Digital agriculture’s equalization effect in the Yangtze River economic belt: An empirical study using difference-in-difference analysis

Decoupling of economic growth and resources-environmental pressure in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

At present, there is obvious regional segmentation in the protection of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. ArcGIS spatial analysis method and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) models are used to investigate the distribution characteristics of ICH and the suitability of corridor construction in this region. On this basis, the strategies for heritage corridor construction are proposed. (1) The results show that the density and distribution of ICH in the Yangtze River Economic Belt have distinct regional characteristics: most of the high-density areas are in the eastern region, yet the low-density areas are mainly in the western region. (2) The suitability of heritage corridor construction decreases from west to east, and the unsuitable areas are mainly distributed in the western region. (3) According to the spatial characteristics of heritage distribution and the suitability of regional corridor construction, the ArcGIS spatial analysis method is used to determine 37 heritage corridors in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. (4) On this basis, a corridor construction method that uses linear landscape as the corridor theme and connects individual heritage points is proposed. The development strategy of heritage corridors should be in line with local conditions in different regions so as to realize regional collaborative development. Furthermore, the influence domain of heritage corridors should be further increased.

The Yangtze River Economic Belt, which is an important development axis of China’s “T-shaped” strategy, has been challenged by water resource utilization and water environment protection due to the rapid development of the social economy. In this study, to understand the variation characteristics, competition and cooperation relationship, and optimal stable point of synergetic development capability of the “water resource–water environment–socioeconomic development” coupling system, 20 years of data, from 1999 to 2018, at the general, provincial, and city scales were analyzed. The results showed that the synergetic development capability of the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2011 was a mutation point; it fluctuated slightly before 2011 and steadily rose after 2011, with an average value of 2.46. The three subsystems were all in an evolutionary state, and the evolution speed was sorted by socioeconomic development > water resources > water environment. The water resource subsystem and water environment subsystem had a win–win relationship, and the other subsystems had a lose–lose relationship. Moreover, the synergetic evolution stable point of the Yangtze River Economic Belt was (0.8625,0.8236,1.5841). From the spatial trend, the synergetic development capability in the west was better than in the east and the capability in the south was better than in the north. The spatial agglomeration and spatial heterogeneity in 110 cities were more obvious than those of 11 provinces. From the temporal trend, the synergetic development capability gradually improved. Additionally, the synergetic development capability and its rank obeyed Zipf’s rank-size rule, and the degree of deviation gradually reduced. Furthermore, the Yangtze River Economic Belt can be divided into nine secondary urban agglomerations, and the western, central, and eastern regions paid more attention to socioeconomic development, water environment improvement, and water resource protection, respectively. The “siphon effect” in the central cities was greater than the “radiation effect”. This study provided a method for effectively evaluating the synergetic development characteristics and is of great significance to the protection, development, and utilization of water resources.

Background The digital economy represents a pivotal pathway for mitigating rural income inequality and advancing common prosperity. As a prerequisite capability in the digital era, whether digital literacy can effectively alleviate imbalances in income distribution among rural households has emerged as a critical academic question within the context of rural revitalization. Methods Drawing on panel data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) spanning 2014 to 2020, this study empirically examines the impact of digital literacy on rural income inequality. The Kakwani index was employed to measure income inequality, while the Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) method and the Extended Regression Model (ERM) were utilized to address potential endogeneity. Furthermore, heterogeneity analyses and mechanism tests were conducted. Results (1) Digital literacy exerts a significant inhibitory effect on rural income inequality, a finding that remains robust after controlling for endogeneity. (2) Heterogeneity analysis indicates distinct regional and demographic variations in the income-equalizing effect of digital literacy, with more pronounced impacts observed in central regions and among rural households with lower educational attainment. (3) Mechanism testing reveals that non-cognitive abilities significantly attenuate the inhibitory effect of digital literacy on income inequality; specifically, higher levels of non-cognitive abilities correspond to a diminished efficacy of digital literacy in narrowing the income gap. Conclusion Enhancing rural digital literacy and optimizing the allocation of new human capital constitute effective strategies for narrowing the rural income gap. Concurrently, it is essential to consider the moderating role of non-cognitive abilities. By implementing differentiated empowerment to achieve the inclusive sharing of digital dividends, this study offers theoretical support and policy references for advancing rural revitalization and common prosperity.

