Conventional welfare accounting assigns the same present value to cash flows that occur at the same times, yet third-party compensation assessments may depend on whether the affected activity has already started. This paper randomizes a survey to 600 adults from mainland China. The author asks participants to assess one of two things that are the same in all other respects: a) a factory that stops running after running for one year, and b) a factory that got the approval, fund and site allocation, but was cancelled before the start of construction. In both cases, the facility is expected to generate an annual local net income of CNY 48 million for ten years beginning the following year, and the government considers the same ten-year compensation plan in each case. The result is that people give higher compensation after the start of operations: the average is CNY 74.4 million for the after start of the operations, compared to CNY 58.4 million for the before start of the construction, that is a difference of CNY 16.0 million (which is 33% of the designated income). This difference is small for the low compensation amounts but becomes larger in the upper half of the distribution, where the responses are also more variable. It is slightly smaller at the very top. These results show that the operational status matters for the third-party determinations about the compensation, not only for the equivalence in cash flow. Therefore, the compensation schemes could differentiate between the income substitution documented and a different evidential evaluation of the confirmed transition obligations and not put simply an automatic premium depending on being in an early operational status.

Virtual-item prices can react to game updates, but these responses are difficult to separate from trends already under way. Based on Buff.163 daily minimum listing price data from July 2021 to January 2024, this paper examines five CS:GO events—two weapon balance adjustments (M4A1-S magazine capacity reduction, combined AWP and M4A1-S nerf) and three weapon case releases (Dreams & Nightmares, Recoil, Revolution)—using event study methodology, a two-way fixed-effects DID model, and volatility analysis. The results show that treatment-group skins exhibit a significant pre-trend reversal before and after the updates; their outperformance relative to the AK-47 control group disappears immediately and turns sharply negative post-update. M4A4 skin prices exhibit a positive abnormal performance as a substitute weapon. All three cases show negative price dynamics relative to the benchmark over their observable periods. The study demonstrates that virtual asset pricing is highly sensitive to game balance decisions, while also revealing that pre-trends and data gaps impose serious constraints on causal inference.

Professional sport is shifting from race day and broadcast toward experience, content and destination, and organizers increasingly design events according to the logic of entertainment products. While existing research has largely discussed the shift toward entertainment in professional sports from the perspective of media communication, few studies have examined the issue from the perspective of event production to reveal the underlying operational logic behind the restructuring of event formats. Taking the Las Vegas Grand Prix, first staged in 2023, as a single case, this paper draws on official primary documents from 2023 to 2025 and addresses three questions concerning mechanisms, evidence and boundaries. It finds four mechanisms at work. Product hybridization, consumption stratification, scene extension and communicative self-reinforcement each lowers a distinct threshold of entry, and evidence across four levels points consistently to the arrival of a new consumer segment, with the share of women among global fans rising from 37 percent in 2018 to 42 percent in 2025. Because a single-case design cannot isolate the contribution of entertainmentization, and the key evidence was commissioned by the rights holder, the conclusion is stated in multi-causal terms.

This study aims to investigate how the probability of winning in video game gacha systems influences players' choices regarding the acquisition of virtual skins, as well as the relationship between this probability mechanism and secondary market prices. Taking Identity V as the research object, this paper focuses on its Gold‑level skins; the official base drop probability for this kind of skin is 0.7%, each single draw is priced at 9.6 yuan, and for players who have not received any gold skin, the game will give out a guaranteed gold skin on the 200th draw. Under this setting, the study calculated the cumulative probability of obtaining a gold skin with different draw numbers, and it also worked out the corresponding spending; these computed results were then compared with the real‑world prices of various gold skins available on the secondary market. Several basic economic concepts, such as scarcity, supply and demand, as well as opportunity cost, were applied in this paper to illustrate the price gap that exists between these two markets. According to the calculation results, players will have a higher probability of receiving a gold skin when they carry out more draws; meanwhile, the 200‑draw cap prevents players from making an unlimited number of attempts. Data collected from the secondary market also presents huge price differences among gold skins; some permanent gold skins are traded at roughly 120‑200 yuan, whereas rare, widely‑favoured or skins that are no longer released can be sold for several thousand yuan.

From the 1980s to the early 2000s, Japan experienced a real estate bubble followed by a prolonged period of economic stagnation known as the "lost decade". This study examines the dynamic relationships among monetary liquidity, bank credit, corporate leverage, asset prices and real economic activity in Japan between 1980 and 2000. Using quarterly data from official sources covering 1980Q1 to 2000Q4, it estimates a six-variable vector autoregression (VAR) comprising M2, bank credit, corporate leverage, a real estate price index, the Nikkei 225 and real gross domestic product (GDP). Together, the variables represent a possible transmission sequence from monetary liquidity and bank credit to asset prices, corporate balance sheets and real economic activity. The estimated equations differ markedly in explanatory power. The real estate price equation has the strongest in-sample fit, with an adjusted R² of 0.672, and the first lag of M2 is positive and statistically significant at the 1% level in that equation. A positive change in real estate price growth is associated with a higher change in GDP growth in the following quarter, and a positive change in corporate leverage is associated with a higher change in bank credit growth two quarters later. By contrast, the M2 equation is not jointly significant, and the system does not explain changes in M2 well. Unit-root tests support first-differencing; the M2–real estate and real estate–GDP relationships persist with three lags, but the leverage–credit relationships weaken. These relationships are reported as dynamic associations rather than as evidence of causation.

