The production and widespread utilisation of electronic products have enhanced modern lifestyles. However, the consistent increase in electronic waste (e-waste) production threatens environmental quality and public health. Previous studies have addressed various kinds of solid waste but often overlooked the unique challenges associated with e-waste. There is also limited literature about e-waste management at the municipal level, particularly in South Africa. This paper examines how e-waste is managed in the selected North West District Municipalities in South Africa. The study adopted a case study approach to assess and suggest strategies for e-waste management. The case study examined e-waste management practices in the selected municipalities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 IT and Procurement/Supply Chain participants because of their technical skills, knowledge, and experience to promote sustainable e-waste management practices. The study found that the life cycle assessment of electronic products is not conducted, and up-to-date policies and systems for replacing electronic equipment are nonexistent. Similarly, efforts to bring about a circular economy are not promoted due to a lack of hardware repair and upgrades, refurbishment, and recycling of obsolete electronic equipment. Furthermore, environmental considerations are often overlooked during procurement, thus contributing to unsafe disposal practices. The study offers insights into the unique challenges and strategies for e-waste management at the municipal level. It is, therefore, important for municipalities to adopt sustainable e-waste practices to prevent environmental harm.
In the continuous forward development of the world economy, the issue of wealth disparity has become increasingly prominent, gradually becoming a focal point in the socio-economic development of countries. It is worth thinking about the future trend of income inequality. In previous studies, it was generally believed that under current conditions, the wealth gap would continue to widen rather than narrow. This paper takes a conservative stance on this widely held view. I believe that during economic development, the autonomous creation and learning of technology will gradually reduce this gap, even if relevant studies suggest that technical barriers may hinder technological learning.However, previous studies on income inequality have predominantly focused on static analyses. Building upon the traditional Cobb-Douglas (C-D) function, this study introduces the concept of growth residual per capita income for dynamic analysis. The model reveals that when capital growth rate equals labor growth rate and the latter remains positive, the growth residual per capita income exhibits a monotonically decreasing trend, with its maximum value occurring at the technological progress growth rate.
This study utilizes panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2007 to 2023 and integrates machine learning and graph neural network (GNN) approaches to examine the spatial dynamics of carbon emissions. It aims to systematically evaluate the impact pathways of the digital economy on carbon intensity and to uncover its spatial diffusion patterns and regional heterogeneity. The empirical findings are threefold. First, the digital economy significantly reduces carbon intensity, consistent with the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, and this effect exhibits clear heterogeneity across economic development levels and regions. Second, due to the existence of spatial spillover effects, GNN models outperform traditional machine learning methods in carbon emission prediction tasks. Third, carbon intensity displays strong temporal inertia and negative spatial spillovers across regions. Notably, spatial diffusion capacity and sensitivity to the digital economy vary substantially: central and western regions exhibit stronger spillover effects, northeastern provinces show more pronounced internal feedback mechanisms, while eastern coastal areas demonstrate relatively weaker effects. Overall, this study expands the analytical perspective on the digital economy's role in carbon mitigation and provides theoretical and empirical support for the design of differentiated emission reduction policies and coordinated regional governance.
This study employs the smooth transition autoregressive (STAR) model-based cointegration tests developed by Kapetanios et al. (2006) and Maki (2010) to investigate the long-term relationship between air transport and globalization, including its economic, social, and political dimensions in Türkiye. STAR models reflect the smooth nature of real-world processes and can capture the complex and nonlinear relationships between variables that linear models struggle to represent effectively. We offer a novel methodological approach to examine the relationship between air transport and globalization in Türkiye, providing valuable insights for policymakers and researchers. Our empirical results reveal a long-term equilibrium relationship between air transport and overall globalization and the economic and political dimensions of the globalization index. These results imply that both variables move together in the long run. However, no cointegration was found between air transport and the social dimension of globalization.
The problem being studied was that women were underrepresented in the labor force throughout Latin America and the Caribbean regions. In addition, although Latin America and the Caribbean regions experienced sound economic growth over the past decade, poverty levels dropped from 30% in 2021 to 28.5% in 2022. Development within low/low-middle income countries such as those within the Latin America and the Caribbean’s region, is more effected because of the reduction of gender inequality. This quantitative study explored how empowering women contributed to addressing and enhancing economic challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. Additionally, it aimed to identify the relationship between women's empowerment and economic growth, while examining the influence of relevant variables on the economic development of these countries. This study was motivated by identifying a gap in the literature that made this research viable. Study found that there is statically a significant impact of women’ empowerment on economic growth, where an increase of 10 points in the women empowerment index, increases the growth of real GDP per capita by 2 percentage point per year. The data collected covers 29 countries and regions and covered metrics on women empowerment from 1982 – 2019, which spanned approximately 38 years. The study results concluded that women empowerment statistically impact GDP growth in Latin America and the Caribbean.
