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This study aims to conduct a geographical analysis of the distribution and type of activities developed by social enterprises in rural and urban areas of Ireland.

The study analyses data of more than 4,000 social enterprises against a six-tier rural/urban typology, using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests to test six hypotheses.

The study shows a geographical rural–urban pattern in the distribution of social enterprises in Ireland, with a positive association between the remoteness of an area and the ratio of social enterprises, and a lack of capital-city effect related to the density of social enterprises. The analysis also shows a statistically significant geographical rural–urban pattern for the types of activities developed by social enterprises. The authors observe a positive association between the remoteness of the areas and the presence of social enterprises operating in the community and local development sector whereas the association is not significant for social enterprises developing welfare services.

The paper shows the potential of using recently developed rural–urban typologies and tools such as geographical information systems for conducting geographical research on social enterprises. The findings also have implications for informing spatially sensitive policymaking on social enterprises.

The merging of a large national data set of social enterprises with geographical tools and data at subregional level contributes to the methodological advancement of the field of social enterprises, providing tools and frameworks for a nuanced and spatially sensitive analysis of these organisations.

The government of Ghana since independence has undertaken steps to develop educational infrastructure setup. This notwithstanding, the educational sector is beset with challenges such as low-quality education and low enrolment rates in Senior High Schools (SHS) of children from large households, among others. Given the myriad of challenges bedevilling the education sector, there have been calls for collaboration among public leaders to promote education. The paper, therefore, examines traditional leaders' roles in promoting quality education in Ghana.

Through a desk review approach, the study examines the role of traditional leaders in promoting quality education in Ghana. This approach was adopted due to its flexible nature.

The study found that traditional leaders have provided educational materials and resources to deprived schools. They have established scholarship schemes for needy but brilliant students, promoted gender parity in education, constructed educational facilities and promoted a healthy teaching environment.

The paper provides stakeholders in Ghana’s educational sector with the opportunity to review educational policies and include traditional leaders to influence educational policies. The recommendations call for support from the GETFUND and Scholarship Secretariat of Ghana to assist community-initiated projects and scholarship schemes established by traditional leaders.

The paper provides evidence to support the importance of traditional leadership, which has come under criticism from a democratisation perspective in contemporary times.

This paper aims to examine whether China's grain price support policy has distorted the grain market price.

The time-varying differences-in-differences (DID) model is used to study the impact of support policies on grain prices, and it is combined with the event study method to explore the dynamic effects of price support policy. Panel data model is used to study the effect of the price support policy on price formation for national grain market prices. In addition, we apply the smooth transformation (STR) model to verify whether there is a distortion in the transmission of grain prices among different markets in China and from the international market to China’s market.

China’s grain price support policy plays a significant role in rising grain market prices, weakens the decisive role of the market mechanism in the formation of grain prices, hinders the spatial transmission of market price signals and decreases the effect of price transmission from the world market to China’s market.

In order to ensure both the stability of grain production as well as the market stability, and also to ensure that intervention policies do not distort the food market, the minimum purchase price of grain and market regulation policies should be adjusted as follows: (1) price support policy should be shifted to an income support policy and (2) reasonably determine the scale of reserves and implement a grain minimum purchase price policy in limited areas.

Our findings are relevant for understanding the effect of China's grain price support policies on the implementation regions and the price transmission effect, which provide reference experience for developing countries to implement food price policies.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect and mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports.

Based on the theoretical analysis of the mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports, this study empirically examines the effect and mechanism of the digital economy’s influence on the binary margin of agricultural exports based on China’s customs export data from 2011 to 2016.

The relevant findings are threefold. (1) The digital economy significantly improves the binary margin of agricultural exports, and its effect on the intensive margin is stronger than that on the expansive margin. After the expansive margin is subdivided, the effects on the three sub-variables of the expansive margin are in the following order: old products exported to new markets > new products exported to old markets > new products exported to new markets. (2) The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the digital economy has a stronger role in promoting the binary margin of exports for enterprises in the eastern region, high-income countries as the destination of exports and state-owned enterprises. (3) Mechanism analysis shows that the digital economy promotes the binary margin of agricultural exports by reducing trade costs and intensifying market competition.

