Objective The unified national market is continuously expanding. Against this backdrop, fully activating the innovation spillover effects of national value chain (NVC) participation and accelerating the establishment of a "new development paradigm with domestic circulation being the mainstay and the two circulations reinforcing each other" have become crucial pathways for building an independent and controllable modern industrial system. Methods This study utilized embedded multiregional inputu2013output tables and provincial panel data to examine how NVC participation affects regional innovation performance across 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2017. Fixed-effects models and robustness checks were employed to validate hypotheses. The threshold effect of intellectual property protection (IPP) was also examined. The core explanatory variable, NVC participation degree, was calculated using a production decomposition model based on inputu2013output tables. This approach distinguishes between intraprovincial, national, and global value chains, enabling a nuanced assessment of NVC participation. Control variables, including economic development level, informatization level, openness degree, human capital, financial development, marketization, transportation infrastructure, and innovative industrial policies, were incorporated. The explained variable, research and development (Ru0026amp;D) capital stock, was measured using the perpetual inventory method, which accounts for the cumulative effect of Ru0026amp;D investments over time and provides an accurate reflection of innovation capabilities. Results NVC participation significantly boosted regional innovation levels. The innovation-promoting effect was more pronounced in western regions and provinces with lower levels of participation in the global value chain. Moreover, an IPP threshold effect was observed: NVC participation yielded substantial innovation gains only when IPP reached a specific level. Stronger IPP reduced imitation risks, incentivized cross-regional knowledge sharing, and created stronger innovation incentives. When IPP was below the threshold, firms tended to prioritize capacity expansion over technological upgrades to protect their knowledge assets. Conclusions Deepening NVC collaboration within a unified national market is pivotal for innovation-driven growth. Policy implications include reducing administrative barriers to factor mobility, establishing cross-regional industrial alliances to bridge innovation gaps between eastern and western regions of China, and strengthening IPP frameworks to encourage NVC-driven innovation. These findings provide actionable insights for fostering dual-cycle synergies and achieving high-quality technological autonomy in China.

This study investigates the US-China relations and examines the impact of the US-China trade war on the global economy through the lens of global value chains (GVCs). Against the backdrop of the global transition from hyperglobalization to slowbalization, we review the US-China relationship from the perspectives of cooperation, competition, and conflict. Furthermore, the GVC extended computable general equilibrium model is utilized to reveals the impact of the trade war. The primary findings indicate that an economy is highly dependent on its position and level of engagement in GVCs. The regions situated upstream of China's GVC will suffer greater losses, whereas high-tech exporters may gain from the trade diversion caused by the United States' export control to China regardless of the GVC positions. The essence of the US-China trade war, the contradictory stances behind the trade war, and the outlook of the US-China relations in GVCs are discussed.

The exposure to extreme heat at workplaces poses substantial threat to human effort and manual labour. This becomes more prominent due to the global dispersion of labour-intensive production activities via trade. We combine a climate model with an input-output model to quantify the risks associated with trade-related occupational extreme heat exposure. Here we show an 89% surge in trade-related labour exposure to extreme heat, escalating from 221.5 to 419.0 billion person-hours between 1995 and 2020. Lower-middle-income and low-income economies constituted 53.7% and 18.3% of global exposure but only 5.7% and 1.0% of global labour compensation. In countries highly susceptible to extreme heat conditions, workers perform tasks in heated conditions for up to about 50% of their working hours. The disproportionate trade effects in redistributing global benefits and costs leads to the inequality in heat exposure between developed and developing economies. In striving for equitable and safe work conditions, workers vulnerable to heat extremes in developing economies should be protected by climate adaptation infrastructure, given their critical roles in the global production system.

