Valuatio of Inequality in the Russian Federation and its Decomposition Using the Theil Index

The high level of interregional socio-economic inequality is one of the main problems of spatial development of the Russian Federation, which is enshrined in several state strategic planning documents. Such a situation requires constant monitoring of this inequality and the search for solutions to this problem. The article analyzes the current situation of interregional inequality in the Russian Federation according to a few key indicators of socio-economic development and assesses the dynamics of changes in inequality of the subjects of the Russian Federation in the period 2000–2019. In addition, the article decomposes interregional inequality using the Theil index and proves that differences between federal districts explain a relatively small part of interregional differentiation, while differences between regions within districts account for more than 80% of all regional variation.

A systematic review protocol of quantitative instruments of income inequality in studies of children and adolescents

Background: Income inequality is an important indicator of socioeconomic position which is a determinant of social, psychological, and physical health outcomes from childhood to adulthood. Different income inequality instruments (metrics) are used to investigate associations between income inequality and health outcomes (e.g. Gini coefficient, Theil Index). Income inequality instruments provide unique information on the construct of socioeconomic inequality. Albeit there is variation in studies as to the type and rationale for using a particular quantitative instrument of income inequality. The aim of this systematic review will investigate and identify the most used quantitative income inequality instrument in studies of children and adolescents Methods: The PRISMA-P framework will be applied to identify high quality articles (PROSPERO: CRD42021259114). A search will be conducted in PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO. The search will include studies concerned with income inequality and/or socioeconomic inequality in children and adolescents. All articles will be independently reviewed, data extracted, and quality appraised by two reviewers and a third to arbitrate disputes. Articles will be initially reviewed by title and abstract using inclusion criteria. A data extraction form will be used. Three questions will be answered on the quality of the rationale for using a particular income inequality instrument and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale will be used to assess bias and quality. The primary outcome of interest is the type and frequency of quantitative income inequality instrument used and the study outcome associated with that income inequality instrument. Conclusions: This systematic review will aim to explore and provide a summary of the different types of quantitative income inequality instruments used in studies of child and adolescent populations. This will help to guide researchers and policy makers on the inclusion and use of income inequality metrics in future studies aimed at understanding associations with health and social outcomes in children and adolescents.

Research on Eco-Efficiency of 11 Cities in Zhejiang Province: Based on the Perspective of High Quality Development

Ecological efficiency (Eco-efficiency) index well represents the quality of regional development and measures the extensive or intensive development mode of a region. The traditional concept of Eco-efficiency refers to the maximum economic benefits through the minimum resource cost and environmental load. This paper argues that the goal of Eco-efficiency evaluation is not only to maximize economic benefits, but also to achieve high-quality development in many aspects such as society, science & technology and economy, so that people can enjoy the results of development.In this paper, the Eco-efficiency input indicators comprehensively considers the consumption of manpower, resources, energy and capital, and negative environmental benefits including waste gas, waste water and waste residue. Output indicators comprehensively consider the five high-quality development dimensions----innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, which are represented by indicators such as patents, total import and export, the number of patent, regional Theil index, disposable income, three waste emissions et al. .In terms of empirical research, the SBM model of undesirable output super-efficiency under the assumption of variable returns to scale is established to measure the Eco-efficiencies of 11 cities in Zhejiang Province. Secondly, Malmquist index model is estalished to study the temporal and spatial changes of Eco-efficiencies. Finally, the panel Tobit method is used for regression analysis to study the key factors affecting the Eco-efficiency of Zhejiang Province. The results show that the industrialization structure, economic level and export trade significantly positively correlated with Eco-efficiency. Urbanization level is significantly negatively correlated with Eco-efficiency.

Research Production and International Visibility in Higher Education: The Evolution of Romanian Universities from 2011 to 2019

The international visibility of Romanian universities is relatively weak, even when compared with neighboring countries. This is explained by the historical heritage of the former communist regime and the lack of a clear vision for a post-communist strategic policy that could guide the research enterprise. This study examined whether the higher education reforms launched in 2011 had an effect on the research output, impact and international visibility of Romanian universities. The researchers used bibliometric data and university ranking data from ARWU, THE and QS Rankings. Trends in aggregate bibliometric indicators were analyzed for 38 universities as a whole, and by type of institution. Additionally, the Theil index was utilized to measure the degree of concentration of the research output across three institutional types. The findings reveal that there was significant growth in research output during the first years following the 2011 Education Law. However, this growth could not be sustained beyond 2014, except for Teaching & Research Universities and medical universities. This suggests that the reforms are producing the expected results at institutions that implemented and enforced new evaluation systems heavily oriented toward research.

Robust Estimation of the Theil Index and the Gini Coeffient for Small Areas

Small area estimation is receiving considerable attention due to the high demand for small area statistics. Small area estimators of means and totals have been widely studied in the literature. Moreover, in the last years also small area estimators of quantiles and poverty indicators have been studied. In contrast, small area estimators of inequality indicators, which are often used in socio-economic studies, have received less attention. In this article, we propose a robust method based on the M-quantile regression model for small area estimation of the Theil index and the Gini coefficient, two popular inequality measures. To estimate the mean squared error a non-parametric bootstrap is adopted. A robust approach is used because often inequality is measured using income or consumption data, which are often non-normal and affected by outliers. The proposed methodology is applied to income data to estimate the Theil index and the Gini coefficient for small domains in Tuscany (provinces by age groups), using survey and Census micro-data as auxiliary variables. In addition, a design-based simulation is carried out to study the behaviour of the proposed robust estimators. The performance of the bootstrap mean squared error estimator is also investigated in the simulation study.

