The burgeoning digital economy in China serves as a significant impetus for extensive economic growth across the nation. However, regional development within China remains imbalanced, and the issue of the digital divide cannot be overlooked. This paper is dedicated to examining the effect of the digital economy on the aggregate economic growth of China, along with a heterogeneity analysis. Using Chinese province-level data during the period of full entry into the mobile Internet era (2014–2022), this study first constructs a digital economic development index system. Using the entropy method, it calculates the digital economic index for 30 provinces in China during the 2014–2022 period. Subsequently, a panel regression model is utilized to explore how the digital economy impacts economic growth. Ultimately, the Durbin model gauges the digital economy’s spatial impact on economic expansion in China. The key findings are as follows: (1) The burgeoning digital economy in China has instigated substantial expansion of the national economy. However, its impact on economic growth gradually decreases from the eastern to the western regions. (2) China reveals a notable spatial relationship linking its digital economy and economic expansion. A distinct positive spatial relationship exists between the two. Additionally, the digital economy of China presents a positive spatial spillover effect regarding economic growth. The strongest manifestation of this effect is detected in the eastern region, trailed by the central region, and the western region displays the feeblest effect. Based on these findings, it is clear the digital economy plays a pivotal role in China’s economic growth. To expedite the high-quality development of the digital economy, the government could take additional steps. Specifically, it could enhance the construction of infrastructure related to the digital economy and increase investment in scientific and technological innovation resources. Enterprises can consider digital transformation to achieve the digital development of industries. In addition, considering the existence of the spatial spillover effect, the digital divide can be bridged and regional imbalances alleviated by enhancing coordinated regional development.

The aim in mind in the construction of a zero-waste city is to recycle municipal solid waste in a more reasonable way in order to achieve the sustainable development of the urban environment. This goal is widely used internationally as a green development concept in urban management. However, when only the government takes the lead in the construction process, neglecting to engage and guide the participation of the public and of enterprises, the realization of a zero-waste city becomes challenging. Therefore, effective collaboration among all stakeholders would be a more effective approach to dealing with solid waste and creating an eco-friendly and livable urban environment. In this study, we adopted an evolutionary game model and selected three typical stakeholders—the government, the public, and enterprises—in order to examine the choice of tripartite strategies and their primary influencing factors based on prospect theory. This study found the following: (1) the selection of tripartite strategies at different stages of a zero-waste city’s construction is influenced by the expected benefits and costs; (2) the government’s leading role and related subsidies can promote the enthusiasm of enterprises and the public to participate in the construction of a zero-waste city; (3) tripartite participation in a zero-waste city’s construction can maximize benefits, and after a sustainable development model has been established, each stakeholder can choose to participate actively, even without government intervention; and (4) the construction of a zero-waste city requires long-term exploration and practice, and China is currently in a transition period from government-led to government-directed planning. Establishing a perfect reward and punishment mechanism is beneficial in promoting the active participation of the public and of enterprises. The authors of this paper studied the game process of stakeholders at each stage of a zero-waste city’s construction through prospect theory and explored the influences of important parameters on the strategic choice of each subject at the current stage by conducting numerical simulations, which has implications for the construction and sustainable development of a zero-waste city.

In the context of continuous improvement in China’s land system, the development of the rural economy is insufficient, and the growth of farmers’ income lacks sustainable momentum. The development of the internet and agricultural socialization services has had a huge impact on farmers’ land-scale management. In particular, the proliferation of internet technology in rural areas could affect farmers’ use of agricultural socialization services and increase farmers’ willingness to operate their land on a large scale. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the impact of the internet and agricultural socialization services on farmers’ land-scale management decisions. This study constructs a probit model using the cross-sectional data of the nationally representative CFPS2018, and empirically tests the influencing factors of farmers’ land-scale management decisions and the mechanism of heterogeneity. The research results show that, first, the popularity of the internet significantly promoted farmers’ decisions towards land rented-out, but has no significant impact on land rented-in; second, agricultural socialization services are significantly negatively correlated with farmers’ decisions towards land rented-out, but the internet may moderate this inhibitory effect and has an incentive effect on farmers’ land rented-in; third, the results of heterogeneity analysis show that the impact of the internet and agricultural socialization services on farmers’ land-scale management decisions vary with income levels and regions. Therefore, the policy direction should focus on making “internet + agriculture” and agricultural socialization services benefit all farmers, to more effectively improve the efficiency of rural land use and promote the optimal allocation of rural resources.

As China’s urbanization process continues to accelerate and the price of traditional commercial property continues to rise, a number of small property rights houses without construction permits and approvals have appeared on rural land. Although small property rights housing does not have the validity of property rights or the legal attributes of ordinary commercial housing, and the Chinese government has repeatedly introduced corresponding laws and regulations to regulate its purchase and sale, small property right housing is still purchased by many consumers because of its price advantage, and the number of disputes arising from its purchase and sale is on the rise every year. In addition, the phenomenon of developers building on rural land in violation of the law and real estate agents guaranteeing property without authorization has led to a waste of judicial resources and the infringement of property rights. This paper analyzes the actual situation and the main problems surrounding the governance of small property rights housing and constructs a quadrilateral evolutionary game model with the government, consumers, developers, and real estate agents as the main players. By analyzing various equilibrium points corresponding to different stages of small property rights housing governance, a simulation analysis is conducted using Matlab2016a software to examine the strategic choices of each stakeholder. By adjusting and simulating various parameters, this study investigates the key factors influencing the governance of small property rights housing. This study revealed the following points: (1) at different stages in the governance of small property rights housing, the choice of a strategy by each subject is affected by the expected benefits and costs; (2) the relevant government fines will regulate the strategic choices of developers and real estate agents; (3) consumers’ purchasing tendency is affected by the price of small property rights housing and the risk estimation; (4) the governance of small property rights housing needs a long-term standardization of practice, and the government not only needs to improve the reward and punishment mechanism but also needs to provide positive guidance to the consumers. Through numerical simulation, we explore the impact of the main parameters of the current small property rights housing governance process on the strategic selections made by the game players, which is of great significance for the current policy and future governance of small property rights housing. This paper contributes additional insights to the existing body of theoretical literature through quantitative analysis. Nonetheless, there is a need for the further refinement of the parameter settings used in the study. Additionally, while the simulation analysis provides valuable perspectives, it is somewhat subjective and possesses certain limitations.

KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems TIIS Paper Details

Since the Chinese government proposed the “dual carbon” target, the study of carbon emission efficiency has become a research focus in the academic community in China. However, experts and scholars have not focused on the animal husbandry industry, and there is a lack of literature on the research of carbon emission efficiency in animal husbandry. Based on national panel data from 2002 to 2020, this study uses a three-stage super-efficiency SBM-DEA model and the Malmquist index to examine the carbon emission efficiency of animal husbandry at the national level, four major economic zones, and 31 provinces, and analyze their evolution processes and trends. Empirical results show that: (1) There are significant differences in carbon emission efficiency among provinces. (2) The improvement of carbon emission efficiency in animal husbandry largely depends on the industrial scale rather than pure technological progress. (3) There is no absolute β-convergence phenomenon in the level of carbon emission efficiency in animal husbandry, and efficiency gaps will continue to exist over time. Finally, based on the empirical findings, this study puts forward important policy recommendations.