Quantifying the carbon footprint of agricultural products is crucial for effective carbon mitigation and responsible sourcing, given that the food production system accounts for approximately one-third of global carbon emissions. While country- and sector-specific carbon accounting offers broad insights, its sectoral aggregation limits actionable strategies for inclusive and sustainable supply chain governance. This study combines input-output data with high-resolution global soybean supply chain data at the sub-national level to quantify the embodied carbon in soybean exports from Brazilian states to China. The results reveal that the annual fossil fuel-related carbon footprint of exported soybeans surged from 7.2 million tons in 2014 to 18.5 million tons in 2018. Incorporating land-use change emissions amplifies the cumulative five-year footprint by an additional 17.6 million tons. At the sub-national level, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná are identified as the largest carbon exporters to China. Sourcing soybeans from Brazil’s central and southern regions, where soybean-related deforestation remains comparatively limited, emerges as a potential pathway toward more sustainable supply chain management. Finally, we examine uncertainties arising from comparisons with life cycle assessments, attributing discrepancies primarily to differences in accounting scope and margin allocations.

The impact of the countercyclical fiscal policy (CFP) on short-term economic recovery has been extensively studied. Yet, little is known about how it affects total factor productivity (TFP), a determinant of long-term growth. Utilizing unique data on government-approved projects in China and a semi-parametric difference-in-differences approach, we observe an l-shaped negative impact of CFP on TFP in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), particularly local ones. The decline in TFP growth was manifested in slower technological progress and increased resource misallocation, especially in dynamic rather than static allocation. The social burdens placed on SOEs, evident in employment missions and high leverage ratios, drive mission-oriented behaviors during the implementation of CFP, resulting in a decline in TFP growth. Additionally, the principal-agent problems within SOEs, reflected by agency costs and exacerbated by institutional challenges like limited fiscal transparency and corruption, further intensify the negative impact. These highlight the importance of strengthening corporate governance of SOEs.

Objective Stimulating the vitality of green and low-carbon science and technology innovations and realizing the goal of "dual-carbon" are inherent requirements for implementing a new development concept, building a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development. Currently, the development of green innovation and transformation is at a critical stage, and the dynamics of green innovation and transformation is still an important research object worth exploring. China is participating in a vertical division of the labor system with greater depth, breadth, and efficiency through global value chains. However, most existing studies have simply attributed low-carbon innovation outcomes to a single policy or an element. Under the guidance of dual circulation and dual carbon goals, exploring key links between the value chain consumer demand and green innovation in economic activities is significant. When studying the dynamics of corporate green innovation, attention should be paid to the huge demand-side impacts and transmission of the value chain. Methods Based on the division of labor and connection of product value chains, this study matches and integrates the green innovation database of the A-share listed companies from 2002 to 2020. Then, this paper constructs a time series of multiregional input-output tables based on the interprovincial multi-regional input-output tables compiled by the Development Research Center of The State Council in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017. To more clearly describe how demand-side shocks affect the behavioral decisions of enterprises under green and low-carbon transformation through input-output networks, this paper starts with analyzing the consumption-side demand of the value chain. Using a multiregional input-output model, this paper quantifies the direct and indirect impacts on the consumption-side demand caused by the interprovincial division of labor in each province and estimates the demand impact of the interprovincial trade in China. Further, it decomposes the consumption-side demand of the value chain into the local consumption-side demand and foreign consumption-side demand of the value chain. Results The research findings are as follows: Consumer demand, transmitted through the value chain, contributes to improving local firms' green innovation levels, particularly in terms of original green invention patents. The value chain amplifies the impact of the market demand from other regions on the local market. Local firms participating in the dual circulation strategy and constructing a unified domestic market will benefit from the broader dynamics of the external market. State-owned enterprises bear greater social responsibility in low-carbon emissions, and the consumer demand in the value chain guides subsidies to enter the domain of invention patents more effectively. This effect exhibits specific spatial and temporal heterogeneity, stimulating high-tech sectors and enterprises to invest in green innovation, while large-scale enterprises and startups face limitations in green innovation. Conclusions This paper connects the value chain and innovation chain under the connotation of the global value chain division of labor linkage. By quantifying the direct and indirect impacts on the consumption-side demand, the paper examines the impact of demand-side shocks on the level of green innovation on the supply side by adopting the multiregional input-output model to measure the effect of demand-side shocks on China's interprovincial trade. The research results provide policy implications for creating a unified domestic market under sustainable development, effectively integrating value and innovation chains, and fostering green innovation in enterprises.

