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Environmental regulation produces different effects in different regions. Public concern for the environment in different regions may affect the effectiveness of environmental regulation. Using the pollution emission data of the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database and the Baidu Index, this paper uses econometric models to evaluate the effect of public environmental concern on enterprise pollution emissions. Results show that public environmental concern reduces enterprise emissions with a coefficient of -3.026. Further research shows that the negative relationship between public environmental concern and pollution emissions is significant for state-owned enterprises, longer-established enterprises, and enterprises in cities with high GDP, in populated areas, and in cities with a higher concentration of secondary industries. Through mechanism analysis, we found that the public can urge enterprises to reduce emissions through centralized treatment of wastewater, harmless treatment of garbage, and increasing green areas, and enterprises should take corresponding measures for different emissions. Finally, we present suggestions for pluralistic co-governance from the perspectives of the government, enterprises, and the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social activities and the global economy, the investment enthusiasm for green transformation in various countries has still been active. In fact, most countries have launched "green recovery" plans after 2020. Green technology innovation has attracted much attention, and many countries have introduced a series of subsidy policies to support green technology innovation transformation (GTIT). This study first discusses the influence of government subsidies on the GTIT of Chinese enterprises by using the manual collection and sorting of data concerning environmental protection subsidies, R&D subsidies, and talent subsidies, and the effects of these subsidies on different enterprises are analyzed. Empirical results show that environmental protection subsidies, R&D subsidies, and talent subsidies can significantly promote GTIT, and the effects of these subsidies on the GTIT of different enterprise are heterogeneous. The environmental protection subsidies, R&D subsidies, and talent subsidies have significant positive impacts on the GTIT of non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) and high asset–liability-ratio enterprises. In contrast, only environmental protection and talent subsidies have significant positive effects on the GTIT of enterprises with low asset–liability-ratio. Environmental protection subsidies, R&D subsidies, and talent subsidies will promote the enterprises to increase their R&D investment, therefore enhancing their GTIT. Our research distinguishes the types of government subsidies for the first time and analyzes their impacts on different enterprises, which will be helpful for governments to improve relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Extreme temperatures lead to an increase in local fiscal pressure. • Areas with intensive agriculture and low power consumption are more sensitive. • Productivity, population mobility, and power supply are the main mechanisms. • PMC reform mitigated the fiscal revenue loss and increased fiscal expenditure. This paper investigates the impact of climate change on government fiscal pressure using local governments' fiscal data in China from 2000 to 2020. While previous studies have extensively explored the effects of climate change on individuals and economies, there has been limited research on the negative effects of climate change from a government fiscal perspective. Our study makes contributions by using county-level fiscal data in China, allowing for a detailed examination of the fiscal implications of weather extremes. Moreover, we comprehensively analyze the underlying mechanisms involving population mobility, industrial structure, and electricity consumption. The empirical results indicate that each additional day of extreme temperature in a year leads to a CNY 0.002 billion increase in the general public budget deficit, which is equivalent to 0.1093% of the local fiscal deficit. Furthermore, local governments heavily reliant on agriculture, experiencing low electricity consumption, and significant population outflows face even greater challenges. Notably, medical insurance and the "province-managing-county" reform program emerge as crucial mitigating factors against fiscal pressures. By providing a thorough assessment of climate change's fiscal impact on local governments, this research contributes to the theoretical foundation for governmental initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether and how social trust affects corporate green innovation. Using the panel samples of Chinese non-financial listed companies from 2010 to 2015, this study finds that social trust has a significant positive impact on corporate green innovation, and this effect remains after a series of robustness checks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that this promotion effect is more pronounced in non-state owned enterprises, small enterprise facing severe financing constraints, and enterprises belonging to non-high-tech and non-heavily polluting industries. This positive impact is also more prominent in areas with high economic uncertainty, a strong Confucian cultural atmosphere, and non-environmentally friendly cities. Based on the theoretical framework of the trust triangle, the exploration of potential mechanisms reveals that the promotion effects of social trust on green innovation is achieved by increasing the external environmental