Improving agricultural green total factor productivity in China: do environmental governance and green low-carbon policies matter?

Strengthening environmental governance and green low-carbon policies is a key measure to improve agriculture green total factor productivity and develop sustainable agriculture. Against this background, this study explores the relationship between agriculture green total factor productivity (AGTFP), environmental governance, and green low carbon policies based on panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2019, and the system generalized method of moments model is adopted. The empirical results are as follows: (1) Environmental governance will not only directly affect AGTFP, but also indirectly affect AGTFP by influencing green technology innovation.

Impact of human capital and social capital on employability of Chinese college students under COVID-19 epidemic-Joint moderating effects of perception reduction of employment opportunities and future career clarity.

This research constructed a relationship model between human capital, social capital, and the employability of college students. With two moderating variables introduced, the perception reduction of employment opportunities under the COVID-19 epidemic and future career clarity, this research studied the direct impact of human capital and social capital on the employability of college students and boundary conditions. Research data from 810 employed Chinese college graduates shows that both human capital and social capital have a positive and significant impact on the employability; the perception reduction of employment opportunities under the COVID-19 epidemic negatively regulates the relationship between human capital and the employability of college students; the future career clarity positively regulates the relationship between human capital and the employability of college students; the perception reduction of employment opportunities under COVID-19 epidemic and the future career clarity jointly regulate the relationship between human capital, social capital and the employability of college students.

How does risk perception of the COVID-19 pandemic affect the consumption behavior of green food?

Attention to health is on the rise with the global pandemic of COVID-19, especially in food security. Green food is viewed as a healthy, safe, and nutritious food, which plays a significant role in enhancing immunity. This study aimed to investigate how risk perception affects the consumption behavior of green food.

Dynamic Linkages among Climate Change, Mechanization and Agricultural Carbon Emissions in Rural China.

Climate change has become a major environmental issue facing all countries, having a significant effect on all aspects of agricultural production, such as the agricultural mechanization process and fertilizer use. Greenhouse gases produced by agricultural machinery and fertilizers during agricultural production are an important cause of climate change. On the basis of the above facts, researching the connection between agricultural mechanization, climate change, and agricultural carbon emissions is crucial for the development of low-carbon agriculture and for addressing climate change.

Assessing the effect of the coal-to-gas program on air pollution: evidence from China.

This paper studies the relationship between the coal-to-gas program and air pollution in China and provides micro-evidence of the mechanism from the perspective of households. Using daily air pollution and meteorological data between January 1, 2016, and January 1, 2020, we assessed the effect of the coal-to-gas program on air pollution by introducing the regression discontinuity designs in time (RDiT). We found that the coal-to-gas program significantly improved air quality and brought significant economic benefits.

Knowledge Mapping and Institutional Prospects on Circular Carbon Economy Based on Scientometric Analysis.

The circular carbon economy is receiving increasing research attention as an essential tool for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. However, there is no research on the literature distribution and the current situation of the circular carbon economy studies. This paper presents a scientometric analysis of 1452 academic papers on the circular carbon economy and their references from 2010-2021 using the Citespace visualization network.

Effects of Risk Perception of Pests and Diseases on Tea Famers' Green Control Techniques Adoption.

Green control techniques support the concept of green plant protection, advocate for the safe and reasonable use of pesticides, and finally achieve the goal of controlling pests and diseases and protecting the environment. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of risk perception of pests and diseases on farmers' usage intention of green control techniques. Based on 747 samples of tea farmers in Sichuan province, China, introducing the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework and using the Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach, this paper found that risk perception has a negative impact on behavioral intention.

Assessing the Relationship among Land Transfer, Fertilizer Usage, and PM Pollution: Evidence from Rural China.

Concern for environmental issues is a crucial component in achieving the goal of sustainable development of humankind. Different countries face various challenges and difficulties in this process, which require unique solutions. This study investigated the relationship between land transfer, fertilizer usage, and PM pollution in rural China from 2000 to 2019, considering their essential roles in agricultural development and overall national welfare.

Financial Support for Agriculture, Chemical Fertilizer Use, and Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Production in China.

In the past 15 years, China has emitted the most carbon dioxide globally. The overuse of chemical fertilizer is an essential reason for agricultural carbon emissions. In recent years, China has paid more and more attention to financial support for agriculture.

Assessing the relationship between air pollution, agricultural insurance, and agricultural green total factor productivity: evidence from China.

As a favorite means to promote the development of green agriculture, agricultural insurance can not only encourage farmers to adopt green production technology and improve production efficiency, but also achieve the purpose of reducing the input of chemicals to protect the environment. This article aims to study the dynamic relationship between agricultural insurance, air pollution, and agricultural green total factor productivity using the panel vector auto-regressive method (PVAR) and panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2005 to 2018. The empirical results show that there is a significant cross-sectional dependence and the co-integration relationship between agricultural insurance, air pollution, and agricultural green total factor productivity.

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Distance Education with the Application of Traditional and Digital Appliances: Evidence from 60 Developing Countries.