This paper investigates how city level economic and demographic conditions shape firm-survival across Chinese cities. Using 2000-2024 panel data covering 50 cities and over 5 million firms, this study applies principal-component analysis (PCA) to handle high indicator correlation and constructs three composite indices: economic opportunity, business-pressure, and population-base index. These indices are incorporated into weighted least-squares regressions. The baseline specification controls for year, industry and firm ownership fixed effects, while the preferred model further adds city fixed effects; unweighted OLS serves for robustness checks. Baseline results show the population-base index has a significantly negative association with firm-survival, whereas economic opportunity and business-pressure indices are statistically insignificant at conventional levels. Once city fixed effects are included, all three indices lose significance. This suggests observed cross-city firm-survival gaps stem largely from persistent intercity structural differences rather than short-run within-city changes. Robustness tests reveal operating pressure correlates negatively with firm-survival rates. Overall, firm-survival disparities are pronounced across Chinese cities, requiring researchers to distinguish cross sectional city differences from over time within-city variations when analysing urban environment firm-survival linkages.

With AI agents increasingly involved in teamwork, whether AI can substitute human collaboration has become a heated topic in academia. Large-model-driven agents are now capable of participating in team brainstorming, task coordination, and collaborative problem-solving, and knowledge-intensive industries are beginning to form a large number of human-machine hybrid teams. Existing research mostly relies on theoretical reasoning and lacks empirical perceptual data from front-line practitioners. Drawing on a questionnaire survey of 158 employees with cross-industry teamwork experience, this paper explores practitioners' perceptions regarding the substitution of human collaborative behaviors by AI. The results show that AI can only partially substitute procedural and rule-oriented collaborative tasks, whereas social-emotional communication, conflict mediation and value judgment remain irreplaceable human strengths. Position, work experience and AI familiarity jointly shape individual perceptions of the substitution boundary. Most practitioners regard AI as an auxiliary tool rather than a leader of team collaboration. This study provides a practical reference for enterprises applying AI collaboration tools.

For informed choice, the quality of short-video commerce's product recommendations in its presentation to consumers is important, as it lets them see the product suggestions and click to buy while still watching the video. This paper is a qualitative study of TikTok, and it draws on peer-reviewed research and documentation from the platform. Content cues are linked with attention, trust, and action of consumers through stimulus-organism-response logic, and analysis is done on how recommendation incentives affect content creation. Search costs may be lowered, and product evaluation may be facilitated by relevant hooks, clear demonstrations, credible experience, and responsive interaction. But with the focus on retention and engagement, there's a risk of oversimplifying explanations or glossing over commercial influence, and there might be more buying and less comparing. Four responses are proposed: inserting 'hooks' with essential information, assessing authenticity by disclosure and demonstrable experience, offering the opportunity to learn more before paying, and assessing content for purchase and engagement. These are all proposals collectively that provide clear guidance for brands, creators, and platforms looking to enhance product fit and maintain consumer trust. The analysis is based on secondary evidence only and does not provide information on prevalence or causal effects of the identified risks. Testing of the proposed strategies, in the form of experiments and post-purchase follow-up, is required for the different product categories and markets.

Digital media's rapid development has changed how content platforms create, promote, and monetize content. In China, the free content plus advertising model has become increasingly important in the digital content industry. This study uses Fanjie Free Novel from ByteDance as the case, combining zero-price effect and two-sided market theory to analyze the value creation mechanism, structural challenges, and sustainability problems of free digital content business models. The study finds that a free business model can lower the entry barrier for users and rapidly scale the market, and a two-sided market model can help the platform turn users' attention into revenue through advertising. At the same time, large-scale behavior data can support content discovery, recommendation, and cross-media IP development. However, this model also faces three major challenges: conflicts among lower user commitment, advertising intensity, and user experience. And how creator incentives guided by immediate traffic will affect long-term content quality. To address these challenges, the study suggests a more flexible freemium model, dynamic advertising governance, and a redesigned creator incentive system. These strategies aim to help digital content platforms strike a more stable balance among user growth, monetization, creator incentives, and sustainable competitive advantage.

In recent years, the world has been accelerating the development of electric vehicles, but the response of consumers is not consistent. This study focuses on how economic cognition, safety beliefs and technical knowledge affect consumers' willingness to shift from fuel vehicles to pure electric vehicles, and examines how these effects differ across income levels and household car scenarios. The study surveyed 296 car owners. The results showed that cost savings and driving experience were the main driving factors, while battery decay and endurance anxiety were the main obstacles. Regression analysis found that electric vehicle knowledge is the strongest predictor of purchase intention, economic factors and safety factors also have a significant positive effect. Different consumer groups have different preferences: people with higher incomes pay more attention to technology and performance, while buyers with limited budgets pay more attention to total cost of ownership. In addition, pure electric vehicles as a second commuter car are more acceptable than as the main household car. These results suggest that in order to accelerate the popularity of electric vehicles, not only price incentives, but also targeted consumer education and marketing for different usage scenarios are needed.