pressure faced by enterprises, enhancing their reputation motivation and their environmental awareness. We further observe that social trust has a substitution effect on the formal institution. These results indicate that social trust plays a key role in affecting the green development of enterprises and can be used as a means of external governance. [Display omitted] • Estimating the impact of social trust on corporate green innovation. • Social trust promotes corporate green innovation. • This positive effect is heterogeneous. • Mechanism is explored from the trust triangle theory. • Social trust serves as an alternative role to the formal institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal weather can negatively affect people's cognitive performance, which can lead to some decision biases. To accurately quantify the effect of abnormal weather, we use abnormal temperature data and loan data from Renrendai, a Chinese FinTech credit market. We estimate the impact of abnormal temperature on borrowers' behavior and decision-making. Results show that abnormal temperatures change the amount of loans. Several robustness checks are consistent with baseline results. We find that abnormal temperatures have various effects on different populations. Loan experience is an important factor. Individuals who have taken out multiple loans are more slightly affected by abnormal temperatures. In addition, we find that abnormal temperatures have some cumulative effects. Bias due to abnormal weather may have some effect on financial markets. Therefore, financial markets are also exposed to the risks associated with climate change. Quantifying the negative effect of abnormal weather should consider its effect on financial markets. • The relationship between extreme weather and loan decisions is analyzed. • Daily loan data and weather data are used. • The extreme weather changed the number of loans. • Loan experience can reduce the negative impact of extreme weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Our paper examines the productivity levels of Chinese airline market over the period 2006–2016 using Malmquist productivity indexes. Applying a decomposition technique on the estimated productivity index we decompose airlines' productivity levels into technological, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency change components. The results signify that the reforms made on the Chinese airline industry have forced the airlines to enhance both their catching-up ability and their innovation capacity. This in turn is reflected on their estimated productivity levels. Then in a second stage analysis we utilize the methodological framework by Phillips and Sul (2007, 2009) and we test for the existence of convergence clubs among the estimated productivity components. The results verify the hypothesis of convergence among airlines' technological change and pure technical efficiency levels identifying distinct convergence clubs. The estimated relative transition paths reveal the insights of the enhanced competition among the Chinese airlines. Highlights • We examine the productivity of Chinese airlines over the period 2006–2016. • We decompose airlines' estimated Malmquist productivity indexes. • We identify convergence on airlines' pure technical efficiency change levels. • We identify convergence on airlines' technological change levels. • The results suggest the existence of a highly competitive market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the production of ethanol in Brazil using an extensive, plant-based, ethanol and sugar production database, including multiple variables involved in the ethanol production chain. To this end, a generalized mixed model was used with the Markov Chain and Monte Carlo methods by applying the MCMCglmm package in the R software environment. The results obtained not only confirmed the expected signs between ethanol production and its major drivers or contextual variables, but also shed light in terms of their relative importance and their nature: whether structural, conjunctural or exogenous. The main conclusions of this paper are that the contextual variables that contribute the most to the increase in ethanol production in Brazil were, in order of importance, sugarcane milling, sugar production, and the price ratios between ethanol and sugar. Policy implications to the sector are derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evaluate the effect of environmental pollution on socioeconomic inequality in China. • Employ the recentered influence function regressions with the panel data. • Increasing environmental pollution exposure widens socioeconomic health inequality. • Difference in health behavior of different income group is an important mechanism. • The socioeconomic health inequality effect is larger for the middled-aged. Recent work on socioeconomic health inequality has explored the possible determinants, but there is a lack of empirical evidence examining the associations between environmental pollution and socioeconomic health inequality. Most of studies employed the one-dimensional decomposition method, focusing on health but ignoring rank, to analyze the factors of health inequality. Hence, we fill this gap by using nationally representative individual-level data, employing the recentered influence function regressions method (a two-dimensional decomposition method), and estimating the marginal effect of environmental pollution on socioeconomic inequality in three health outcomes in China straightforward: physical discomfort, chronic disease, and self-rated health. Findings show that environmental pollution increases the income related health inequality of people, and the effect is larger for the middle-aged. The