Educational disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic during school closures have become a remarkable social issue, particularly among the developing countries. Ample literature has verified the adverse effects of the long-lasing epidemic on school education. However, rare studies seek to understand the association between the severity of COVID-19 and distance learning, an alternative education pattern, and foster policy designs to promote educational transition, particularly targeting the post-crisis phase of the COVID-19.

Forecasting Carbon Price in China: A Multimodel Comparison.

With the global concern for carbon dioxide, the carbon emission trading market is becoming more and more important. An accurate forecast of carbon price plays a significant role in understanding the dynamics of the carbon trading market and achieving national emission reduction targets. Carbon prices are influenced by many factors, which makes carbon price forecasting a complicated problem.

Dynamic Linkage between Aging, Mechanizations and Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Production.

The trend of aging is intensifying and has become a prominent population phenomenon worldwide. The aging population has an important impact on carbon emissions, but at present, there is little research on its ecological consequences, especially the relationship with agricultural carbon emissions. For a long time, China has been dominated by a scattered small-scale peasant economy.

The role of crop insurance in reducing pesticide use: Evidence from rice farmers in China.

Pesticides play a significant role in increasing agricultural yields. However, the overuse of chemical pesticides on crops is a major challenge faced by China, which damages human health, threatens food security, and increases production costs. This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between crop insurance and pesticide use.

Heterogeneous Driving Factors of Carbon Emissions Embedded in China's Export: An Application of the LASSO Model.

With the steady growth of emissions embedded in trade, the driving forces of emissions have attracted extensive attention. Most of the literature has verified a bundle of the influential factors; however, further analyses are necessary to understand the predominant and heterogeneous driving factors in different economies and/or industries. Accordingly, by applying the multiregional input-output (MRIO) model, this article firstly evaluates the embodied carbon emissions of China's export from 1992 to 2020 in total volumes and by 14 industries.

Effect of agricultural subsidies on the use of chemical fertilizer.

Agricultural subsidies lead to changes in the use of chemical fertilizer by farmers. Using data from a household survey conducted annually by the Rural Economy Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture of China from 2014 to 2018, Control Function (CF) approach and Heteroskedasticity-based identification strategy were employed to analyze the impact of agricultural subsidies on chemical fertilizer use by rice farmers. After addressing the problem of endogeneity, we found that agricultural subsidies have a significantly negative impact on the use of chemical fertilizer.

Study on the impact of environmental pollution on farmland abandonment.

Farmland abandonment, as a manifestation of the low efficiency of the rural economy, has a profound impact on the process of agricultural and rural modernization. This study uses the 2016 China Labor Force Dynamic Survey data based on 8116 samples from 104 cities, constructs the Tobit model and IV Tobit model to analyze the land abandonment quantitatively from the perspective of environmental pollution. The results show that (1) environmental pollution can significantly increase the probability and area of land abandonment, (2) there is significant regional heterogeneity in the impact of environmental pollution on land abandonment, (3) the impact of environmental pollution on land abandonment varies significantly with different family sizes and land management scales, but the land management scale is relatively more sensitive.

Effects of haze pollution on pesticide use by rice farmers: fresh evidence from rural areas of China.

Recently, severe haze pollution has not only threatened human health and food security, but also seems to have aggravated the unscientific use of pesticides by rice farmers in rural areas of China. Using original data on haze pollution across China, combined with rural household survey data collected from 2014 to 2018, we conducted a detailed empirical study on the effects of haze pollution on pesticide use by rice farmers based on the theory of risk aversion. The empirical results revealed that haze pollution with higher levels of PM positively impacted the use of chemical pesticides in rice cultivation.

The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the air quality in China: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment.

The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in early 2020 posed a significant threat to people's health and economic sustainability in China and worldwide. This study investigated whether the lockdown measures precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic affected air pollutants in the short term. Moreover, we investigated the impact of the heterogeneity of cities and regions.

Estimating effects of cooperative membership on farmers' safe production behaviors: evidence from the rice sector in China.

The current agricultural system in China highly depends on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Consequently, agricultural production activities cause various environmental issues. Carrying out safe production provides vital support for sustainable development of agriculture, which may improve this situation.

Triple-hurdle model analysis of the factors influencing biogas digester building, use and processing by Chinese pig farmers.

Because of the pollution associated with pig manure, pig farmers are being encouraged to adopt environmentally friendly manure management solutions such as biogas digesters. However, as the correlations and influencing factors associated with the different manure disposal stages remain unclear, these solutions have failed to positively change farmer disposal behaviors. Therefore, this paper constructed a triple-hurdle model to empirically analyze the pig farmer manure disposal behaviors and the associated relationships under the belief that the three stage biogas digester decisions were driven by structurally different processes.

Looking back over the past two decades on the nexus between air pollution, energy consumption, and agricultural productivity in China: a qualitative analysis based on the ARDL bounds testing model.

Increasing population and food demand has led to steadily declining resources as a result of over-exploitation and fossil fuel consumption that cause air contamination and reduce soil fertility. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between air pollution, energy consumption, and the contribution of agriculture to national GDP. Secondary study data covering two decades were collected from different sources, and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing model was employed to determine long-run and short-run correlations.