Hongxu Shi

This paper empirically examines the nexus between fossil energy prices and carbon emissions using a balanced panel of 119 economies spanning the period from 1990 to 2023. The baseline regression results indicate that a 1% rise in fossil energy prices results in a 0.009% reduction in CO₂ emissions, equivalent to approximately 3.1 million tons of CO₂. Further analysis reveals two key mechanisms. First, energy efficiency partially mediates the price–emission relationship: higher prices significantly improve efficiency, which in turn reduces CO₂ emissions, although a rebound effect of 13.6% offsets part of the expected savings. Second, renewable energy penetration serves as an additional pathway, with higher prices accelerating renewable adoption and thereby contributing to carbon mitigation. Overall, the findings confirm the direct and indirect impacts of fossil energy prices on emissions, underscoring their role as an effective lever for achieving global sustainability targets. Policy implications include the need to align fossil energy prices with true economic and environmental costs, while complementing price mechanisms with efficiency standards and renewable incentives to counterbalance hirebound effects.

Primary healthcare is vital to achieving universal health coverage, as emphasized by Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3). However, energy poverty remains a critical yet overlooked barrier to the efficiency of primary healthcare services in rural China—precisely the focus of this study. It employs panel regression models and threshold analysis methods using data from 31 Chinese provinces for the period 2014–2021, sourced from the EPSDATA data platform. Robustness checks are performed using bootstrap procedures, accompanied by detailed mechanism analyses. The empirical results demonstrate that rural energy poverty significantly reduces primary healthcare efficiency, particularly in provinces initially characterized by lower healthcare performance. The mechanism analysis identifies four critical transmission channels—off-farm employment, internet intensity, food safety, and health education—through which rural energy poverty undermines healthcare outcomes. Furthermore, threshold regressions uncover nonlinear relationships, indicating that the negative impacts of rural energy poverty intensify when household medical expenditures exceed 10.9%, the old-age dependency ratio surpasses 22.61%, and the rural energy poverty index is higher than 0.641. In theoretical terms, this study identifies rural energy poverty as a critical determinant of primary healthcare efficiency, thereby addressing an important gap in the existing literature. At the policy level, the findings emphasize the necessity for integrated measures targeting both rural energy poverty and primary healthcare inefficiencies to achieve SDG 3 and sustainably promote equitable, high-quality healthcare access in rural China.

In the context of global warming, abnormal temperature is becoming more frequent and its various impacts are receiving increased attention, but the impact of abnormal temperature on rural energy poverty has received relatively little focus. This study examines the effects of abnormal temperature on rural energy poverty, utilizing the systematic generalized method of moments with data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2001 to 2020. Using a panel threshold model, we investigate how the urban–rural gap and the quality of rural housing interact with the relationship between abnormal temperature and rural energy poverty. Our findings suggest that abnormal temperature significantly increases rural energy poverty by 5.7%, and the impact of abnormal temperature on rural energy poverty is exacerbated by a greater urban–rural gap and lower quality of rural housing. This study yields several policy implications for achieving a coordinated and synergistic response to climate change and the eradication of energy poverty based on the promotion of balanced development.

With the continued advancement of digital technology, the digital economy will gradually become the primary economic form in the future, having a profound impact on a variety of industries, including agriculture. Agriculture is a major source of global water use, and efficient water use in agriculture is critical to coping with water scarcity and ensuring food security. This study used publicly available data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2006 to 2017 to estimate the relationship between the digital economy and agricultural water use efficiency using the systematic generalized method of moments technique. According to the findings, a 1% increase in the digital economy indicator is associated with a 0.053% increase in agricultural water use efficiency. In addition, the digital economy improves agricultural water usage efficiency through three mediating channels: structural effect, scale effect, and spillover effect. For the digital economy and agricultural water use efficiency to develop in tandem, the Chinese government should strive to strengthen the development of the digital economy and work on the intermediate channels demonstrated in this study.