evidence of the possible channel through which environmental pollution is correlated with socioeconomic health inequality is also provided. In the face of environmental pollution, the rich pay more attention to their health condition and increase beneficial health behaviors, such as increasing sleeping hours, decreasing smoking, or having a more balanced diet, compared with the poor. It partly explains why environmental pollution widens the income related health inequality. These findings imply that reducing environmental pollution is an effective strategy for improving environmental quality and narrowing the income related health inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses spatial econometric models to analyze the spatial distribution of Chinese airports from 2002 to 2012, taking into consideration the factors that explain the distribution of airports around the country. A cost function allowing for latitude and longitude is estimated based on spatial location, which leads us to advise the implementation of policies that take into account the spatial distribution of the airports. Results show that the development of airports in China needs to consider the spatial relationship among the many different regions of China. To improve the cost efficiency, airports should be located in more economically developed areas. Meanwhile, it also helps to reduce the cost when listing on the stock market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation is continuous and costly, thereby posing a challenge to the stability of firms' cash flow. Tax cuts are conducive to improving cash flow condition. This study examines the impact of the business tax to value-added tax (BT to VAT) policy on digital transformation by using data of listed firms in China from 2007 to 2019. We measure the degree of firms' digitization by textual analysis and find that the BT to VAT policy significantly promotes the digital transformation of firms. Our results remain robust after several robustness checks. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the driving effects of the BT to VAT policy on digital transformation are considerably pronounced for high-tax-burden, low-profit, and non-state-owned firms; firms with high financing constraints; and firms located in the eastern region. Lastly, this study examines the potential mechanisms. Findings suggest that the tax cut effects of the BT to VAT policy enable firms to undertake digital transformation. We also find that digital transformation strengthens firms' competitive performance, thereby possibly further enhancing the willingness of enterprises to pursue digital transformation. • Estimate effect of BT to VAT policy on digital transformation of China's listed firms • Use the data in 2007–2019, and measure firm's digitalization by textual analysis • BT to VAT policy had significantly promoted digital transformation of firms in China. • Heterogenous for ownership, tax burden, profit, financing constraints and location • Tax cut effects and enhanced performance is potential channels to digitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Economic spatial structure has the polycentric characteristic. • Economic spatial structure shows significant regional differences. • The intensity of transvariation is a major contributor to regional differences. • There is a polarization characteristic concerning economic spatial structure. • Absolute and conditional β-convergences both have emerged. The economic spatial structure (ESS) is of paramount importance to the robust development of urban agglomerations (UAs), which requires further and deeper inquiry. This paper measures the ESS of UAs using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), examines its regional differences by Dagum's decomposition of the Gini coefficient, explores its distribution dynamics through kernel density estimation (KDE), and tests the convergence with the coefficient of variation (CV) and regression models. According to the results, the HHI of each UA was at a low level, showing a prominent polycentric structure composed of rising, stable, and low-level types. There were significant regional differences within and between UAs concerning ESS, and the overall difference displayed an N-shaped trend of "rising-falling-rising", with the intensity of transvariation as a major contributor. The center and change interval of the overall distribution curve of UAs' ESS tended to move rightward slightly over time, which was characterized by polarization. There were absolute and conditional β-convergences within and between UAs at different levels and as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identifying the environmental regulatory pressure in Guangdong Province. • Exploring the effect of environmental regulatory pressure on corporate debt finance. • The effect is heterogenous by corporate ownership, size and industry attributes. • Mechanism is explored from the environmental awareness of enterprise and debt funder. This study explores whether and how environmental regulatory pressure affects enterprise debt financing. We find that environmental regulatory pressure significantly reduces the debt financing scale of enterprises in Guangdong Province, China, listed from 2010 to 2018. Our heterogeneous analysis of enterprise size, ownership type, and industry attributes shows that the negative relationship between environmental regulatory pressure and debt financing is strong in small-scale, privately owned, and high pollution-intensity enterprises. We also explore the mechanism from the perspective of the environmental awareness of enterprises and debt funders and observe that both are improved following strong environmental regulatory pressure. We