This study presents a conceptual framework for the multidimensional aspects of regional governance that influence regional development. In order to test the coupling effect of governance factors on economic growth and welfare improvement, a combination method comprising two-way fixed effects models, systematic GMM models, natural language processing and machine learning has been adopted. The findings underscore the heterogeneous nature of regional governance factors that exert influence on regional economic growth and welfare improvement in China. This study builds upon the preceding conclusion that a singular dimension of governance factor exerts an impact on regional economic growth or welfare improvement. Moreover, the study offers decisionmakers a nuanced policy perspective to facilitate regional economic growth and enhance welfare from a coupling governance perspective.

This study investigates the nonlinear effects of air pollution on urban entertainment consumption by analyzing daily PM10 levels and movie box office data across 334 Chinese cities from 2012 to 2022, resulting in a total of 1,250,339 observations. Utilizing a two-way fixed effects model and threshold regression framework, we identify three key findings: (1) elevated PM10 concentrations significantly reduce movie attendance, with a 1-unit increase decreasing consumption by 0.0797 units; (2) the inhibitory effect intensifies during weekends and holidays, reflecting heightened sensitivity to pollution during leisure periods; (3) threshold effects emerge, where PM10 exceeding 0.0229 μg/m3 triggers a sharp decline in attendance, while temperature moderates this relationship, amplifying pollution’s negative impact. By integrating meteorological, environmental, and socioeconomic datasets, this research reveals substitution patterns between digital and offline entertainment under pollution stress. The results underscore the necessity for region-specific pollution mitigation strategies, cinema infrastructure upgrades, and dynamic pricing policies to counteract environmental disruptions. These insights advance the interdisciplinary nexus of environmental economics and cultural consumption, offering actionable pathways for sustainable urban development.

With the 2030 Agenda reaching its halfway mark, there is an increasing scholarly focus on the effective implementation of the SDGs in a manner that is comprehensive, synchronised, and equitable. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely acknowledged as a practical approach for evaluating the efficacy of development initiatives, addressing the challenges posed by conventional single-performance studies that hinder the assessment of multi-objective governance by quantifying the relative capacity to attain goals within resource limitations. This study analyses multidimensional development efficiency across areas and time. It uses a panel dataset from 2002 to 2019 to study efficiency trends and spatiotemporal interconnections. The findings indicate that there are notable temporal and regional variations in livelihood, education, and technology, as well as ecological and economic efficiencies. The eastern region has more significant economic development, resulting in higher overall efficiency. Conversely, the central and western areas, which are comparatively underdeveloped, are making progress in narrowing the gap with the eastern region. Technology, population movement, and other factors have caused geographical aggregation. The Global Malmquist Index Decomposition illustrates the inherent imbalance in multidimensional development efficiency and examines what drives underlying efficiency heterogeneity regarding technology and efficiency improvements. Furthermore, the development of a dynamic spatial Durbin model examines the presence of spatial spillover effects on multidimensional development efficiency across various directions and intensities in both the short and long run. This indicates that interregional interactions are bidirectional, considering resource limitations. This research provides novel insights into comprehending the complex and interconnected characteristics of sustainable development, hence contributing valuable policy implications for goal-based development governance.

The labour movement has been a key factor for cities’ development and caused regional inequality between cities. Although empirical studies have been conducted to investigate it, little theoretical evidence has been provided to find out the underlying mechanism. This paper describes and derives a Lucas-Prescott style island model to study the location choices of the heterogeneous agents by utilising endogenous technology growth, which in turn influences personal human capital growth. It leads to the U-shape curve of the inequality of wage income with the technology of these islands but not in terms of total income. In the extended two-goods model, the magnitude of the implications is increased by the impact of non-tradable goods price. Together with empirical research using the US census data, this paper finds that skilled labours with less endowed wealth tend to live in large cities for its high salary. On the other hand, those less-skilled but with more endowed wealth tend to live in cities with better environment, which drives up the price level of non-tradable goods in these cities. This explains the population concentration in the super cities and the high housing price-wage ratio in some beautiful cities, which provides theoretical basement for further empirical studies about labour movement in other cities

