Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Living Standards: Evidence from the Chinese Provinces Directly Affected by the "One Belt, One Road" Initiative

Purpose: This paper discusses the impact of transport infrastructure on living standards in the Chinese provinces directly affected by the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Methods: The impact of transport infrastructures such as railways and highways on people’s living standards, more specifically, the household consumption level in the Chinese provinces directly affected by the "One Belt, One Road" was analyzed based on data from 2008 to 2017 from National Bureau of Statistics of China and some databases related to the "One Belt, One Road". Descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression were applied for analysis. Results: a)The living standards are not improved in proportion to the development level of railways and highways due to influences of various factors on living standards, b) the development level of transport infrastructure does not have enough impact on reducing the gap in living standards between urban and rural areas in the Chinese provinces under study, c) the development level of transport infrastructure has a relatively more significant impact on living standards in coastal provinces than inland provinces under study, and d) in the future, the measures to develop the transport infrastructure may provably contribute to achieving targets for enhancing the living standards under the realization of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Implications: To enhance the living standard, the management of investment in transport infrastructure as well as other factors, such as employment, income distribution, supply of goods and services, price level, etc. affecting people’s living standard ought to be improved in line with the features of a given region

Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Gross Regional Products: A Study on Chinese Economic Regions

Purpose: This study examines the impact of transport infrastructure on the Gross Regional Products in Chinese economic regions. Methods: The study analyzes the impact of transport infrastructure on the Gross Regional Products according to the eight economic regions in China by using descriptive statistics and regression analysis methods. Results: The findings are that a) densities of railways and highways have strong impacts on Gross Regional Products per capita according to Chinese economic regions, b) impacts of densities of railways and highways on Gross Regional Products per capita differ among Chinese economic regions and c) construction of new transport infrastructure has a more positive impact on Gross Regional Products per capita compared to regions with already developed transport infrastructure. Implications: Region-specific features ought to be considered in making and implementing the economic development policy according to economic regions

Methods for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic Effectiveness of Business Activities: Special Reference to R & D Expenditure

Purpose: This paper suggests the methodology for comprehensively and dynamically evaluating the economic effectiveness of business activities in a view of scientific and technological development. Methods: Authors analyze the previous studies related to evaluating the economic effectiveness of business activities and suggest the methodology using the weight coefficients and pair-evaluation standards. Results: The findings reveal that comprehensive economic effectiveness of business activities reflects the effective use of various resources including labor, material, fixed asset, liquid materials, and R&D expenditure into the business activities in a certain period of time and it must be assessed by using the integrated indicator. Implications: The findings may contribute to the theories related to the economic effectiveness of business activities. It is also likely to improve organizational decision-making

Some Methodological Issues in Assessing the Efforts for the Circular Economy by Region or Country

At present, the circular economy is emerging as a strategy for sustainable development. What is important in promoting the circular economy is to assess its current level and take measures for assessment. This paper discusses some methodological issues in comparing and assessing the efforts for the circular economy at the international level. To this end, the authors explain the theoretical premise related to the assessment of efforts for the circular economy, establish an indicator system for assessing the efforts for the circular economy, and suggest a method for comprehensively assessing the efforts for the circular economy by country. The conclusions are that (a) the comparative evaluation of activities related to the circular economy by country requires a unified standard or category that can cover these activities, including all factors that meet sustainable development; the outcome, process, and guarantee of the circular economy, and this can be the circular economy effort and (b) the circular economy effort of a given country must synthetically be assessed by using the indicators capable of showing all aspects. These conclusions may contribute to establishing a new theoretical foundation that can include various aspects of the circular economy activities and to setting a practical and methodological foundation for evaluating each country’s various activities related to the circular economy at the international level and can serve as a policy basis for identifying the weak and strong aspects of circular economy activities at the domestic or international level and establishing technological and economic measures to strengthen the weak aspects

Impact of Transport Infrastructure on Gross Regional Products: Evidence from Chinese Provinces under the “Belt and Road Initiative”

Purpose: This paper analyzes the impact of transport infrastructure on Gross Regional Products in Chinese provinces under the “Belt and Road Initiative”. Methods: The impact of the key elements of transport infrastructure on Gross Regional Products is analyzed based on the data related to development levels of transport infrastructure and economic development. Correlation and regression analyses were used for data analysis. Results: It is found that railways and highways, which are the key elements of transport infrastructure, have a strong correlation with Gross Regional Products, and their effects are diverse among provinces under study. Implications: The findings demonstrate the position and role of diverse infrastructural elements in enhancing the economic benefits of infrastructural investment and promoting economic growth. Thus, it is expected to facilitate decision-making related to infrastructural investment under the “Belt and Road Initiative”

Relationship between Transport Infrastructure and Employment: Evidence from the Chinese Inland Provinces under the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative

Purpose: This paper discusses the impact of transport infrastructure on employment in the Chinese inland provinces directly affecting by the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Methods: The authors analyzed the impact of railways and highways- two key elements of transport infrastructure on employment in five Chinese inland provinces directly affected by the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. The data was collected from the National Bureau of Statistics of China and some databases related to “One Belt, One Road” for the period of 2008-2017. Descriptive statistics and graphic description approaches were used to analyze the data. Results: The findings show that there are unclear relationships between transport infrastructure and employment in the inland provinces under study as affected by “One Belt, One Road”.  Implications: Improvement of transport infrastructure as well as other relevant factors in creating jobs should be considered for generating employment in the provinces under study

Estimating Economic Effectiveness of Economic Infrastructure: A Methodological Exploration

Purpose: Economic Infrastructure is a prerequisite for economic development. To this end, it is necessary to reveal the theoretical background for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure and establish the methodology for estimating the effectiveness. Until now, there have been a number of qualitative and quantitative studies that investigate the effect of infrastructure on the economy. However, we can hardly say that there is an agreed-upon methodology for estimating such effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to solve methodological problems arising in estimating the effectiveness of infrastructure in terms of economic, physical-value, and spatio-temporal aspects. Methods: The first section of the paper discusses theoretical problems for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure. For this, we analyze the preceding studies on economic infrastructure as an economic concept, and on this basis, systemize its specific features and roles in a new way. The second section illustrates the main indicators and methodology for estimating the effectiveness of economic infrastructure. In this section, we apply various indicators related to physical and value aspects to suggest the methodology for estimating the space-time effectiveness of economic infrastructure. Results: Based on the drawbacks of the previous approaches, this paper finds the rationality to estimate the economic effectiveness of economic infrastructure using the benefit to cost approach rather than the functional approach. Implications: This study can be of significance to the policymakers or investors in decision-making related to infrastructural investment. They can calculate the economic effectiveness using the proposed methodology, upon which they can select optimal infrastructural projects for the short term or long term

A Huge Hemorrhagic Epidermoid Cyst of the Perineum with Hypoechoic Semisolid Ultrasonographic Feature Mimicking Scar Endometriosis

Epidermoid cysts are small, solitary, and slow-growing lesions that rarely appear in the perineum and mostly arise because of trauma. This study examined a huge perineal epidermoid cyst that slowly grew over eight years in a premenopausal woman. Ultrasonography showed that the hemorrhage in the cyst was a semisolid hypoechoic mass, which mimicked endometrioma, and was tentatively diagnosed as scar endometriosis in the perineum after vaginal delivery. This case study highlights the importance of wide surgical excision and histopathologic diagnosis, even with typical ultrasonography and surgical findings