The digital economy is considered as an effective measure to mitigate the negative economic impact of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. However, few studies evaluated the role of digital economy on the economic growth of countries along the “Belt and Road” and the impact of COVID-19 on their digital industries. This study constructed a comprehensive evaluation index system and applied a panel data regression model to empirically analyze the impact of digital economy on the economic growth of countries along the “Belt and Road” before COVID-19. Then, a Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model was used to examine the impact of COVID-19 on their digital industries and trade pattern. Our results show that although there is an obvious regional imbalance in the digital economy development in countries along the “Belt and Road”, the digital economy has a significantly positive effect on their economic growth. The main impact mechanism is through promoting industrial structure upgrading, the total employment and restructuring of employment. Furthermore, COVID-19 has generally boosted the demand for the digital industries, and the impact from the demand side is much larger than that from the supply side. Specifically, the digital industries in Armenia, Israel, Latvia and Estonia have shown great growth potential during the epidemic. On the contrast, COVID-19 has brought adverse impacts to the digital industries in Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, and the Philippines. The development strategies are proposed to bridge the “digital divide” of countries along the “Belt and Road,” and to strengthen the driving effect of the digital economy on industrial upgrading, employment and trade in the post-COVID-19 era.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship among green logistics, environmental degradation, and energy demand. The system generalized method of moment (system GMM) is used to study the data of Asian countries and four subregions in Asia. The estimation results show that logistics operation consumes nonrenewable energy such as fossil fuels, which has a negative impact on environmental sustainability and energy demand. The service quality and capability (LPITC) in the logistics performance index has a significant contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The logistics infrastructure (LPIIN) has significantly reduced the energy consumption in Asia, while the customs (LPIC) has significantly increased the energy demand. Other indicators of LPI also have a significant impact on the environment and energy in different subregions of Asia. Industrialization and urbanization both increase carbon emissions in Asia, while trade opening reduces carbon emissions. At the same time, these three variables have a positive impact on reducing energy consumption. The results show that logistics performance is significantly related to environmental degradation and energy, and renewable energy and green supply chain management can reduce the harmful effects of logistics activities on environment and energy. Therefore, Asian countries should give priority to environmental sustainability in supply chain management and encourage the application of green practices in logistics.

Zhang, H.; Wu, S., and Tian, Y., 2020. Does green credit matter in the effect of payments for ecosystem services on economic growth? Evidence from Xin'anjiang River Basin. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 435–439. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Payments for ecosystem services (PES) can provide financial incentives to the protection of the watershed environment in upstream regions, and green credit is one of the most popular incentive measures. It is necessary to understand the effect of green credit on economic development, especially where has a possible sacrifice because of environmental protection. Taking the Xin'anjiang River Basin as a case, the synthetic control method (SCM) was used to analyze the effects of the PES project implemented in Anhui Province from 2012 on its per capita gross domestic product (GDP). The results showed that the PES project had a negative effect on per capita GDP in Anhui Province, which caused an average reduction of 679.144 Chinese yuan (CNY)/person. Moreover, the average reduction comes to 440.050 CNY/person with the participation of a reversed predictor of green credit, and the green credit average offsets the negative effect of the PES on economic growth by 1% a year. Finally, evidence shows that technical improvements and industrial structure adjustments are the two main ways for economic growth, which can be promoted by green credit. Attention should be paid to balance the economy, ecology, and society in the process of development. Additionally, green credit is of great value when applied to help alleviate the pressure of government finance.

This article established an evaluation system including ecological efficiency that can provide a more accurate financial distress warning for companies. Based on the data of listed companies, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to evaluating the business efficiency, financial efficiency, financing efficiency, human capital efficiency, and ecological efficiency, and the accuracy of the evaluation system that includes ecological efficiency is measured by artificial neural networks (ANNs). Besides, the logit model is applied to test the results. Our experiments indicate that participating in ecological efficiency improves the evaluation system of financial distress warnings, and its accuracy is much better than the traditional evaluation system in the long run. The logit model confirms the essential of ecological indicators in financial distress warning, and the behavior of observing environmental regulation will prevent enterprises from getting into financial distress. Finally, suggestions on improving green finance and promoting technological innovation are propounded, in which technological innovation (TI) is the core of an enterprise’s competitiveness, and green finance can accelerate that process.

Understanding the evolution of the intra-industry trade of forest products between China and its main partner countries is a prerequisite for improving the flow of trade. The intra-industry trade status and the main influencing factors of Chinese forest products trade were measured and identified via use of bilateral forest product trade data between China and its 24 partners from 2000 to 2014, and use of static, marginal, and structural intra-industry trade indices. The results show that, firstly, intra-industry trade of the major Chinese forest products is exhibiting a low-level growth trend and has considerable growth potential. The top five countries with relatively high intra-industry trade levels are Italy, Germany, the United States, Vietnam, and Japan, and the bottom five are New Zealand, Chile, Brazil, Russia, and Spain. Secondly, the intra-industry trade among China and 13 countries, represented by South Korea, is low quality and vertical-type trade; the intra-industry trade among China and seven countries, represented by Thailand, is high quality and a vertical type of trade. Finally, the empirical analysis shows that trade openness and geographical distance are the key factors of intra-industry trade of forest products. The per capita gross domestic product gap, urbanization, foreign direct investment, forest area, and import and export value of forest products also have certain impacts on intra-industry trade.

Environmental regulations of different intensities may have different impacts on polluting enterprises. The purpose of this article is to analyze how different environmental regulations affect the pollution discharge strategies of papermaking enterprises. By establishing an evolutionary game model between the government environmental regulation intensities and the pollutant emissions from papermaking enterprises, this thesis further solves the model and performs stability analysis and finally uses MATLAB to conduct simulation studies. And the researching results show that papermaking enterprises will take risks to choose the illegal pollutant discharge strategies when the illegal profits are large. Further analysis shows that the increase in the successful probability of the strong environmental regulations does not necessarily force papermaking enterprises to choose to comply with pollution discharge regulations. However, papermaking enterprises may choose to comply with discharge pollution regulations not only by increasing the successful probability of strong environmental regulations but also by increasing the rewards and punishments for papermaking enterprises as well as by increasing the probability of reporting violations of pollutants. Based on the above results, the author proposes several countermeasures, such as establishing a specialized pollution monitoring agency, encouraging third-party supervision, reporting pollution behaviors, and increasing penalties for polluting companies for violations. China is in a critical period of transition from rapid development to high-quality development. It will provide some reliable references for the construction of a green economy and an ecological economy that the characteristics and relationships between the intensity of government environmental regulations and corporate pollution emissions revealed in this article.