Lili Li

Innovation is an important driving force for high-quality regional economic development. In recent years, the Chinese government has actively explored new ways to improve regional innovation level, and the construction of smart cities is regarded as an important measure to implement the innovation-driven development strategy. Based on the panel data of 287 prefecture-level cities in China from 2001 to 2019, this paper examined the impact of smart city construction on regional innovation. The research shows that: (i) The construction of smart city has significantly improved the level of regional innovation; (ii) Investment in science and technology and human capital level are important transmission paths for smart city construction to affect regional innovation; (iii) Compared with the central and western regions, the impact of smart city construction on regional innovation is more obvious in the eastern region. This study deepens the understanding of smart city construction, which has important policy significance for China to accelerate the construction of an innovative country and the healthy development of smart cities, and provides reference for other developing countries to promote smart city construction.

As digital devices like computers become more widely available in developing countries, there is a growing need to understand how the time that adolescents spend using these devices for recreational purposes such as playing video games is linked with their mental health outcomes. We measured the amount of time that adolescents in rural China spent playing video games and the association of video game time with their mental health. We collected data from primary and junior high schools in a poor, rural province in northwest China (n = 1603 students) and used the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21) to measure mental health symptoms. The results indicated that the average video game time was about 0.69 h per week. There was a significant association between adolescent video game time and poorer mental health. Each additional hour of playing video games also increased the chance of having moderate or above symptoms. Moreover, boys and non-left-behind children had worse mental health if they played more video games. Our study contributes to literature on the links between recreational screen time and mental health, and it sheds light on an issue addressed by recent government legislation to limit the video game time of minors in China.

Health, as basic human capital, is quite important for rural adults. However, in China, the average level of public health facilities and services is far lower in rural areas than in cities. In recent years, the internet has developed rapidly in China, and is increasingly affecting rural adults in a positive way. The purpose of this paper is to reveal whether internet use can be an effective way to improve the health of rural adults. This study used three rounds of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) collected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. After eliminating samples due to attrition, the study included 7528 villagers who were at least 16 years old. A panel logit model was employed to conduct an empirical analysis. The results indicate that internet use has a significantly positive impact on health outcomes of rural adults. By using the internet, rural adults can find a large amount of health information, increase their social interaction, and maintain physical exercise to improve their health. Thus, it is important to promote internet use for health purposes in rural areas. In addition, internet use had heterogeneous effects on the health of rural adults of different genders, age groups, and education levels. Attention should be focused on highly educated older men to improve the effects of internet use.