Poverty, and especially the widening disparity between the rich and the poor, leads to social unrest that can interrupt the harmonious development of human society. Understanding the reasons for income inequality, and supporting the development of an effective strategy to reduce this inequality, have been major goals in socioeconomic research around the world. To identify the determinants of the income gap, we calculated the Gini coefficients for Chinese provinces and performed regression analysis and contribution analysis for heterogeneity, using data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2002 to 2018. We found that urbanization, higher education, and foreign direct investment in eastern China and energy in central and western China were important factors that increased the Gini coefficient (i.e., decreased equality). Therefore, paying more attention to the fair distribution of the factors that can increase the Gini coefficient and investing more in the factors that can reduce the Gini coefficient will be the keys to narrowing the income gap. Our approach revealed factors that should be targeted for solutions both in China and in other developing countries that are facing similar difficulties, although the details will vary among countries and contexts.

This study explores the impact of environmental degradation on public debt in the largest Southeast Asian (ASEAN-5) countries. Prior research has not examined environmental degradation as a possible determinant of public debt in the ASEAN region. As such, the primary objective is to examine key determinants of public debt, notably economic growth, trade openness, investment, and environmental degradation. Utilizing the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) method and data from 1996 to 2021, the study reveals a negative correlation between investment and public debt. Conversely, a positive relationship exists between economic growth, environmental degradation, and public debt levels. These findings hold significant implications for policymakers seeking to craft effective economic and environmental strategies to ensure sustainable development in the ASEAN-5 region. Stronger economic growth can drive up public debt. Importantly, the study highlights the importance of tailored approaches, considering each country’s unique fiscal and developmental characteristics. Applying the Two-Gap Model enhances the understanding of these complex dynamics in shaping public debt and its relationship with environmental factors.

Professional judgments in business valuation should be based on persuasive comparative data and conclusive empirical studies. However, these judgments are frequently made without these conditions, causing professional skepticism. An appraiser should explain in detail what was done to get the market value because valuation is the initial crucial step in the investment decision process. In socially responsible investment schemes, an appraiser has a fiduciary duty and a vital role in protecting the public from fraud and the risk of asset value destruction. Professional skepticism is essential to direct the appraiser’s judgment towards independent valuation for the public interest, assisting in evaluating the relevance and reliability of information, especially relating to social, environmental, and ethical issues. This paper studies the business valuation process from a behavioral finance perspective in the United States and Indonesia, aiming to tweak business valuation practices, identify biases, and mitigate them to ensure the market value does not shift far from fairness opinion. The case study explores experiences from the professional role-learning process. The results highlight the need for an appraisal protocol in business valuation, improvements in the discount for lack of marketability application, and these findings are pertinent to business appraisers and regulators. Recommendations include enhancing the clarity of professional judgments and the integration of recent empirical studies into practice.

This study updates Pereira and Pereira by revisiting the macroeconomic and budgetary effects of infrastructure investment in Portugal using a dataset from the Portuguese Ministry of the Economy covering 1980–2019, thereby capturing a period of austerity and decreased investment in the 2010s. A vector-autoregressive approach re-estimates the elasticity and marginal product of twelve infrastructure types on private investment, employment, and output. The most significant long-term accumulated effects on output accrue from investments in airports, ports, health, highways, water, and railroads. In contrast, those in municipal roads, electricity and gas, and refineries are statistically insignificant. All statistically significant infrastructure investments pay for themselves over time through additional tax revenues. Compared to the previous study, highways, water, and ports have more than doubled their estimated marginal products due to a significant increase in relative scarcity over the last decade. In addition, our analysis reveals an important shift in the impacts of infrastructure investment, now producing more substantial immediate effects but weaker long-term impacts. This change offers policymakers a powerful tool for short-term economic stimulus and is particularly useful in addressing immediate economic challenges.