Subjective well-being is a metric for assessing the effectiveness of public policy. However, the relationship between depression, an important indicator of subjective well-being, and access to clean water (ACW) has received scant attention. This study investigates the effect of ACW on depression using the 2014–2018 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Using ordinary least squares (OLS) two-way fixed effects (FE) estimation, the results indicate that ACW leads to lower levels of depression. The ACW–depression relationship is mediated by individual self-reported health and household food expenditure, but the mechanism varies across subsamples, as determined by structural equation modelling of the underlying mechanisms. The results of the heterogeneity analysis demonstrated that the total effect of the absence of ACW on depression is mitigated when rural migrants reside in cities, and that the effect disappears entirely when the migrant has an urban hukou. These findings demonstrate the negative impact of urban–rural disparities and hukou issues on mental health.

Concerns regarding food security and sustainable development have been highlighted as a result of water scarcity and growing urbanization. It is imperative to look into their relationship. This study examines the impact of urbanization on agricultural water efficiency (AWE) in China utilizing China province-level panel data from 2002 to 2019. The findings indicate that urbanization has a U-shaped relationship with AWE, meaning that urbanization first had a detrimental effect on AWE before reversing course. These findings are robust to the inclusion of three measures of urbanization and the estimation of the instrumental variable method. Structural equation modeling of the underlying mechanisms demonstrates that, at higher levels of urbanization, planting structure and irrigation facilities partially mediate the urbanization-AWE relationship; the mediate effects account for between 27.3% and 100% of total effects, depending on the urbanization measurement used. China should continue investing in rural irrigation infrastructure as it urbanizes, as this would improve water efficiency.

While production and consumption of meat cast a shadow over the prospects for sustainable development, artificial meat may be the solution. However, consumer acceptability of artificial meat is a major impediment to its use as a suitable alternative. This study analyzed the relationship between regulatory focus and consumer acceptance of artificial meat using randomized controlled trial data. Results showed that promotion focus results in a higher acceptance of artificial meat products due to a higher perceived benefit and lower perceived risk, whereas prevention focus results in a lower acceptance of artificial meat products due to perceived benefit being lower and perceived risk being higher. The moderating effect of the message framing was investigated employing structural equation modeling (SEM). It was discovered that a gain-oriented message framing could greatly strengthen the association between promotion focus and perceived benefit, whereas an avoidance-oriented message framing could significantly diminish the relationship between prevention focus and perceived risk. This study has crucial implications for how policymakers and industries communicate with consumers about artificial meat.

Although irrigation systems are critical to the long-term viability of agriculture, they also contribute a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions. This creates a conflict between reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting agricultural growth. Researchers may be able to gain a better understanding of the subject by looking at the connection between irrigation water efficiency (IWE) and agricultural carbon emissions (ACE). With data from 30 Chinese provinces collected between 2002 and 2019, this study examines the dynamic effect of IWE on ACE. According to the results, IWE has the potential to significantly raise ACE. The positive effects of IWE become more pronounced as ACE increases, according to the heterogeneity analysis. ACE in northern China is also more vulnerable to IWE than other ACE regions. Irrigation scales appear to be a significant channel through which IWE positively affects ACE, according to an investigation of possible mechanisms. However, the increased IWE causes the planting structure adjustments, which aids in the reduction of ACE. The results of this study have significant ramifications for public policy.

With ensuring food security becoming a priority for the Chinese government, the prevalence of off-farm employment (OE) may cast a shadow on agricultural productivity. Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies in 2018, the Tobit model and threshold effect model have been applied to investigate the impact of off-farm employment on agricultural productivity efficiency (APE), measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA). The result has shown that: (1) OE contributes to a low level of APE. (2) Both self-employed off-farm employment (SOE) and wage-based off-farm employment (WOE) result in lower APE levels when endogenous issues are addressed. However, SOE had a greater negative impact on APE than WOE. (3) There exists a threshold for OE associated with a lower level of APE, indicating that the negative effect of OE on APE disappears when the degree of OE is high enough, SOE has a lower threshold than WOE. The study findings have implications for improving agricultural production efficiency in the context of large-scale off-farm employment of Chinese farmers.