Understanding the complex relationship between ESSD and human well-being is of paramount significance to protecting regional ecology, enhancing human well-being and achieving sustainable development. We take the Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example and use multi-source data to analyse land use and cover change, as well as the spatiotemporal evolution of ESSD and human well-being. We explore and reveal the coupling coordination relationship between ESSD and human well-being. The results show that from 2000 to 2020, the overall trend in ESs in the region improved significantly, and the supply notably increased, whereas the demand growth rate was even more pronounced. The supply–demand ratio for water yield and soil conservation showed little change, with variations of <10%. However, the supply–demand ratio for carbon sequestration declined significantly by 41.83%, whereas that for food supply increased notably by 42.93%. The overall spatial pattern in ESSD presented a mismatch, which was characterised by ‘low supply and high demand in the eastern region and high supply and low demand in the western region’. Overall, human well-being remained stable and was in line with the level of socio-economic development, thereby exhibiting a distinct trend of well-being ‘polarisation between the rich and poor’. Well-being was higher in the eastern and central urban agglomerations and lower in the western plateau and mountainous areas. Over 20 years, the degree of coupling coordination between ESSD and human well-being increased by 0.0107, and the coupling level gradually transitioned from moderate imbalance to moderate coordination. Spatially, Hubei Province, Chongqing Municipality and the Yangtze River Delta were the main ‘high–high’ agglomeration areas, whereas the Sichuan Basin and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau were the main ‘low–low’ agglomeration areas. Based on these findings, we propose the following management recommendations for the Yangtze River Economic Belt and other related great river economic belts: optimise land use structure, rationally allocate natural resources, strengthen regional and external connections and promote regional coordinated development, enhance the implementation of policies for ecological and environmental protection, establish regional ecological compensation mechanisms and coordinate ecological protection in a full scope and focus on harmonising human–land relationships, build a multi-stakeholder collaborative governance mechanism and promote regional ecological protection and the elevation of human well-being.

The terrestrial ecosystem plays an important role in maintaining an ecological balance, protecting the ecological environment, and promoting the sustainable development of human beings. The impacts of precipitation, temperature, and other natural factors on terrestrial ecosystem pattern change (TEPC) are the basis for promoting the healthy development of the terrestrial ecosystem. This paper took the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the study area, analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics of TEPC from 1995 to 2015, and used spatial transfer matrix and terrestrial ecosystem pattern dynamic degree models to analyze the area transformation between different terrestrial ecosystem types. A bivariate spatial autocorrelation model and a panel data regression model were used to study the impacts of precipitation and temperature on TEPC. The results show that: (1) The basic pattern of the terrestrial ecosystem developed in a relatively stable manner from 1995 to 2005 in the YREB, and transformations between the farmland ecosystem, forest ecosystem, and grassland ecosystem were more frequent. The temporal and spatial evolution of precipitation and temperature in the YREB showed significant regional differences. (2) There was a significant negative bivariate global spatial autocorrelation effect of precipitation and temperature on the area change of the forest ecosystem, and a positive effect on the area change of the settlement ecosystem. The local spatial correlation between precipitation or temperature and the terrestrial ecosystem showed significant scattered distribution characteristics. (3) The impacts of precipitation and temperature on TEPC showed significant regional characteristics on the provincial scale. The impact utility in the tail region is basically negative, while both positive and negative effects exist in the central and head regions of the YREB. Moreover, the impact showed significant spatial heterogeneity on the city scale. (4) The Chinese government has promulgated policies and measures for strategic planning, ecological environment protection, and economic support, which could effectively promote ecological and sustainable development of the YREB and promote the coordinated development of the ecology, economy, and society in China.

Indirect carbon emissions from household consumption of middle-income groups: Evidence from Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

As China’s rapid urban development exerts significant pressure on the ecological environment, accurate quantitative analysis of the relationship between urban and eco-environment is crucial for sustainable development. Current research has not yet explored the spatial and temporal patterns of the coupling relationship between urban and ecological systems at the county scale. To address this gap, this study developed a multi-scale analysis framework for ecological-urban resilience based on geographically weighted principal component analysis (GWPCA). Based on data from 1068 counties across the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), 21 evaluation indicators were selected to explore the spatiotemporal patterns in the coupling coordination degree (CCD) between ecological resilience (ER) and urban resilience (UR) at different scales. The results indicated the following: (1) the ER of YREB exhibited a spatial pattern of “high in the southeast and low in the northwest”, while the UR exhibited a gradual and steady growth trend; (2) the CCD of YREB underwent three stages, with the development stage progressing 1.58 times faster than the starting stage, and the CCD peaked at 0.663 in 2020; (3) the CCD showed an upward trend from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (URYR) to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (LRYR), corresponding to improvements in urban development levels and the eco-environment quality. Under the “Ecological Priority and Intensive Development” strategy, the ER, UR, and CCD of YREB increased continuously from 2000 to 2020. Furthermore, targeted policies should be developed in response to the substantial CCD gap between the eastern and western regions and the decline in CCD of certain counties. The research findings will provide valuable scientific data and recommendations for environmental protection, ecological restoration, and innovation-driven regional development in the YREB.

