We theoretically examine whether a US-Japan trade agreement would be effective as a buffer against the US-China trade war. There are two ways to mitigate the negative impacts of US protectionism: a “domestic pressure effect to suppress external pressure” and a “free trade agreement (FTA) effect. The former is an effect arising from Japanese protectionist political pressure to suppress the negative impacts of US tariff increases on Japan's political support function. The latter is an effect of the Japan-US free trade agreement. In the absence of a US–Japan trade agreement, both Japan and China’s political support functions decrease when the US raises tariffs. By contrast, when an FTA is agreed between Japan and the US, an increase in US tariffs causes the Chinese political support function to decrease, while the Japanese political support function increases. The US–Japan trade agreement thus plays an effective role as a buffer in mitigating the negative impacts of the US–China trade war on Japan.

In response to the twin environmental crises of climate change and resource depletion, the circular economy has emerged as a key strategy to reduce waste, minimize the extraction of virgin materials, and promote reuse, repair, and recycling. However, the circular economy, as currently conceived, does not inherently support continuous economic growth in the conventional sense. At the same time, modern societies — grounded in ideals of progress, innovation, and rising living standards — rely on economic growth to sustain social stability, employment, and investment. In this paper, Focardi and Fabozzi argue that integrating qualitative economic growth with circularity offers a viable pathway to decoupling economic progress from the depletion of natural resources. Qualitative growth refers to economic progress driven by increased quality, functionality, and complexity of products, services, infrastructure, and institutions rather than the sheer output volume. To illustrate how qualitative growth and circularity can complement each other in practice, the paper highlights initiatives in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, where circular economy strategies have been combined with urban greening, infrastructure regeneration, and resource-efficient policies to enhance both environmental sustainability and quality of life.

This study investigates the effects of innovation reform on wealth inequality by analyzing China’s Comprehensive Innovation Reform Pilot Zones (CIRPZs). Employing a difference-in-differences methodology, we assess the impact of CIRPZs on urban wealth distribution among China’s prefecture-level cities. Our findings reveal a paradox: although CIRPZs are designed to stimulate economic growth and technological advancement, they inadvertently exacerbate wealth inequality. This outcome is confirmed through a series of rigorous robustness checks. We identify two key mechanisms driving this phenomenon: the virtual wealth effect, whereby technological progress disproportionately benefits tech-savvy individuals and firms, and wage stratification, leading to increased income disparities within innovative sectors. Additionally, we find that the impacts of CIRPZs vary across regions, with significant widening of wealth inequality observed in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Chengdu-Chongqing, while a moderating effect is noted in the Central Plains. These insights emphasize the nuanced effectiveness of innovation reform policies and their implications for policymakers in developing economies. We advocate for policy frameworks that balance technological advancement with equitable economic outcomes, a crucial step for fostering sustainable and inclusive development.

As a new economic innovation, live streamers have widely accepted video streaming technology combined with specific business activities in real time. To predict live streamers’ continuous streaming marketing intention on live streaming platforms, the study refers to the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and designs influencing factors from attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Meanwhile, given the interactive nature of live streaming platforms, the paper divides the subjective norm into online and offline subjective norms and considers the influence both from online and offline communities. The data analysis based on the partial least squares path modelling and variance-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) shows that attitude, online subjective norm, offline subjective norm, and perceived control towards the continuous streaming marketing have positive relationships with live streamers’ continuous streaming marketing intention and result in their final behaviours. Related scholars and platform managers should consider the impact of online and offline subjective norms when they analyse live streamers’ marketing psychology. Properly guiding live streamers to carry out marketing activities can not only be beneficial to their mental health but also contribute to the stable development of live streaming economy.

This research is informed by the reality that Sub-Saharan Africa requires new sources of energy for development and sustainability, but with minimum negative effects on the environment. This paper looks at the role played by financial market and financial institutions in the consumption of renewable energy in four Sub-Saharan African countries between 1995 and 2022. According to the IPAT model, we estimate our model through Panel Corrected Standard Errors and Feasible Generalized Least Squares to maintain the robustness of our test. The results reveal a clear divergence: while the financial markets and the financial institutions are both adding to the renewable energy consumption, the later has a greater influence. This implies that financial markets in the current region are relatively inefficient in facilitating the uptake of renewable energy. The findings of this study bear some significant policy implications as follows; policymakers should ensure the soundness of the financial institutions so as to finance the renewable energy investment for sustainable growth in SSA.

Broadband availability is generally lower in the Tribal areas of the United States than in other areas and several policies implemented over the years aim to close that gap. Using data on broadband deployment over the years 2014-2020, progress in closing the Tribal Gap is evaluated. Unmatched and matched sample are used, and a sample of census tracts within 30 miles of a Tribal area are also analyzed with and without matching. The gap between Tribal and non-Tribal census tracks has been getting smaller over time and by 2020 the Tribal Gap was near zero in all cases, especially when the deployment differences are conditioned on a few covariates.