Differences in Distance and Spatial Effects on Cross-Border E-Commerce and International Trade

Distance and space are important factors affecting international trade, but they have different effects on cross-border e-commerce (CBE) due to the creation of the Internet. This study utilizes spatial autocorrelation, the multi-dimension gravity model and the Spatial Durbin model to conduct an comparative analysis of international trade and CBE within one-belt one-road (BR) countries. Our study obtained several key findings. Firstly, the spatial autocorrelation effect which exists in international trade does not exist in CBE. Secondly, the geographical distance effect of CBE is not significant, which is different from that of international trade. Thirdly, CBE is affected by GDP, culture, policy and institution distances which is not entirely consistent with international trade. Finally, the Spatial Durbin model shows that the spillover effect of CBE and international trade are both significant in the inverse distance weight matrix. These findings provide not only important theoretical contributions but also a practical guide for Government policy makers of the BR and CBE.

The evolution of partner specificity in mutualisms

Mutualistic species vary in their level of partner specificity, which has important evolutionary, ecological, and management implications. Yet, the evolutionary mechanisms which underpin partner specificity are not fully understood. Most work on specialization focuses on the trade-off between generalism and specialism, where specialists receive more benefits from preferred partners at the expense of benefits from non-preferred partners, while generalists receive similar benefits from all partners. Because all mutualisms involve some degree of both cooperation and conflict between partners, we highlight that specialization to a mutualistic partner can be cooperative, increasing benefit to a focal species and a partner, or antagonistic, increasing resource extraction by a focal species from a partner. We devise an evolutionary game theoretic model to assess the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative specialization, antagonistic specialization, and generalism. Our model shows that cooperative specialization leads to bistability: stable equilibria with a specialist host and its preferred partner excluding all others. We also show that under cooperative specialization with spatial effects, generalists can thrive at the boundaries between differing specialist patches. Under antagonistic specialization, generalism is evolutionarily stable. We provide predictions for how a cooperation-antagonism continuum may determine the patterns of partner specificity that develop within mutualistic relationships.

The Impacts of Urbanization to Improve Agriculture Water Use Efficiency—An Empirical Analysis Based on Spatial Perspective of Panel Data of 30 Provinces of China

China has witnessed accelerated urbanization since the reforms and open policies which began in 1978. This eventually resulted in increased residential water requirements and worsening water shortages, particularly in the current century. In the context of resource and environmental constraints, improving agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is a crucial issue to ensure food security, improve the ecological environment, and meet the needs of sustainable agricultural development. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 1999 to 2018, the article uses the Super-SBM model to measure the AWUE. Moreover, the study uses the entropy method to establish the urbanization evaluation index system from the dimensions of population, land, economy, measures the comprehensive level of urbanization development, and further constructs a dynamic spatial econometric model. We use the unconditional maximum likelihood estimation method to evaluate the impact of urbanization development on AWUE and its heterogeneity. The findings reveal that the AWUE considering undesired outcomes has generally shown a steady improvement, but there is ample space for resource conservation and environmental protection, and there are noticeable differences among regions. The decomposition of spatial effects shows that urbanization development in each region has a short-term positive effect on AWUE in the region and neighboring regions, and a long-term effect exists only in the western region. The impact of urbanization in different dimensions has been found that both land urbanization and economic urbanization contribute to the improvement of AWUE, while population urbanization helps to improve AWUE by improving the awareness level of the farmers.

A Study of the Spatial Effects of Financial Support and Economic Growth under Optimal Control of Nonlinear Generalized Complex Systems