As a significant ecological corridor from west to east across China, the Yangtze River Economical Belt (YREB) is in great need of green development and transformation. Rather than only focusing on the overall growth of green productivity, it is important to identify whether the technical change is biased towards economic performance or green performance in promoting green productivity. By employing the biased technical change theory and Malmquist index decomposition method, we analyze the green biased technical change in terms of industrial water resources in YREB at the output side and the input side respectively. We find that the green biased technical change varies during 2006–2015 at both the input side and output side in YREB. At the input side, water-saving biased technical change is generally dominant compared to water-using biased technical change during 2006–2015, presenting the substitution effects of non-water production factors. At the output side, the economy-growth biased technical change is the main force to promote green productivity, whereas the role of water-conservation biased technical change is insufficient. The green performance at the output side needs to be strengthened compared to the economic performance in YREB. A series of water-related environmental policies introduced in China since 2008 have promoted the green biased technical change both at the input side and the output side in YREB, but the policy effects at the output side is still inadequate compared to that at the input side. The technological innovation in sewage treatment and control need to catch up with the economic growth in YREB. Our research gives insights to enable a deeper understanding of the green biased technical change in YREB and will benefit more focused policy-making of green innovation.

The paper developed coupling coordination degree model by constructing a comprehensive evaluation index system of the urbanization level and study the coupled coordination of population, economy, and social and spatial urbanization subsystem of the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the year 2010 to 2016. The research findings are: (1) The coupling degree and coordinated development demonstrates a positive trend in general. Besides, the trend of coordinated development and coupling degree have differentiation compared with the similarity of the trend of urbanization level. (2) The coupling degree of Shanghai, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan increases after a period of fluctuation, while the coupling degree of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Sichuan decreases after a period of fluctuation from different provinces and cities perspective. However, the coupling level mainly categorizes into the incubation phase and the coupling phase. Moreover, the coordinated development degree has the increasing trend of fluctuation, but the level of coordination development mainly concentrates on the low-grade coordination group. (3) The coordinated development represents the spatial variation of the “Eastern Region > Central Region >Western Region” from each region. In the future study, index of residents' subjective perception and subjective and objective combination weighting method can be adopted, and also study the steric effects and its interoperability of Exogenous variables.

Introduction The essence of rural revitalization lies in achieving “affluent living” with common prosperity in rural areas being the focal point and challenge. As a key element of rural revitalization, industrial revitalization of rural areas plays a pivotal role in advancing common prosperity in rural communities. Methods This study is based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2013 to 2023 (excluding Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Tibet), and has constructed an indicator system for rural industrial revitalization and common prosperity. Based on this, the fixed effect model and the mediation effect model were adopted to systematically evaluate the impact of rural industrial revitalization on rural common prosperity. Through various robustness tests such as endogeneity handling, machine learning verification, and placebo test, the reliability of the research results has been ensured. Results The research results indicate that rural industrial revitalization can significantly enhance the level of rural common prosperity, and this has been fully verified through various robustness tests. Furthermore, this effect shows significant heterogeneity. The effects are stronger in the central and western regions, as well as in the areas with low urbanization rates, compared to those in the eastern regions and areas with high urbanization rates. Finally, promoting income growth and improving human capital are crucial micro mechanisms for rural industrial revitalization and the promotion of common prosperity in rural areas of our country. Discussion Science-driven rural industrial revitalization and further clarification of the realization path for enabling rural common prosperity are of great significance for achieving the goal of common prosperity. This evidence highlights the necessity of formulating region-specific strategies, especially in underdeveloped and low-urbanization areas. Rural industrial revitalization can bring the greatest marginal benefits. The research conclusions of this article provide new ideas and inspiration for effectively promoting rural industrial development and achieving common prosperity in rural areas.

In the urgent context of global climate change and carbon neutrality goals, effective carbon balance regulation is critical for achieving temperature control targets. Metropolitan areas encounter significant challenges in carbon emission reduction, energy transition advancement, and enhancement of sequestration capabilities. However, traditional carbon balance analysis methods have limitations in capturing dynamic changes and guiding precise regulation. Therefore, this study developed a dynamic–static classification system for carbon balance based on the Ecological Support Coefficient (ESC) and the Economic Contributive Coefficient (ECC). This system examined carbon emissions and carbon sequestration in China’s 14 national-level metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) Carbon emissions showed an increasing trend, exhibiting a spatial distribution with higher levels in the north, moderate levels in the central region, and the lowest levels in the southeast. In contrast, carbon sequestration exhibited a spatial pattern with higher levels in the east, moderate levels in the central region, and lower levels in the west. (2) Static classification revealed that the ECC and ESC of metropolitan areas in the central and northern regions were relatively weaker than those in other regions. Dynamic classification further showed an upward trend in the economic and ecological capabilities of these central and northern metropolitan areas. In contrast, metropolitan areas along the coast and within the Yangtze River Economic Belt needed to optimize their economic–ecological coordination efficiency. Although southern coastal metropolitan areas demonstrated robust economic vitality, they encountered significant ecological support pressures. (3) Economic development level and ecological environmental quality were the predominant factors in metropolitan area classification. Regions with a higher ECC tended to exhibit an enhanced ESC, while regions with a stronger ESC prioritized economic growth. This classification system provided a solid scientific basis for formulating differentiated low-carbon transformation strategies, thereby supporting high-quality development in China’s metropolitan areas while maintaining a dynamic balance between economic and ecologic objectives. Moreover, it offered both theoretical foundations and practical guidance for optimizing sustainable development pathways in similar metropolitan areas globally.

