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Under the strategic background of implementing the new development concept, there is an important question to be answered about whether the' responsibility to people' water pollution control policy can promote corporate green innovation while improving the environment. Based on the panel data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019, this paper empirically tested the impact of the implementation of the river chief system on corporate green innovation using the multi-period DID method. This research concluded that the river chief system could significantly improve corporate green innovation. After a series of necessary tests, such as the parallel trend test and placebo test, the conclusion remained robust. The mechanism analysis showed that the policy effect of the river chief system was mainly realized through two channels, namely, internal incentive and external pressure, and that the effect of external pressure was stronger than that of internal incentive. Further research showed that the governance power of local river chiefs had a lax effect at the boundaries of prefecture-level cities, and the promotion incentives of officials also affected the policy effect to a certain extent. More importantly, under the policy background of the river chief system, local officials were more active in water pollution control and could also monitor enterprises far away from the rivers. In addition, the results of the heterogeneity analysis showed that: ① Compared with small enterprises, large enterprises received more attention from policymakers, and the river chief system had a stronger regulatory impact on large enterprises, whose green innovation level had a more significant improvement. ② Compared with private enterprises, state-owned enterprises responded more positively to the river chief system policy, and the green innovation output stimulated by the policy was higher. ③ Compared with other industries, enterprises in the water pollution industry were less affected by the river chief system policy. This paper found that these enterprises mainly dealt with environmental governance pressure by reducing production rather than focusing on green innovation. This study provides a policy basis for implementing the environmental regulation policy of' responsibility to people' and for realizing the dual goals of environmental protection and economic development. It also provides theoretical support and practical inspiration for the refined implementation of environmental regulation policies from multiple perspectives, such as internal incentives, external media supervision, and enterprise heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Big data, a vital driving force of high-quality economic development in China, improves both the speed and efficiency of information exchange and knowledge dissemination. Existing studies have conducted a series of discussions on the dividend effect of big data development, but few have analyzed it from the perspective of corporate green development. Based on the theoretical analysis of the impact of big data development on the internal mechanisms of corporate green technology innovation and on the regulatory role of intellectual property protection, in light of the exogenous policy shock from the ‘National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zones,’ this paper studied the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen by adopting the difference-in-differences model (DID) to evaluate the impact of big data development on corporate green technology innovation and the moderating effect of intellectual property protection between them. The research results showed that the development of big data significantly promoted corporate green technology innovation, and that the conclusion still held after a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity tests showed that the promoting effect of big data development on corporate green technology innovation was more observable in large-scale enterprises, state-owned businesses, and companies with high-level access to data from local governments. The mechanism test indicated that the development of big data could promote corporate green technology innovation by improving the intensity of regional environmental regulation, easing the financing constraints of enterprises, and improving their human capital level. The moderating effect test showed that intellectual property protection played a significant positive moderating role between big data development and corporate green technology innovation. Accordingly, the government should improve the big data development policies to promote deep integration of big data and the real economy in a consistent manner, reinforce the system design concerning corporate green technology innovation guided by policies of big data development, and combine big data development with green development goals such as achieving peak carbon emissions and carbon neutrality. Meanwhile, policies should be refined based on different types of enterprises in different regions so that a long-term mechanism can be established to support corporate green innovation development. It is also necessary to strengthen the construction of an intellectual property protection system so as to accelerate corporate green technology innovation and green development more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon development is a future vision of corporate entities, and financialization is a development feature of those enti‑ ties in reality. Investigating the impact of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation is of strategic significance for high-quality economic development and national industrial security. Taking the manufacturing enterprises listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen A-shares in China from 2011 to 2021 as samples, this paper empirically analyzed the impact of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation, discussed the moderating role of the ‘motivational context’ of financialization in this impact, and further analyzed the non-financial impact mechanism of the ‘motivational context’ on low-carbon technological innovation. The re‑ search found that: ① The deepening of corporate financialization would inhibit the improvement of the enterprises’ low-carbon technological innovation level, and this inhibition effect had hysteresis and viscosity. After a series of robustness and endogenous tests, this conclusion was still valid. ② The inhibition effect of corporate financialization on the input and output of low-carbon technological innovation in state-owned enterprises was weaker than that of non-state-owned enterprises, and the inhibition effect on large-scale enterprises was weaker than that of small-scale enterprises. In non-state-owned enterprises and small-scale enterprises, the lag and viscosity effects of financialization on low-carbon technological innovation were more prominent. ③ Based on the perspective of ‘motivational con‑ text,’ it was found that the improvement of profitability optimism and industry competitiveness could effectively mitigate the inhibition effect of corporate financialization on low-carbon technological innovation, while the enhancement of internal financing constraints would aggravate the inhibition effect of financialization on low-carbon technological innovation. ④ The impact of internal and external ‘motivational context’ on low-carbon technological innovation had a non-financial impact channel mediated by managers’ environmental attention transfer. The improvement in profitability could be transferred to managers’ environmental attention, and the financing constraints and industrial competition intensity would be transferred out of managers’ environmental attention. This conclusion was still valid after the endogenous test of intermediary analysis. Therefore, based on the perspective of ‘motivational context,’ the research puts forward measures and policy suggestions to enhance the low-carbon technological innovation ability of enterprises from the aspects of improving the financial supervision of corporate entities, establishing their financial risk prevention system, alleviating their financing pressure, maintaining the benign competition order of the industries, and cultivating the environmental awareness of corporate managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]