The exposure to extreme heat at workplaces may result in great risks to the involved labour. This issue becomes more prominent due to the global dispersion of labour-intensive work via trade. Here we combine a high-resolution climate model with an input–output model to investigate the exposure to extreme heat at work due to global trade. We find an 89% surge in trade-related labour exposure to extreme heat, escalating from 221.5 to 419.0 billion person-hours between 1995 and 2020. The lower-middle-income and low-income economies constituted 53.7% and 18.3% of global exposure, while only 5.7% and 1.0% in global labour compensation. In countries highly susceptible to extreme heat conditions, workers could spend up to about 50% of their working hours in heated conditions. Our findings uncover the disproportionate trade effects in redistributing global benefits and costs, which leads to the inequality in heat exposure between rich and poor economies. In striving for equitable and safe work conditions and social justice, workers vulnerable to heat extremes should be protected through the development of climate adaptation infrastructure in developing economies, especially those engaged in international trade.

Although technology importation has traditionally been viewed as the main pathway for innovation catch-up in developing countries, a paradox has emerged in China following the 2008 financial crisis: innovation boom amidst a slowdown in technology importation. To unravel this paradox, using firm-level data, we delve into the promotional and distortive effect of National Technology Development Zones (NTZs) on innovation. We documented a promotional effect of NTZs on local firm innovation measured by both patent quantity and quality from 1995 to 2013, and observed a post-crisis distortive effect on patent quality. Drawing from technological learning theories, we further explored the underlying mechanisms—autonomous development and technology importation—which both contributed to the promotional effect. Concerning the distortive effect, both mechanisms are contributing factors, with technology importation having a more pronounced negative effect. Furthermore, creative capacity of autonomous development and tangible technology importation are more significantly associated with this negative impact compared to their counterparts (absorptive capacity and intangible technology importation). Our study sheds new light on the innovation progress of China against the backdrop of escalating technology protectionism.

Policy tourism is an important, widespread, but understudied aspect of the networking efforts of public managers. Few studies have investigated how the official and purposeful interactions between public managers in the context of policy tourism affect collaboration. To fill this gap, this article aims to explore the question: To what extent does policy tourism channel economic collaboration? We argue that leaders' visit paths provide a direct channel for collaboration through information exchange, trust building, and integration of regional policies, but the consequences vary between jurisdictions at different levels of economic development. We adopt a newly developed nonparametric matching method to estimate the marginal average treatment effects of policy tourism on interprovincial trade flows in China from 2000 to 2013. Results demonstrate that policy tourism channels interprovincial trade flow significantly and that the impacts decrease over time. Also, policy tourism affects interprovincial trade flow more significantly when initiated by less-developed jurisdictions.