First, in terms of research perspective, although there are some studies on the impact of the digital economy on export trade in existing literature, the research objects mainly focus on manufacturing enterprises. In fact, agricultural trade is susceptible to natural conditions and seasonal factors, and countries may impose more SPS measures and TBT measures on agricultural trade due to risk considerations. The relationship between the digital economy and agricultural trade also has its own characteristics, but there are few research studies in this area. At present, only Liu and Gao (2022), based on the data of total imports and exports of different agricultural products from 2004 to 2018, have established a vector auto-regressive model to empirically analyse the heterogeneous dynamic impact of the digital economy on the trade volume of agricultural products. In addition, Ma and Guo (2023) conducted an empirical test on the total effect, regional heterogeneity and threshold effect of the digital economy on agricultural export trade based on China’s provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020. Therefore, under the new circumstances of continuous integration of digital technology and agriculture, this study interprets the impact effect and mechanism of the digital economy on the binary margin of agricultural exports from the perspective of the digital economy, providing new research perspectives and approaches for promoting the growth of agricultural exports. Second, in terms of theoretical analysis, the above studies have not been fully analysed in terms of the specific mechanism of the impact of the digital economy on agricultural exports. Based on the positive and negative characteristics of agricultural trade, this study introduces two kinds of roles into the theoretical analysis framework to comprehensively determine the trade impact effect of the digital economy. Third, in terms of research design, this study empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on the binary margin of agricultural products, passing a series of robustness tests and investigating the mediating roles of trade cost and market competition effects, producing an empirical basis for China to leverage the digital economy to promote the binary margin of agricultural exports.

Financial inclusion and digital finance go side by side and help enhance agricultural activities; however, the magnitude of digital financial services varies across countries. In line with this argument, this study aims to examine whether financial inclusion enhances agricultural participation and decompose the significance of the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially included – not financially included households and digital finance – no digital finance households.

This study uses Pakistan’s household integrated economic survey 2018/19 to test hypotheses. The logit model is used to examine the effect of financial inclusion on agriculture participation. Moreover, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder technique to investigate the difference in determinants of agricultural participation.

This study reports that financial inclusion positively influences agricultural participation, meaning households may have access to financial services and participate in agricultural activities. The results suggest that the likelihood of participating in agriculture in households with mobiles and smartphones is higher. Moreover, household size, income, age, gender, education, urban, remittances from abroad, fertilizer, pesticides, wheat, cotton, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables are the significant determinants of agricultural participation. To distinguish the financially included – not financially included households’ gap, this study employs a nonlinear Fairlie Oaxaca Blinder decomposition and finds that differences in fertilizer explain the substantial gap in agricultural participation. Likewise, this study tests the digital finance – no digital finance gap and finds that the difference in fertilizer is a significant contributor, describing a considerable gap in agricultural participation.

Empirically identified that various factors cause agricultural participation including financial inclusion and digital finance. Regarding the research limitation, this study only considers a developing country to analyze the findings. However, for future research, scholars may consider some other countries to compare the results and identify their differences.

The accessibility of fertilizer can reduce the agricultural participation gap. However, increased income level, education and cotton and sugar production can also overcome the differences in agriculture participation between digital finance and no digital finance households.

This is the first study to decompose the difference in determinants of agricultural participation between financially and not financially included households.

Vietnam has repositioned itself from a war-torn country to a popular tourist destination. Although research on Vietnam tourism has grown in number, a macro analysis of national tourism governance and policies has largely been missing.

This synthesis paper offers a systemic analysis of Vietnam’s tourism accommodating intensified government intervention and dramatic market changes in recent decades. The authors offer a chronological analysis of tourism development along with the major political and economic turns of the country.

The patterns of tourism development reflect a compromise between centralization and decentralization of the governance system and a trade-off between economic and social objectives of development. Balancing these opposites, the internal strength of the domestic market and the resilience of communities and businesses become key assets for growth in circumstances where the socialist market economy continues to inform the current and future development of the industry.