Spatiotemporal Evolution and Regional Differences in the Production-Living-Ecological Space of the Urban Agglomeration in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River

The urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which is the second largest urban agglomeration in China, represents a typical land space range of ecological vulnerability in China. Large differences occur in economic development mode between resource- and non-resource-based cities in this basin area. Accurate identification of the evolution and regional differences in the production-living-ecological space (PLES) is very important in order to elucidate the development and utilization of land space in the region. At present, relevant research has largely focused on the classification and determination of PLES temporal and spatial patterns. Temporal and spatial pattern research has mainly considered a single scale of administrative division, whereas fewer studies have analyzed the temporal and spatial patterns and regional differences in the PLES in ecologically fragile natural watersheds. Therefore, based on PLES classification, the regional differences in the PLES between two types of cities in the basin are measured via the Theil index and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). First, the ecological space (ES) of these two types of cities in the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is compressed by the production space (PS) and living space (LS), in which the ES of resource-based cities is compressed for a longer period, and the phenomenon involving PS compression by the LS and ES mainly occurs in non-resource-based cities within the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Second, the PLES of these two types of cities exhibits the characteristics of spatial aggregation, and high- and low-density areas of the PLES remain relatively stable. Third, the regional differences in the PLES of the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River mainly originate from intraregional differences. The PLES of these two types of cities in the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is more sensitive to changes in economic development than to those in the population distribution.

Enclave-Reinforced Inequality during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from University Campus Lockdowns in Wuhan, China

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted urban life and created spatial and social inequalities in cities. The impacts of lifting full lockdown restrictions once fast-spreading and community-acquired infection waves were under control are still not fully understood. This study aims to explore spatial inequality reinforced in the intervals between the waves of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enclave-reinforced inequality resulting from enclave-based lockdown policies in Chinese cities was investigated through an analysis of the impacts of university campus enclave closures on the accessibility and crowdedness of urban green spaces. Using a modified two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) and inversed 2SFCA (i2SFCA) method, accessibility and crowdedness were calculated and compared under two different scenarios. Additionally, the Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient, and Theil index were used to measure and compare intra-city global and local inequalities under each scenario. The results indicate that the lockdown of university campus enclaves decreased the supply of urban green spaces. Campus closures not only exacerbated the unequal distribution of urban green space, but also reduced the inequality of crowdedness in urban parks due to increased crowdedness in parks near the closed enclaves. Moreover, both accessibility and crowdedness worsened when the calculations were weighted for population size and the total supply of green space. Enclave-based lockdown in cities reinforced spatial inequality, and it is highly complex and has multidimensional impacts on urban inequalities and environmental injustice which should be considered by urban planners and decision-makers hoping to create healthy, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities in the “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Spatial Correlation Network and Regional Differences for the Development of Digital Economy in China

The rapid development of the digital economy is a powerful driving force to promote high-quality economic growth all over the world. Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the development of the digital economy in China, these studies pay little attention to the spatial linkages between the 30 provinces in China and the developmental differences between northern and southern China. Using Chinese digital economic data from 2004 to 2019, we propose an index system to measure the developmental levels of the digital economy and obtain the annual developmental levels of these provinces by using the factor analysis method. We analyze the regional differences of developmental levels by using the Theil index and kernel density estimation method. More importantly, the network method is used to analyze the correlations between the developmental levels of the digital economy in all provinces of China. By decomposing regional differences, our study shows that polarized and uncoordinated development is prominent. The development level of the digital economy in the southern region is higher than that in the northern region. In terms of regional correlations, the network study suggests that there are beneficial and spillover effects of the digital economy development between provinces. Based on the analysis results, we propose policies for improving the development of the digital economy in China.

Tactics for Xinjiang Tourism Industrial Belt Based on Performance Evaluation

In this paper, some tactics are considered in Xinjiang tourism industrial belt based on performance evaluation. First, we applied the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to establish an evaluation system for Xinjiang tourism development in four dimensions: tourism performance, resource utilization, basic supporting capacity, and market attention. Second, the performance of tourism development in 14 Prefectures was evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in 2018. Third, because the Prefectures were divided into four tourism industrial belts, a discussion was conducted to identify and understand the difference among them and their corresponding influence on regional tourism development using the Theil index and Entropy method. The result shows that (1) In all dimensions, the differences within each industrial belt were greater than those between industrial belts. (2) The tourism industrial belts displayed a differentiation phenomenon, in the dimension of significant difference being distinct for different belts. Finally (3), it is found that the resource utilization of all belts is significantly different.

Research on Accessibility and Equity of Urban Transport Based on Multisource Big Data

Daily travel is an important means for everyone to obtain the right to development. With the development of the economy and the progress of the times, the equalization of public infrastructure has become an important concern. The accessibility and fairness of transportation have become a hot topic of research in various fields. To promote transport equity and formulate more reasonable transport planning and policies, this paper takes the Kunshan city as the research object, based on the mobile phone signaling data and the travel time consumption data from the application programming interface (API) of Gaode Map, using weighted average accessibility and the Theil index to investigate the accessibility and equity of public transport and car traffic in the Kunshan city. The study found that the accessibility of public transport is lower than that of car transport in the same research unit, but the equity of public transport is better than that of car transport, that is, the public transport is fair and the efficiency is neglected. In the same mode of transportation, equity presents a high four-week low distribution in the central urban area, and the spatial equity difference is mainly caused by the difference in accessibility levels between cell units. According to the research conclusions, it is recommended that Kunshan further optimize the spatial layout of public transportation infrastructure and adopt measures such as bus speed increase to achieve equity and efficiency and improve the competitiveness of public transportation.