial technology services on individual entrepreneurial intention in five sub-Saharan African countries. Methods: The analysis was based on an extended probit model to determine the country-specific effect of mobile money account ownership (Fin) on individuals who used fintech services to start a business (Ent) as a measure of entrepreneurship. The impact of other control variables (X) such as credit access, education, and labor force participation on entrepreneurship (Ent) was also considered. Results: The findings show that fintech services through mobile money are significantly associated with an increased likelihood of entrepreneurship in The Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and South Africa. Credit access, higher levels of education, and labor force participation are other drivers of entrepreneurship in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Implications: Country-specific characteristics play a significant role in engendering entrepreneurship; thus, the government should intensify efforts to diffuse and adopt fintech for optimal livelihood and economic transformation. Originality: Overall, this paper accounts for the role of technology penetration in financial services and contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship development in the African context. The research utilizes the World Bank Global Findex data, which is nationally representative, to provide insight into the subject matter. Limitations: This paper's analysis relied on the 2017 World Bank Global Findex Database, the most recent data available. Although this may be perceived as insufficient, the findings were valid due to their alignment with similar outcomes in the literature
This paper studies a matching problem in which a group of agents cooperate with agents on two sides. In environments with either nontransferable or transferable utilities, we demonstrate that a stable outcome exists when cooperations exhibit same-side complementarity and cross-side substitutability. Our results apply to pick-side matching problems and membership competition in online duopoly markets.