Although the case of Vietnam is unique, the adaptive mechanism of the tourism industry highlighted in this paper offers a useful lesson for other developing countries. The research addresses tourism in the political economy in developing countries, which is valuable for researchers, policy analysts as well as practitioners in tourism.

The practical contribution of the study is derived from authors’ academic and industrial backgrounds. Findings from the study serve as a useful reference for those who embark on the study of tourism governance and policy-making in developing countries and problems associated with the economic transitional process. Those problems of the disparity between centralization and decentralization of the political system might not be only significant in Vietnam, but also prevail in developing countries. Thus, this study offers a point of departure for future empirical and comparative research on the kindship of tourism and political economy in a full scale.

The transitional economy as viewed through the tourism industry is prominently presented in the “evolutionary” approach to the transitional economy, which exhibits several unique features: the transition from a centrally planned (command) economy to a market economy and the manifestations of a socialist orientation in the modern economic management system (Vuong et al., 2019). While data from this study is mainly illustrative of the first point, the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the second characteristic, the manifestation of a social orientation has only slightly been addressed and will need further elaboration in a future study. While Vietnam’s tourism positions itself in a socialist market-oriented economy might set a unique case, the study highlights the politics of tourism is shaped by the politico-economic system. The authors conclude that the adaptation of Vietnam tourism to a socialist market-orientated economy is better perceived as a social evolution achievement rather than a feature of capitalism.

The latest study on tourism governance (Bui et al., 2022) has outlined the evolution of the tourism administrative system and markets in the country; however, linkages of tourism to the broader political economic system have yet to be addressed. Addressing this gap, the authors carry out analysis of policies and governance from the insider’s viewpoint, when team members have been involved in numerous tourism planning and development projects, both on international and national scales. The practical experience along with thorough review of literature and statistical data contributes to shaping a fresh understanding of tourism in a transitional economy.

这篇综述对越南旅游业进行了系统分析, 包括近几十年来不断增强的政府干预以及巨大的市场变化。作者根据时间顺序分析了旅游业的发展以及该国的主要政治及经济的转变。此外, 政策文件的内容分析及旅游市场分析进一步说明了政治经济体系对旅游治理及政策的影响。

越南已将自己从一个饱受战争的国家重新定位成备受欢迎的旅游目的地。尽管对越南旅游业的研究不断增多, 但对国家旅游治理和政策的宏观分析却被之前的探究所忽略。此研究通过展示越南转型经济中的旅游治理模式连接了两个学科, 并且丰富了政治经济学和旅游学的文献。

旅游政策和市场分析反应了治理体系集权与分权之间的折中以及经济和社会发展目标之间的权衡。国内市场的内在优势以及社区及企业的韧性可以成为成长的关键资产来平衡这些对立面, 同时社会主义市场经济将继续影响产业的当前及未来的发展。因此我们的结论是, 越南旅游业适应社会主义市场经济应该被视为社会进化的成就, 而不是资本主义的特征。

考虑到一篇文章所能解决的问题有限, 作者无法就转型经济与中国进行比较研究。我们的研究为未来亚洲旅游与政治经济之间联系的实证和比较研究提供了一个出发点。

研究结果为发展中国家旅游治理和政策制定研究提供了有益的参考。

研究结果对于发展中国家旅游治理及政策制定研究具有重要参考意义。这项研究的成果对于发展中国家的旅游政策分析师, 特别是亚洲的研究人员来说很有价值。

当前的研究弥补了政治经济学中的一个研究不足, 即马克思主义学说及其与旅游业的对话。知识转移是本研究的一个亮点, 它源自对国家政治经济议程中的旅游治理的批判性分析。

Vietnam ha pasado de ser un país devastado por la guerra a convertirse en un popular destino turístico. Aunque la investigación sobre el turismo en Vietnam ha crecido en número, ha faltado en gran medida un macroanálisis de la gobernanza y las políticas turísticas nacionales. Nuestra investigación ha enriquecido la literatura tanto de la economía política como del turismo tendiendo un puente entre ambas disciplinas al presentar las pautas de la gobernanza del turismo en la economía de transición de Vietnam.

