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Water resources are indispensable to human society. High-quality development (HQD) is a multi-faceted, demanding, and sustainable pattern. High-quality development level (HQDL) is an indicator of regional development. Its quantitative calculation is helpful to intuitively understand the current regional development situation, and helps departments make timely adjustments. Spatial equilibrium degree (SED) reflects the development balance among regions. Understanding spatial equilibrium can clarify regional development differences, promote the sharing of successful experiences, and then achieve common progress. Considering the current development and utilization situation of China’s water resources, this study established an improved evaluation index system for HQDL, under water resources constraints. Then, we applied the proposed “single index quantification and multiple index synthesis and poly-criteria integration (SMI-P)” method to quantitatively evaluate the HQDL of China’s 31 provincial-level administrative regions (PLARs), from 2010 to 2019. Finally, the calculation method of SED was employed to assess the SED of indicators and HQD in Mainland China. Results show that: (1) the HQDL of 31 PLARs showed a steady upward trend from 2010 to 2019. There were decrease tendencies from the coast to inland, and southeast to northwest in terms of spatial distribution, which shows that China’s HQD has achieved remarkable results in the past 10 years, and the development of coastal areas is better; (2) The SED of HQD displayed a slow upward trend, and it has remained relatively stable after 2015, indicating that the spatial difference of HQD continued to shrink before 2015 and was relatively stable after that; (3) Water resource constraints played a significant role in well-developed areas, while the economic and social level was still the main constraint in medium and poor level areas. In addition, the spatiotemporal variation of HQDL, SED of HQD and indicators, and constraint effects of water resources on regional HQD, were fully discussed. Our findings not only provide new ideas for future research on HQD, but also possess great significance to China’s HQD in the new era.

In the study, the potential regional impacts of the European Union full memberships on the Turkey’s dairy sector were analysed using a Spatial Equilibrium Model with 12 NUTS 1 regions as well as the European Union as being another region. According to the results, Turkey starts importing butter mainly to the Istanbul region and powder milk to the Black Sea regions, while exporting white cheese from Istanbul and plain yoghurt from the Central Anatolia and the North-eastern Anatolian regions. In the process of the European Union full membership, agricultural policies must focus on the enhancement of milk productivity to decrease the cost and to improve hygiene to meet the European Union standards for a smooth accession.

We study optimal transport networks in spatial equilibrium. We develop a framework consisting of a neoclassical trade model with labor mobility in which locations are arranged on a graph. Goods must be shipped through linked locations, and transport costs depend on congestion and on the infrastructure in each link, giving rise to an optimal transport problem in general equilibrium. The optimal transport network is the solution to a social planner’s problem of building infrastructure in each link. We provide conditions such that this problem is globally convex, guaranteeing its numerical tractability. We also study cases with increasing returns to transport technologies in which global convexity fails. We apply the framework to assess optimal investments and inefficiencies in the road networks of European countries.

Most countries exhibit large and persistent geographical differences in wages, income, and unemployment rates. A growing class of place-based policies attempts to address these differences through public investments and subsidies that target disadvantaged neighborhoods, cities, or regions. Place-based policies have the potential to profoundly affect the location of economic activity, along with the wages, employment, and industry mix of communities. These programs are widespread in the United States and throughout the world but have only recently been studied closely by economists. We consider the following questions: Who benefits from place-based interventions? Do the national benefits outweigh the costs? What sorts of interventions are most likely to be effective? To study these questions, we develop a simple spatial equilibrium model designed to characterize the welfare effects of place-based policies on the local and the national economy. Using this model, we critically evaluate the economic rationales for place-based policies and assess the latest evidence on their effects. We conclude with some lessons for policy and directions for future research.

COVID-19 has caused more than 500 million infections and 6 million deaths. Due to a continuous shortage of medical resources, COVID-19 has raised alarm about medical and health resource allocation in China. A balanced spatial distribution of medical and health resources is a key livelihood issue in promoting the equalization of health services. This paper explores the spatial allocation equilibrium of two-tier medical and health resources and its influencing factors in Taiyuan. Using extracted POIs of medical and health resources of AMAP, we evaluated the spatial quantitative characteristics through the Health Resources Density Index, researched the spatial distribution pattern by kernel density analysis, hot spot analysis, and service area analysis, and identified the influencing factors of the spatial distribution equilibrium by the Geodetector model. The findings are as follows. The overall allocation level of medical and health resources in Taiyuan is low. There are tiered and regional differences; the response degree of primary care facilities to external factors is greater than that of hospitals; and the comprehensive influence of economic and topographic systems is crucial compared with other factors. Therefore, in order to promote the rational spatial distribution of medical and health resources in Taiyuan and to improve the construction of basic medical services within a 15 min radius, it is important to continuously improve the tiered healthcare system, uniformly deploy municipal medical and health resources, and increase the resource allocation to surrounding counties and remote mountainous areas. Future research should focus on collecting complete data, refining the research scale, analyzing qualitative differences, and proposing more accurate resource allocation strategies.