This paper provides an in-depth analysis and study of the spatial effects of financial support and economic growth with the help of nonlinear generalized complex systems. Taking the industrial sector as the research object and combining the relevant contents of neoclassical investment theory, information economics, and institutional economics, this paper clearly defines and argues that the main feature of current financial policy is financial constraint rather than financial inhibition based on an in-depth understanding of the theoretical connotation and policy rationality of financial constraint and, as a premise, further analyzes the financial constraint policy causing excessive investment and capital mismatch in the corporate sector. It further analyzes the mechanism of the role of financial constraint policies in causing overinvestment and capital mismatch in the corporate sector and conducts empirical tests from three research perspectives of measuring investment efficiency, output efficiency of investment, allocation efficiency of industry capital, and investment behavior of microenterprises, and finally puts forward relevant policy recommendations in conjunction with the evaluation of the efficiency of financial constraint policies. This paper selects three dimensions of the financial system, namely, financial structure, financial efficiency, and financial scale, and studies the adaptability between these three dimensions and the development of the real economy, respectively, and then uses different empirical methods to analyze the dynamic adaptability effects between the development of the real economy and these three dimensions of the financial system and finally explores the way of adaptability between the financial system and the development of the real economy. This paper provides a medium and micro theoretical basis and new empirical evidence for understanding the importance of financial system reform on economic growth and also opens up a space for exploring the exit path of financial constraints and using interest rate marketization as a general grip to reasonably guide financial resources to achieve economic transformation and upgrading and sustainable and healthy development through supporting high-quality investment, using more interprovincial level data in the analysis, so it is more comprehensive and detailed than previous scholars’ studies. The examination is more comprehensive and detailed than previous scholars’ studies.

Cross-sectional study to predict subnational levels of health workers’ knowledge about severe malaria treatment in Kenya

ObjectivesThis study applied a Bayesian hierarchical ecological spatial model beyond predictor analysis to test for the best fitting spatial effects model to predict subnational levels of health workers’ knowledge of severe malaria treatment policy, artesunate dosing, and preparation.SettingCounty referral government and major faith-based hospitals across 47 counties in Kenya in 2019.Design and participantsA secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data from 345 health workers across 89 hospitals with inpatient departments who were randomly selected and interviewed.Outcome measuresThree ordinal outcome variables for severe malaria treatment policy, artesunate dose and preparation were considered, while 12 individual and contextual predictors were included in the spatial models.ResultsA third of the health workers had high knowledge levels on artesunate treatment policy; almost three-quarters had high knowledge levels on artesunate dosing and preparation. The likelihood of having high knowledge on severe malaria treatment policy was lower among nurses relative to clinicians (adjusted OR (aOR)=0.48, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.87), health workers older than 30 years were 61% less likely to have high knowledge about dosing compared with younger health workers (aOR=0.39, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.67), while health workers exposed to artesunate posters had 2.4-fold higher odds of higher knowledge about dosing compared with non-exposed health workers (aOR=2.38, 95% CI 1.22 to 4.74). The best model fitted with spatially structured random effects and spatial variations of the knowledge level across the 47 counties exhibited neighbourhood influence.ConclusionsKnowledge of severe malaria treatment policies is not adequately and optimally available among health workers across Kenya. The factors associated with the health workers’ level of knowledge were cadre, age and exposure to artesunate posters. The spatial maps provided subnational estimates of knowledge levels for focused interventions.

Does Urbanization Increase the Risk of Emerging Infectious Diseases in China? A Spatial Econometric Analysis

The current COVID-19 pandemic has inspired more and more discussion about the relationship between urbanization and emerging infectious diseases (EID). This paper aims to examine the spatial effect of urbanization on EID incidence, such as hepatitis, syphilis and gonorrhea in China. Taking into account geographical and economic factors, the estimation results of the Spatial Error Model (SEM) show that urbanization has increased the risks of EID transmission from 2003 to 2019 in China. The spatial effects of urbanization are slightly different due to different types of infectious diseases, with a larger effect on syphilis comparing with hepatitis and gonorrhea. The regional heterogeneity test shows that the impact of urbanization on EID in eastern China is stronger than that in the Midwest especially when considering spatial correlation. Policy implications that include health must be integrated into urban planning, attaching more importance to ecological construction, improving regional joint prevention and control mechanisms, and more attention being paid to vulnerable groups. Considering the frequent occurrence of COVID-19 among cities in China, we emphasize the importance of enhancing the coordinated anti-crisis capacity of urban clusters and highlight the leading role of central cities.