Este documento de síntesis ofrece un análisis sistemático del turismo de Vietnam que abarca la intensificación de la intervención gubernamental y los drásticos cambios del mercado en las últimas décadas. Los autores ofrecen un análisis cronológico del desarrollo del turismo junto con los principales giros políticos y económicos del país. Además, el análisis del contenido de los documentos políticos y el análisis del mercado turístico ilustran mejor las repercusiones de los sistemas político-económicos en la gobernanza y las políticas turísticas.

Las políticas turísticas y el análisis del mercado revelan un compromiso entre la centralización y la descentralización del sistema de gobernanza y un compromiso entre los objetivos económicos y sociales del desarrollo. Al equilibrar estos opuestos, la fuerza interna del mercado nacional y la resistencia de las comunidades y las empresas se convierten en activos clave para el crecimiento en unas circunstancias en las que la economía de mercado socialista sigue informando el desarrollo actual y futuro de la industria. Concluimos que la adaptación del turismo vietnamita a una economía socialista orientada al mercado se percibe mejor como un logro de la evolución social que como una característica del capitalismo.

Dentro del limitado abanico de cuestiones que podrían abordarse en un solo artículo, los autores no pueden establecer un estudio comparativo con China, en lo que respecta a la economía de transición. Nuestro estudio ofrece un punto de partida para futuras investigaciones empíricas y comparativas sobre la conexión entre turismo y economía política en Asia.

Las conclusiones del estudio sirven de referencia útil para quienes se embarcan en el estudio de la gobernanza y la formulación de políticas turísticas en los países en desarrollo.

Los resultados de la investigación son valiosos para los investigadores del sudeste asiático en particular y para los analistas de la política turística del mundo en desarrollo en general.

La presente investigación contribuye a un área poco investigada de la economía política, a saber, la doctrina marxista y su diálogo con el turismo. La transferencia de conocimientos es un aspecto destacado de esta investigación, que se ha derivado de un análisis crítico de la gobernanza del turismo en la agenda económica política nacional.

This study aims to explore vocational teachers' perceptions regarding workplace learning that align with students' training models and collaborative teaching involving specialised professionals within the context of industry-university collaboration.

Using a qualitative approach, the study conducted nine semi-structured interviews from three subject areas to better understand how vocational teachers’ work-based learning enhances their pedagogical practice in guiding students’ professional training. Thematic analysis was adopted to identify patterns that emerged from concepts and theories related to coding categories.

The authors identified three key components: vocational teachers’ workplace learning in connection with students’ training models, collaborative teaching with specialised professionals and teachers’ regular interactions with enterprises. The findings demonstrate that vocational teachers’ engagement in workplace learning pertaining to specific subjects provides a valuable avenue for enhancing curriculum design with collaboration with industry experts. This is key for supporting vocational students’ transitions into the workplace and ensuring their knowledge and skills are tailored to the industry-standard practice.

The data are limited to the review of interviews from three vocational subject areas as the representative sector in the study. However, this research implies effective knowledge transfer between workplace settings and vocational institutions, and vocational teachers need to integrate work-based vocational knowledge and skills in a relevant and applicable way across diverse classroom settings.

Fostering collaborative partnerships with local industries and professionals can be a primary way to facilitate authentic learning experiences that are linked to a specific vocational field and bridge the gap between diverse classroom learning and real-world work scenarios.

This study combines contemporary workplace learning theories with the conceptual understanding of vocational teachers’ involvement with industry-specific practice. Connecting teachers’ knowledge to the industry extends the input and collaboration from professionals and field experts to the diverse vocational classrooms.

The global non-attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 indicates the issue of rising gender inequality. Educated women shying away from the labor force is worsening it. The labor market dynamics might shape the female labor force participation (FLFP). The present study recommends a policy framework by analyzing this dynamism across 125 countries over 1990–2020.

The Two-step System Generalized Method of Moments is used to address endogeneity bias. Dynamism in policy environment is captured by relaxing the Ceteris Paribus condition in the empirical model.

