Işık Cem, Han Jie, Zhang Wei, Muhammad Anas, Pinzon Stefania, Jabeen Gul
Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Anadolu University, Tepebaşı, Eskişehir, Turkey; Baku Eurasian University, Economic Research Center (BAAU-ERC), Baku, Azerbaijan; Western Caspian University, Economic Research Center (WCERC), Baku, Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Clinic of Economics, Baku, Azerbaijan; Faculty of Tourism, Atatürk University, 25240, Erzurum, Turkey.
School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Dec;372:123405. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.123405. Epub 2024 Nov 20.
In the context of a global water crisis, enhancing water productivity is becoming increasingly crucial. While previous research has predominantly addressed technical and policy aspects of water management, the role of fintech in improving water productivity has not been sufficiently explored. This research investigates the impact of fintech on water productivity, considering the moderating effect of education level. Using panel data from new BRICS countries spanning 2011 to 2021, we employ a partially linear functional model to analyze how fintech influences water productivity and assess how education levels moderate this relationship. Our findings reveal that: (i) Fintech holds significant potential for improving water productivity; (ii) The effect of fintech on water production varies with the education level; (iii) There is considerable spatial variation in how education level affects the impact of fintech, with a more pronounced effect observed in countries with higher education levels. Specifically, the impact of fintech on water productivity becomes substantially more significant when the education level index exceeds 2.3. These results remain robust across various tests. Based on these insights, the paper proposes policy recommendations to enhance water productivity through the integration of fintech and education improvements.
在全球水危机的背景下，提高水资源利用效率变得越来越重要。尽管先前的研究主要关注水资源管理的技术和政策方面，但金融科技在提高水资源利用效率方面的作用尚未得到充分探讨。本研究考察了金融科技对水资源利用效率的影响，并考虑了教育水平的调节作用。利用2011年至2021年新金砖国家的面板数据，我们采用部分线性函数模型来分析金融科技如何影响水资源利用效率，并评估教育水平如何调节这种关系。我们的研究结果表明：（i）金融科技在提高水资源利用效率方面具有巨大潜力；（ii）金融科技对水资源生产的影响因教育水平而异；（iii）教育水平对金融科技影响的作用存在显著的空间差异，在教育水平较高的国家观察到的影响更为明显。具体而言，当教育水平指数超过2.3时，金融科技对水资源利用效率的影响会显著增强。这些结果在各种测试中都保持稳健。基于这些见解，本文提出了通过整合金融科技和改善教育来提高水资源利用效率的政策建议。