Purpose In international business (IB), the discussion of COVID-19-related global value chain (GVC) models driving resilience has taken momentum since May 2020. The purpose of this study is to uncover insights that the pandemic provided as a unique research opportunity, holistically, revealing the significant role of non-lead firms in GVC outcomes and resilience. This allows to extend theory as the authors critically identify impact criteria and assess interdependence and valence, thus progressing the traditional (pre-pandemic) IB view of GVC governance and orchestration. Design/methodology/approach This study opts for an integrative review to help create a much-needed extension of IB theory by means of a critical perspective on GVC theory. The authors examine the extant body of IB literature as the relevant stock of collective IB knowledge prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, uncovering contributions – with a focus on the role of non-lead firms in orchestration and resilience – that allows to clarify what was not evident pre-pandemic. With this, the authors move the theory from its efficiency focus to a better recognition of the interdependencies of power and profit outcomes stemming from asymmetries of interrelationships. By design, the authors focus on the unique research period of the pandemic and orchestration complexities along the development of configurational arguments beyond simple correlations (Fiss, 2011), revealing key dependencies as key themes. The authors highlight further research avenues following Snyder (2019) that are called upon to strengthen that understanding and that helps extend theory. Findings This research provides a critical perspective on the application of the traditional IB views for GVC governance (designed for efficiency, cost and proximity to markets with pre-dominance for just in time), which has shifted during the pandemic to accommodate for adaptation and adjustment to resilience and just in case considerations. The holistic review reveals not only the key country- and multinational enterprise (MNE)-dependencies with residual impact determining the balance between just-in-time and just-in-case. Also, the authors advance the understanding of the (un)balance of the traditional GVC – focused on just-in-case rather than just-in-time through a lead and non-lead GVC participation and power lens yet rarely observed. The authors find that governance should not be construed as “management” such that it resolves into decisions undertaken in lead firms for execution in subordinate GVC participants. Autonomy allows to subsidiary units by MNE lead firms and/or exercised by (mainly, innovative) non-subsidiary GVC participant firms, is uncovered as a key driver in this. Greater delegation capacity appears to help provide resilience to loss in profit, with a recognition that there may be a dynamic trade-off between power and profit. In addition, the authors are able to identify correlations with innovation, demand elasticity, digital uptake, investment and other, that the authors trust will set the scene for additional research deepening and extending the findings. Research limitations/implications Integrative literature reviews include a problem formulation (i.e. that is limited to published topics around an emerging theme) and are hence very focused in nature and approach. This applies to this paper. Data analysis in this method is not typically using statistical methods in contrast to meta-analyses. Also, the authors limit the sample to a relatively short time period with 33 publications analysed, purposefully focusing on the most prompt and “acute” insights into GVCs during the pandemic. Practical implications The traditional GVC governance model is designed for efficiency, cost and proximity to markets with pre-dominance for just in time. The authors reveal dependencies that are instrumental to better understand lead and non-lead interaction and relative autonomy, with a focus on residual impact determining the balance between just-in-time and just-in-case that, if in the sought equilibrium and agile, can allow alignment with context and this resilience. This paper specifically provides practical insights and visualization that highlights stages/“ripple” effects and their impact and the questions to ask as stakeholders look for GVC resilience. This includes, int.al., firms and their role as strategic agents, prompting participants through the learnings from exogenous shock to realign their strategies, redistributed manufacturing of production across subsidiary and non-subsidiary non-lead firms, greater competition and hence power for suppliers leveraging resilience and innovation, greater understanding of localization and regionalization of production of essential supplies, interaction with governments, and of investment impacts abroad especially to secure GVC participation. Social implications The insights provided through this extension of theory with its literature review reveal the importance of aligning IB research into GVCs to factors that became visible through alternative or unusual settings, as they have the power to reveal the limitations of traditional views. In this case, a mainly efficiency-led, just-in-time focused GVC governance model is reviewed through the literature that emanated during the pandemic, with a critical perspective, which helped uncover and underline the complexities and evolution of GVC governance, providing fundamental support to solutioning the continuing global supply chain challenges that started as a result of the pandemic and are yet again accelerated by the Ukraine and Middle Eastern wars and its impact with, int.al., concerns over possible severe global food, labour/migration and resources crises. IB holds a social responsibility to help identify critical challenges from the disciplinary perspective and help advance resilience for social benefit. Originality/value This paper supports the original IB theory development by extending GVC theory into the lead – non-lead dynamics that may, under certain conditions, provide a “Resilience wall” for GVCs. The value created through insights stemming from a unique period of time for GVC is significant. It allows us thus also to pave the way to an emerging and critical research adaption looking into equilibrium, nuancing demand elasticity, better understanding trade and investment impacts along GVCs and more. By examining views on the sources of pandemic risks in a possibly unique setting, the authors offer added value from extant IB research insights by combining them, revealing the importance for GVCs to investigate not only key dependencies between the exogenous shock, i.e. context, and the impacts assessed through this literature but to further use their inherent value to create a framework for further conceptualization and extension of the traditional IB view on GVC governance. This work illustrates the urgency and importance for IB to take a timely and possibly more critical approach to the investigation of governance models that have, to date, shown some significant limitations.

This paper describes and derives a Lucas-Prescott style island model, to model the location choices of the heterogeneous agents by utilising endogenous technology growth, which in turn influences personal human capital growth. It leads to the U-shape curve of the inequality of wage income with the technology of these islands but not in terms of total income. In the extended two-goods model, the magnitude of the implications is lessened by the impact the price of non-tradable goods has as an automatic stabiliser. We found that skilled labours with less endowed wealth tend to live in large cities for its high salary. On the other hand, those less-skilled labours but with more endowed wealth tend to live in cities with better environment, which drives up the price level of non-tradable goods in these cities. This explains the population concentration in the super cities and the high housing price-wage ratio in some beautiful cities.