Results show that the moderation of labor market factors has increased with the attainment of Secondary and Tertiary Education. Results also highlight that these factors promote FLFP through prospective opportunities but also hinder female participation through employer’s discrimination despite educational attainment.

Studies have examined the role of education on FLFP. However, prior research has not investigated the role of labor market factors in influencing the impact of education on FLFP. The consideration of these factors will help in addressing the global policy lacuna by recommending a policy framework for enhancing FLFP through internalization of the externalities exerted by the labor market factors, and thereby, help the countries attaining the SDG 5 objectives.

This study aims to explore the manifold implications – health, environmental and economic – of integrating coworking spaces (CSs) into residential settings. The research emphasizes the health-related potential and connected benefits of situating these contemporary spaces of work in retrofitted buildings.

The research highlights the potential of retrofitted buildings – owing to their urban locations, existing infrastructure, and available space – to accommodate CSs. Employing the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology, the paper systematically reviews literature from 2010 to 2021. It investigates the influence of residential CSs on health, community cohesion and environmental sustainability.

The results indicate that integrating CSs within residential areas can significantly enhance user wellbeing, create a healthier residential environment and positively impact the broader community. Retrofitted buildings emerge as optimal venues for CSs due to their urban positioning and potential to contribute to users' physical, mental and social health. However, the strategic (re)use of retrofitted buildings is crucial, alongside planning to address potential downsides like gentrification.

The study is based on a literature review and may not fully capture the specificities of certain regional or local conditions that could affect the health benefits associated with CSs. In addition to that, the study primarily references European-centric research between 2010 and 2021, indicating a need for more diverse geographic and cultural studies. Further empirical studies are needed to validate the findings behind the following study.

The findings of this study can guide urban planners, policymakers and architects in assessing the feasibility of converting residential buildings into CSs and planning relevant activities. They can leverage the potential health benefits to promote CSs and encourage healthier lifestyle practices in residential communities.

Introducing CSs in residential areas can lead to reduced commuting stress, opportunities for physical activities and social interactions, and healthier lifestyle practices. These benefits can enhance the overall well-being of individuals and communities, fostering a stronger social fabric in urban settings.

This research is novel in examining the health benefits associated with CSs in residential areas and the role of retrofitted buildings in promoting such advantages.

In the context of Industry 4.0, intelligent construction technologies (ICT) represented by information technology and networking will undoubtedly provide new impetus to the development of the prefabricated building supply chain (PBSC), but they will also bring various potential risks. So far, there is a large lack of research on the comprehensive consideration of the risks associated with the intelligent transformation of PBSC based on the information sharing perspective, and the critical risks and interactions are still unclear, making it difficult to identify efficient risk mitigation strategies. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal the interactions between stakeholders and clarify the critical risk nodes and interactions in information sharing of PBSC (IS-PBSC), and propose targeted risk mitigation strategies.

Firstly, this paper creatively delineates the risks and critical stakeholders of IS-PBSC. Secondly, Data is collected through questionnaires to understand the degree of risks impact. Thirdly, with the help of NetMiner 4 software, social network analysis is conducted and IS-PBSC risk network is established to reveal critical risk nodes and interactions. Finally, further targeted discussion of critical risk nodes, the effectiveness and reasonableness of the risk mitigation strategies are proposed and verified through NetMiner 4 software simulation.

The results show that the critical risks cover the entire process of information sharing, with the lack of information management norms and other information assurance-related risks accounting for the largest proportion. In addition, the government dominates in risk control, followed by other stakeholders. The implementation of risk mitigation strategies is effective, with the overall network density reduced by 41.15% and network cohesion reduced by 24%.

In the context of Industry 4.0, ICT represented by information technology and networking will undoubtedly provide new impetus to the development of the PBSC, but they will also bring various potential risks. So far, there is a large lack of research on the comprehensive consideration of the risks associated with the intelligent transformation of PBSC based on the information sharing perspective, and the critical risks and interactions are still unclear, making it difficult to identify efficient risk mitigation strategies.

Based on the results of risk network visualization analysis, this paper proposes an ICT-based IS-PBSC mechanism that promotes the development of the integration of ICT and PBSC while safeguarding the benefits of various stakeholders.