China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) hopes to deliver trillions of dollars in infrastructure financing to Asia, Europe, and Africa. If the initiative follows Chinese practices to date for infrastructure financing, which often entail lending to sovereign borrowers, then BRI raises the risk of debt distress in some borrower countries. This paper assesses the likelihood of debt problems in the 68 countries identified as potential BRI borrowers. We conclude that eight countries are at particular risk of debt distress based on an identified pipeline of project lending associated with BRI.

Because this indebtedness also suggests a higher concentration in debt owed to official and quasi-official Chinese creditors, we examine Chinese policies and practices related to sustainable financing and the management of debt problems in borrower countries. Based on this evidence, we offer recommendations to improve Chinese policy in these areas. The recommendations are offered to Chinese policymakers directly, as well as to BRI’s bilateral and multilateral partners, including the IMF and World Bank. 

Space is a product of society. Driven by industrialization, urbanization, informatization and government policies, China’s rural space is undergoing drastic reconstruction. As one of the core contents of international rural geography research, rural space research are multi-disciplinary, multi perspective, multi-dimensional and multi-method, forming a rich research field. In order to comprehensively grasp the progress of rural space research abroad, this study reviewed international rural space research literature in recent 40 years. The study found that foreign scholars described the connotation of rural space from the aspects of material, imagination and practice, emphasize the importance of daily life practice. It introduced living space to construct a more systematic research framework of rural space by establishing a “three-fold model of rural space”. With regard to the theoretical perspective, international research on rural space has experienced three stages: functionalism, political economics and social constructivism. In the evolution of time, it has realized the transformation from productivism to post-productivism; in the spatial dimension, it realizes the multiple superposition of settlement space, economic space, social space and cultural space. As a whole, international research on rural space has realized the transformation from material level to social representation, from objective space to subjective space, and from static one-dimensional space to dynamic multi-dimensional space, which enlightens us on the importance of interdisciplinary research and “social cultural” research on rural space. The construction of rural space in China needs to pay attention to the subject status of farmers and multifunction of rural space, respect the role of locality and difference of various places, and recover the function of production of meaning of rural space.

The US Infrastructure Investment and Job Act (IIJA), also commonly referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, passed in 2021, has drawn international attention. It aims to help to rebuild US infrastructure, including transportation networks, broadband, water, power and energy, environmental protection and public works projects. An estimated $1.2 trillion in total funding over ten years will be allocated. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is the largest funding bill for US infrastructure in the recent history of the United States. This review article will specifically discuss funding allocations for roads and bridges, power and grids, broadband, water infrastructure, airports, environmental protection, ports, Western water infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations and electric school buses in the new spending of the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act and why these investments are urgently necessary. This article will also briefly discuss the views of think tank experts, the public policy perspectives, the impact on domestic and global arenas of the new spending in the IIJA, and the public policy implications.

The scientificity and truthfulness of Marxist theory are crucial aspects of our research. To gain a comprehensive understanding, it is essential to examine Marxism within a reference frame and comparative perspective. In this regard, exploring Marx's critique of Proudhonism becomes significant, as it provides insights into the ideological transformations he achieved. Proudhonism, a small bourgeoisie socialism and anarchism that emerged in France in the 1840s and spread across Western Europe in the 1850s-1860s, had intricate connections with Marxism. This analysis not only broadens our research horizon but also holds practical implications for today's society. Thus, our research holds both theoretical and practical significance.

The development of entrepreneurship in fisheries operations is an important component of eliminating poverty. Fisherman obviously produce fishery goods, despite the broad recognition of the positive role that entrepreneurship can play in the reduction of poverty. Integration into one’s society and economy are increasingly beginning to be seen as an essential component of entrepreneurial success. This study aims to investigate the cultural and entrepreneurial attitudes of fishermen involved in the production of fishery products in the Province of West Sumatra, Indonesia, accordingly with a particular focus on marine resource conservation areas in village development. In this development, the descriptive design of capitals was utilized. This design included interviews, a questionnaire survey, and a review of the relevant body of literature. As a result, the purpose of the study was to propose an alternative model for the development of villages that would be considered novel in Indonesia. The findings demonstrated that the model makes a contribution to enhancing the socio-economic, cultural, and social capabilities of a group of fishermen. In conclusion, tourism that is focused on social entrepreneurship has the potential to boost entrepreneurial attitudes as well as the atmosphere surrounding community understanding of creative village development. We came to the conclusion that implementing tourism with a focus on social entrepreneurship could increase entrepreneurial attitudes and create an atmosphere that is more conscious of the needs of the community in village development.