Input-Output (IO) data describing supply-demand relationships between buyers and sellers for goods and services within an economy have been used not only in economics but also in scientific, environmental, and interdisciplinary research. However, most conventional IO data are highly aggregated, resulting in challenges for researchers and practitioners who face complex issues in large countries such as China, where firms within the same IO sector may have significant differences in technologies across subnational regions and different ownerships. This paper is the first attempt to compile China's interprovincial IO (IPIO) tables with separate information for mainland China-, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan-, and foreign-owned firms inside each province/industry pair. To do this, we collect relevant Chinese economic census data, firm surveys, product level Custom trade statistics, and firm value-added tax invoices and consistently integrate them into a 42-sector, 31-province IO account covering 5 benchmark years between 1997-2017. This work provides a solid foundation for a diverse range of innovative IO-based research in which firm heterogeneity information about location and ownership matters.

The world has witnessed an unprecedented growth in extraction of materials and natural resources in the past few decades. The emerging of multinational enterprises has dramatically challenged the understanding of ma-terials along Global Value Chains. To have a full picture of world material footprints, it is essential to understand to what extent materials are re-distributed by trade and investments. This study employs an Environmental -Extended multi-regional Input-Output approach with explicit consideration on multinational enterprises to trace the embodied material flows along Global Value Chains. The results show that both the outsourcing and offshoring of production by trade and the overseas investments by multinational enterprises contribute to the surging material extraction in developing countries. The results also highlight the role of fixed capital formation in driving the increase of the material footprints. The sustainable development goals call for collaboration of all nations with more focuses on the role of multinational enterprises.

The past three decades have witnessed the boom of patents and mounting place-based innovation policies (PIPs) in China. However, the PIP-innovation nexus, particularly the distortion effect and underlying mechanisms, remains poorly understood. Matching micro-level patent data and industrial firm data, we documented a promotion effect of PIPs on local firm innovation measured by both patent quantity and quality. Moreover, we observed a distortion effect on patent quality following the 2008 crisis, primarily originating from privately owned enterprises rather than state-owned ones. Drawing from theories of technological learning and the unique institutional characteristics of PIPs in China, we have further unpacked the underlying mechanisms driving these effects: Both industry-academia collaboration and foreign direct investment play significant roles in the PIP-innovation nexus, and the latter appears to be particularly influential in causing the distortion effect. Additionally, our analysis has revealed that preferential policies, such as patent subsidies and reductions in land prices, are instrumental in enabling PIPs to exert their impact.

中美之间的巨额贸易不平衡一直是困扰两国贸易关系的热点问题.传统分析主要从人民币汇率、美国低储蓄率以及特里芬悖论探讨这一问题.本文认为,除了以上因素,按照传统贸易统计测算的中美贸易不平衡本身存在严重失真.这种情况主要是由传统贸易统计的前提假设与以全球价值链为基础的现代贸易不一致引起的.传统贸易统计以货物跨越本国国境为前提,而在全球价值链时代,货物跨境已不再是贸易实现的必要条件.跨国企业无工厂的制造方式,以及通过对外直接投资进入他国市场的销售方式已经成为全球价值链贸易的典型特征和普遍现象.鉴于此,本文提出了基于全球价值链特征的"要素收入贸易"这一新概念.根据这一概念,美国对中国的出口被定义为用来满足中国最终需求的美国的要素收入.本文的实证研究发现:基于"要素收入贸易"核算的中国对美国的贸易顺差,比以传统总值贸易统计的结果和以增加值贸易统计为基础的结果分别低32％和17％.这主要是由于现存的贸易统计仍然遵循属地而非属权原则,不仅夸大了中国对美国的出口,也低估了美国对中国的出口."要素收入贸易"这一概念的提出有利于将贸易的标签从传统的"在某国制造"改为"由某国创造".