The food system is one of the major sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The impact of emission transfer due to the separation between food production and consumption within the context of carbon neutrality remains unclear. In this study, we constructed an emission inventory for three types of grains at the production stage of their life cycle and then analysed the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of the grain supply and demand. With the use of a spatial equilibrium model, we simulated the spatial distribution flow of the different types of grains from 1990 to 2018 and calculated the resulting GHG emission transfer efficiency. The main results include the following: (1) The imbalance between the grain supply and demand intensified, which was mainly reflected in the distance between the geographic centre of the grain supply and consumption increasing 3.2 times, and thus, the self-sufficiency decreased. (2) The total emission transfer TET of rice and wheat decreased because of the increase in the intra-regional supply, while that of maize gradually increased due to the increase in the inter-regional supply. (3) Overall, grain trade improved the carbon efficiency of grain production in China. The trade efficiency of crops varied, with wheat and maize leading to overall effective carbon reductions, while the carbon transfer efficiency of rice from trade was relatively low. (4) The carbon footprint of grain production in China’s provinces exhibited a downward trend, but due to the intensified separation between the grain supply and demand, certain major grain-producing areas achieved inefficient carbon increases. Therefore, we suggest further optimization of the spatial structure of planting and breeding, strengthening of the grain supply in the region, and enhancement in the optimization of the low-carbon production structure and adjustment of cultivated land use combined with regional governance strategies. The application of these measures could contribute to achieving dual-carbon goals.

In the context of continued global population growth and various environmental challenges, the coordinated protection of water resources, energy, and food security has become increasingly important. This study focuses on the uneven distribution of water resources, food, and energy in China, examining the coupling coordination relationship within the Water–Energy–Food nexus (WEF) system from 2006 to 2020 and conducting a quantitative assessment of its spatial equilibrium state. The results indicate the following: (1) The WEF system coupling degree across China’s provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) is above 0.75, suggesting a close interdependence and synergy between water resources, energy, and the food system. Most regions maintain a dynamically balanced coupling coordination state over time, providing theoretical feasibility for optimizing the allocation of cross-regional and cross-system resources. (2) Natural endowments and human activities have a decisive impact on spatial equilibrium differences in the water resources system. The layout of energy production is closely related to equilibrium, and overly concentrated production areas can disrupt spatial equilibrium. Future energy planning must consider the synergistic relationship between production and consumption areas. The proportion of grain output is not positively or negatively correlated with the spatial equilibrium coefficient; if regions with concentrated or sparse grain production cannot coordinate their development, the overall spatial equilibrium level will decline. (3) The spatial equilibrium of the WEF system is superior to that of any single subsystem. Inherent deficiencies in natural endowments can be gradually adapted and maintained through policy adjustments, resource coordination, and regional collaboration, allowing the system to maintain a dynamic balance.

Currently, the implementation of water resource spatial equilibrium strategy is a fundamental policy of water resource integrated management in China; it is also a considerable challenge to explore the relationship structure features of water resources, society, economy and ecological environment (WSEE) complex system. For this purpose, firstly, we applied information entropy, ordered degree and connection number coupling method to reveal the membership characteristics between different evaluation indicators and grade criterion. Secondly, the system dynamics approach was introduced to describe the relationship features among different equilibrium subsystems. Finally, the ordered degree, connection number, information entropy and system dynamics integrated model was established to conduct relationship structure simulation and evolution trend evaluation of the WSEE system. The application results in Hefei city, Anhui Province, China, demonstrated that: (1) the variation of overall equilibrium conditions of WSEE system in Hefei city, 2020–2029 was higher compared to that of 2010–2019, though the increasing rate of ordered degree and connection number entropy (ODCNE) became slower after 2019; and (2) the annual ODCNE value from 2020 to 2029 of WSEE system under dry year scenarios increased about 0.0812, which indicated that the construction of Yangtze-Huaihe Diversion (YHD) project could play significant positive role in mitigating the equilibrium situation of WSEE system in Hefei city in the future. On the whole, this study is capable of providing the guidance basis for constructing a theoretical framework of structure simulation and equilibrium evaluation analysis of WSEE complex system.

This paper applies a general spatial equilibrium model to investigate the effect that distance within the urban hierarchy can have on interurban house prices. Our spatial model predicts a negative price gradient towards higher-tier cities, which can be decomposed into a 'productivity component' and an 'amenity component', representing respectively the effect of wage differences and households' valuation of access to higher-order services. The theoretical findings are tested on data for the hierarchical urban system of the Pan-Yangtze River Delta in China. Both central and subcentral cities are shown to impose statistically significant distance penalties on interurban house prices, even after we control for amenities and characteristics that are generally considered to be the determinants of house prices. According to the empirical decomposition, the negative house price gradients are largely accounted for by the productivity component.