Zuhui Wen

Carbon emission is the focus of global climate change concerns. Population aging changes the level of labor structure, which directly affects the industry adjustment and will also have a long-term impact on carbon emissions. Uncovering the complex association among population aging, labor allocation, and CO₂ emission is crucial for developing effective policies for low-carbon and sustainable development in China. Therefore, this study aims to analyze whether population aging contributes to reducing carbon emission intensity by regulating labor allocation. Based on provincial panel data from 2000 to 2019, the Systematic Generalized Method of Moments (Systematic GMM) model and the Bias Corrected Least Squares Estimation with Nonsymmetric Dependence Structure (Bias Corrected LSDV) model are adopted in this study. The results show that nationwide as a whole, population aging objectively inhibits human capital accumulation and, to some extent, weakens its positive carbon emission reduction effect. Meanwhile, population aging helps to mitigate the increase in carbon emissions caused by the capital-labor endowment structure. Due to the dual impact of aging and population migration, the emission reduction effect of human capital accumulation is significant in the East. The brain drain in the central and western regions further inhibits the positive effect of regional human capital accumulation. Promoting the rationalization of population mobility nationwide, reducing the brain drain in less developed regions, and directing capital into technology-intensive industrial sectors are the core keys to achieving optimal labor allocation in an aging society. This will help China meet its carbon neutrality target on schedule.

This review systematically introduces the current main research directions of environmental macroeconomics. Environmental macroeconomics research aims to study the relationship between economic development and the ecological environment and ultimately achieve green outcomes. At the same time, maintaining a moderate economic scale within the environmental setting is vital to get rid of excessive dependence on economic growth. This review draws on the traditional macroeconomics framework, focusing on economic growth, the economics of climate, economic policy, work, consumption, technological progress, industrial structure, and other topics. Although most studies have highlighted the importance of environmental issues, few empirical analyses combine environmental policy with economic policy, production, consumption, climate change, etc., and theories such as ecological, technological progress, business cycle, and environmental policy lack the necessary practical support. It is, therefore, difficult to put forward appropriate and measurable policy recommendations. Environmental macroeconomics is still a relatively new field of research, the theoretical system has flaws, and innovations in models still need to be improved. We suggest that environmental policy formulation be placed in a dynamic general equilibrium framework.

Economic growth is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 8. We combine 10 economic constraints and build a five-variable (structural vector autoregressive) SVAR model based on China’s time series data of 1978–2017. The empirical results show: (1) The Chinese government adopted different economic policies at different stages of reform and opening up; (2) From the impulse response results, China’s excessively high government debt ratio has begun to inhibit economic growth; (3) In terms of policy selection and coordination, the Chinese government mostly adopts a “discretion” adjustment strategy. In most cases, the fiscal and monetary policies were in the same direction, and the “double expansionary” and “double contractionary” policy coordination may become mainstream; (4) The results of variance decomposition showed that both fiscal and monetary policies can effectively regulate economic growth at the present stage, and the contribution rates of exogenous shocks to the prediction variance of economic growth rate were about 25%.

Gold is a vital strategic resource, and it plays an irreplaceable role in maintaining national financial security, enhancing currency guarantee capabilities, and serving as a country’s last means of payment. Gold plays an essential role in several fields that are vital to sustainable development. In 2020, an ultra-large-scale gold deposit spanning land and sea was discovered in Sanshan Island-Jiaojia Belt, Laizhou Bay, China. Its owner, Shandong Gold Group, also established Sanshan Island as a new ecological mine model. Applying a difference in differences-structural vector autoregression (DID-SVAR) approach, our research found that the whole biodiversity of Laizhou Bay decreased by 0.27% purely due to gold exploration in Sanshan Island-Jiaojia. In the long run, gold mining will have an apparent 2.9% adverse effect on marine products, and fishing for marine products will have a 2.1% adverse effect on marine products themselves.