Sustainable Fourth Industrial Revolution

The sustainable revolution constitutes a multiscalar process characterized by gradual interconnection and digitization in economic globalization. This work confronts the discourses derived from this socioeconomic process with the biophysical limits of the planet through the analysis of the material requirements of the basic infrastructure necessary for the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Through the study of the discourses and the current situation of natural resources, 13 metals have been identified whose availability in the next 30 years constitutes the limiting factors for the effective deployment of the technologies of this process. In this situation, the theoretical foundations of future potential are established where techno-optimistic and degrowth discourses coexist through uneven development, making sustainability a characteristic based on exclusivity.

REGULATORY IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN THE AREA OF THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION: PECULIARITIES OF FORMATION AND CURRENT STATUS

This article examines the process of formation of the regulatory impact assessment as a main tool of regulatory policy in the area of the Eurasian Economic Union. The influence of the taken regulatory measures on the activity of the entities is identified. The reasons for the necessity to develop regulatory impact assessment as a legal institution are described, its advantages are determined, the peculiarities of the development of this institution are studied. Legal framework that serves as a basis for assessment functioning is examined. The reasons for uneven development of the institution of assessment in the Eurasian area are understood, typical country peculiarities are given. On the basis of the conducted analysis suggestions for the improvement of the mechanism of the regulatory impact assessment are generated and its development perspectives are identified.

Does Manufacturing Agglomeration Promote Or Hinder Green Development Efficiency? Evidence From Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

Sustainable development can be mainly achieved by promoting the green transformation and development of the world economy and by improving the efficiency of regional green development, which often receive extensive attention from the academia. This paper uses a spatial econometric model to estimate the impact of manufacturing agglomeration on green development efficiency based on the panel data of China’s Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). The results show an overall large gap of green development efficiency between regions in the Yangtze River Economic Zone, mostly due to the extremely uneven development of green development efficiency in the upper reaches. Opposite to the middle and lower reaches, manufacturing agglomeration in the upper reaches of the YREB improves green development efficiency. Manufacturing agglomeration is conducive to the improvement of green development efficiency in neighboring areas. Nonetheless, it may hinder green development efficiency by inhibiting green technological innovation. This paper provides empirical evidence and policy implications for applying manufacturing agglomeration to promote green development efficiency in accordance with local conditions.

Immunity acquired by a minority active fraction of the population could explain COVID-19 spread in Greater Buenos Aires (June-November 2020)

The COVID-19 pandemic had an uneven development in different countries. In Argentina, the pandemic began in march 2020 and, during the first 3 months, the vast majority of cases were concentrated in a densely populated region that includes the city of Buenos Aires (country capital) and the Greater Buenos Aires area that surrounds it. This work focuses on the spread of COVID-19 between June and November 2020 in Greater Buenos Aires. Within this period of time there was no vaccine, basically only the early wild strain of SARS-CoV-2 was present, and the official restriction and distancing measures in this region remained more or less constant. Under these particular conditions, the incidences show a sharp rise from June 2020 and begin to decrease towards the end of August until the end of November 2020. In this work we study, through mathematical modelling and available epidemiological information, the spread of COVID-19 in this region and period of time. We show that a coherent explanation of the evolution of incidences can be obtained assuming that only a minority fraction of the population got involved in the spread process, so that the incidences decreased as this group of people was becoming immune. The observed evolution of the incidences could then be a consequence at the population level of lasting immunity conferred by SARS-CoV-2.

The Uneven Development of Sport Policy in India

Although there have been efforts to have a uniform set of guidelines to govern sport across the country, no national sports policy has had long-lasting or consistent effect in sports governance. This disconnect between National and State sports policies has meant that differing standards have been imposed on sports organisations across the country. Any attempt at creating an effective sports policy in India, Kruthika N.S. and Sarthak Sood argue, must first scrutinise the development and implementation of various state and national sports policies that have been codified in the past. This chapter aims to suggest recommendations on the themes to be tackled in an effective sports policy. India must urgently facilitate an ecosystem conducive for sports development, from the grassroots level to elite sport. Such a plan, especially with our nation of great inequalities, will require collective action by both the Centre and the States and should envisage a governance system that can sustain and embrace Indian sport.

Global production networks and the uneven development of regional training systems: Conceptualizing an approach and proposing a research agenda

This article argues that the global value chains framework has a problematic approach to examining the impact of value chains on workforce development systems (WDSs), given how it is based on market relations and a firm-centric view. The paper develops an alternative approach to examine value chains’ impact on WDSs as territorially and institutionally regulated, and as part of broader dynamics of accumulation and uneven development. A research agenda is suggested, which emphasizes the “dark side” of value chains’ impact on WDSs. This article contributes to the economic geography literature concerned with value chains, including the Global Production Networks approach.

Anthropogenic droughts are expected to exacerbate water inequalities in postcolonial cities

There are growing concerns about the impacts of climate change on equitable urban development. As cities are becoming increasingly exposed to anthropogenic droughts, stakes are particularly high in contexts of severe vulnerability. Yet, the impacts of future urban droughts and the societal responses they will elicit remain poorly understood. Here we develop social-environmental scenarios of anthropogenic drought-related impacts in postcolonial cities, characterized by highly uneven development and differentiated levels of vulnerability. We show how unprecedented droughts are expected to polarize existing inequalities in water access and well-being across genders, race and socio-economic groups. Specifically, unprecedented droughts will likely exacerbate spatial inequalities, generate localized public health crises, and regress development progress in water access. These results suggest that effective climate policies must address water insecurity and other pre-existing inequalities, and develop equitable water conservation measures to ensure effective adaptation to future unprecedented extreme droughts.