The commercial residential industry has high added value and comprehensive economic benefit so the commercial residential industry is naturally a hot-spot issue. The core issue of the commercial housing is the price. This thesis conducts the descriptive statistic analysis of residential real estate prices, urban resident income and other relevant data in China’s 30 provinces (excluding Tibet) from 1998 to 2006. The change trend and the difference feature of both the residential real estate price and the urban resident income in those regions are revealed, which is expected to make a contribution to the macro-control in China’s real estate. In recent years, the real estate market in China is growing rapidly. On the one hand, it plays a vital role in both promoting the national economic growth and improving the living standards of urban residents. On the other hand, some problems in the development of China’s current real estate market have been fully exposed, such as the overheated investment, the unbalance in supply and demand, insufficient financing channels, soaring property prices and so on. In particular, the rapid growth in the housing price has brought challenges to the sound development in both China’s real estate market and the whole national economy and it has also become a hot-spot and difficult issue in the current academia. Such relevant research as whether the rapid growth of China’s housing prices has become disjointed with resident income seriously or not and what the rules of the changes in income and housing prices in China’s different regions are is realistically significant for guiding the micro-control in China’s real estate. I. Index Selection and Disposal of Comparability The samples selected in this thesis are composed of the fluctuating residential real estate prices in China’s 30 provinces (excluding Tibet) from 1998 to 2006, urban resident income and other relevant panel data that are from various years of China Statistical Yearbook. The data of the real estate prices adopts the real estate prices in urban areas. The income indexes adopt the annual per capita disposable income of urban residents. In order to remove the impacts of the price and make indexes of various types had comparability in time series, the disposal of comparability has been conducted in indexes of different types in the thesis and their present value has been turned into the value of the constant price, namely, on the basis of the constant price in 1998, the concrete calculation method is that the housing price is deflated by the housing sales price index and the disposable income is deflated by the consumer price index of urban residents. II. Analysis of Commercial Housing Price Variance among Provinces According to the average housing prices and their growth rates in provinces from 1998 to 2006, thirty provinces, cities and autonomous regions across the country can be divided into three types in accordance with the mean and the growth rate of their average housing prices. It’s found that the provinces, cities and autonomous regions of the three types also have common in geographic areas so they can be divided into such three regions as the eastern region, the central region and the western region on the basis of their geographic areas. For the regional division of the average housing price in China, Figure 1 compares the changes in the average housing prices in the central, western and eastern regions from 1998 to 2006. It’s found that the average housing price in the east is prominently higher than those in the western and International Conference on Education Technology, Management and Humanities Science (ETMHS 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1100 central regions and the trend of its average housing prices is on the rise. In particular, the rising trend of the average housing prices is obvious after 2004. The changes in the average housing prices in eastern and western regions are comparatively similar. However, the average prices in the central region are rising slowly while for the western region, a small decline also appears in its slightly rising process. Besides, the average housing prices in the eastern region surpass those in the western region after 2004. III. Analysis of the Differences in the Income Change among Regions Figure 1: Changes in the housing prices in the central, eastern and western regions Figure 2: Changes in the income in the central, eastern and western regions For the regional division of the average housing price in China, Figure 2 compares the changes in the income in the central, western and eastern regions from 1998 to 2006. It’s found that the per capita income in the east is prominently higher than those in the western and central regions and its trend is uniformly on the rise.

Digital literacy, relative poverty, and common prosperity for rural households

The impact of income inequality has attracted significant global attention as economies continue to develop. This study explores the potential influence of local culture, acting as an informal institution, in this complex process. Focusing on county-level regions within China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2014 to 2021, our research examines how Confucian traditional culture, as an informal institution, shapes the relationship between the digital economy and the urban–rural income gap. Our findings indicate that while the early stages of digital economic development may initially widen the urban–rural income gap, subsequent progress is likely to reduce it. Notably, Confucian culture plays a positive role in narrowing this gap, particularly due to its inherent values of innovation and integrity. Further analysis reveals that this effect varies across the upstream and downstream regions of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, influenced by local economic conditions. Building upon these insights, we recommend enhancing Confucian cultural education and formulating region-specific strategies to promote the development of Confucian culture.