Based on the panel data of 30 Chinese province in 2005–2018, this paper quantifies agricultural carbon reduction efficiency (CRE), using the slack-based measure (SBM)-data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with undesired outputs (SBM-DEA), and empirically tests that development of land circulation market directly affects agricultural CRE, and indirectly affects agricultural CRE via scale operation of farmland. The results show that the following: (1) In the observation period, China’s agricultural CREs generally evolved from a low level to a high level, with an annual growth rate of 8.0%, but there is still a large space of carbon reduction. (2) Overall, land circulation significantly promoted agricultural CRE, but the promoting effect varied from region to region: the promoting effect was significant in eastern and central regions, and insignificant in western region. (3) Scale operation of farmland had a nonlinear, partial mediation effect on how land circulation influences agricultural CRE; land circulation greatly accelerated the scale operation of farmland, while the growing scale of farmland utilization had an inverted U-shaped influence on agricultural CRE. Our research results imply that promoting land circulation directly drives the low-carbon transformation of agriculture in China, but excessive scale operation of farmland might hinder agricultural carbon reduction.

This paper investigates the local community support for the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) using the lens of social exchange theory. The study examines the direct effect of social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors on the local community support for CPEC projects, and the resultant impacts on the development and sustainability of the rural economy of Pakistan. The study also explores the moderation effect of media influence on shaping positive perceptions of CPEC among the local populace. The local communities at the CPEC route which are affected or can be affected by the project were targeted for data collection using a structured questionnaire. The collected valid data (N = 259) were thoroughly analyzed by obtaining reliability and validity statistics, a correlation matrix, multiple regression, moderation analysis, and hypotheses testing. Our results substantiate that the local community support for the CPEC project is heavily dependent on social, economic, cultural, and environmental factors and that there is a positive influence of media impact as an opinion-maker in the local community regarding the CPEC. The CPEC is expected to develop the rural economy, particularly through improvements in agriculture and allied activities, thereby providing livelihoods and income-generating opportunities to the rural masses. The article is important for regulators, the CPEC authority, government bodies, and the relevant community.

Landlessness and poverty are closely linked to each other. Being agricultural country, land is considered as a principal asset in Pakistan. This study aims to identify the poverty situation of landless peasants in Pakistan. Primary data are collected by simple random sampling method. Binary logistic regression model are used to estimate the relationship between landlessness and poverty. Result shows that high age of household head, education level, land ownership, operational land holding, and income earners in a household significantly reduces the chances of household’s poverty. The value of Gini coefficient is found 0.63 that indicates that there is high income inequality.

The Chinese economy has undergone a long-term transition reform, but there is still a planned economy characteristic in the financial sector, which is financial repression. Due to the existence of financial repression, China’s actual interest rate level should be lower than the Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, based on official China’s interest rates and CPI, over half of the years China’s actual interest rate remained higher than CPI by our calculation from 1999 to 2022. This is inconsistent with the financial repression that exists in China, and the main reason is the calculation methods of China’s CPI. China’s CPI measurement system originated from the planned economy era, which did not fully consider the rise in housing purchase prices, so the current CPI measurement system can be more realistically presented by taking the rise in housing prices into consider. The core idea of this study is to mining relevant official statistical data and calculate the proportion of Chinese residents’ expenditure on purchasing houses to their total expenditure. By taking the proportion of house purchases as the weight of house price factor, and taking the proportion of other consumption as the weight of official CPI, the Generalized CPI (GCPI) is formulated. The GCPI is then compared with market interest rates to determine the actual interest rate situation in China over the past 20 years. This study has found that if GCPI is used as a measure, China’s real interest rates have been negative for most years since 1999. Chinese residents have suffered the negative effects of financial repression over the past 20 years, and their property income cannot keep up with the actual losses caused by inflation. Therefore, it is believed that China’s CPI calculation method should be adjusted to take into account the rise in housing prices, so China’s actual inflation level could be more accurately reflected. In view of the above, deepening interest rate marketization reform and expand channels for financial investment are the future development goals of China’s financial system.