confirm that environmental regulatory pressure has a negative effect on the debt financing of listed enterprises. Our study provides implications on how to promote the rationalization and perfection of environmental policies effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Estimating the effect of temperature on corporate risk taking. • Mechanism is explored from the corporate financing. • The temperature change negatively effects risk taking. • The effect is achieved through increased financing constraint. • The effect is heterogenous by corporate ownership, size and labor intensity. This article estimates how temperature change affects corporate risk-taking by using data gathered on Chinese non-financial listed enterprises during 2007 and 2019. We find that temperature significantly hinders risk-taking behaviors, and such a negative effect persists after a series of robustness tests. Moreover, heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that this negative relationship between temperature and risk-taking is more significant for non-state-owned enterprises, small enterprises, and labor-intensive enterprises than other enterprises. The mechanism analysis reveals that the attenuation effects of temperature change on risk taking is mediated by corporate financing constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The relationship between China's Anti-corruption Campaign and Corporate Environmental Responsibility is analyzed. • Anti-corruption campaign improves the CER performance of high-corruption enterprises. • The promotion effect is heterogeneous by corporate ownership and industry. • Mechanisms are environmental regulations, corporate rent-seeking and innovation behaviors. • Anti-corruption improves corporate profitability, but the effect is partly offset by increased CER. Taking advantage of China's vigorous anti-corruption campaign implemented in 2013, this study examines the impact of anti-corruption activities on the corporate environmental responsibility (CER) performance of listed Chinese enterprises from 2010 to 2016. The empirical analysis employs a Difference-in-Differences design to identify the causal effect by using the anti-corruption campaign as an exogenous policy shock. Results indicate that China's unprecedented anti-corruption campaign launched in 2013 significantly improves the CER performance of high-corruption enterprises. Such an effect is most evident for state-owned enterprises, especially local government-owned ones and those in pollution-intensive industries. These results remain after a series of robustness tests. The mechanism results suggest that the promotion effects of the anti-corruption campaign on CER performance can be achieved through environmental regulations, corporate rent-seeking, and innovation behaviors. Moreover, anti-corruption improves the profitability of enterprises, but the effect is significantly offset by increased CER activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The causal relationship between air pollution and loan decisions is analyzed. • Short-term changes of air pollution are exogenous and random. • Daily data from online peer-to-peer lending platform are used. • Air pollution has significant positive effects on loan amounts. • Health expenditure and behavioral bias are potential mechanism. Studies have largely discussed the impact of air pollution on the stock market. However, the latter requires certain financial knowledge and certain income, which may lead to sample selection bias. To address this concern, using unique data from online peer-to-peer lending platform, namely, RenRenDai, this paper analyzes the effects of air pollution on loan decisions in China. In the identification strategy, we use approximate exogenous and random daily level air pollution to alleviate the endogenous problem. In a preferred specification, results show that air pollution has significant positive effects on loan amounts with elasticity of 0.013. Such result is driven by health expenditure and behavioral bias. Specifically, after air pollution rises for two or three days, individuals will then increase loan amounts for health and consumption. However, air pollution has no proof of increasing investment. Our study provides new evidence on the effects of air pollution on cognitive performance, particularly on financial behavior. It then reveals the mechanism how air pollution influences loan decisions. In view of the negative impact of air pollution, we also need to know the risks it poses to the financial industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We examine the effects of trust on individuals' access to the peer-to-peer lending market. • We find that borrowers from high trust cities have high borrowing success rates. • Borrowers with high regional trust receive low loan costs and large loan amounts. • The preference of lenders for high-trust regions is profit-oriented. This study explores the effects of trust on individuals' access to the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market. We use data collected from the P2P lending market and the China General Social Survey and find that borrowers from cities with high trust have high borrowing success rates, thereby indicating that lenders prefer high social trust. Results in the successful sample indicate that borrowers with high regional trust also receive low loan costs and large loan amounts. Regression of trust and default proves that borrowers from cities with high social trust have minimal default rates, which may be the channel of our conclusion. Results remain unchanged when using slope and river length as instrumental variables. This research further shows that personal heterogeneity, including income level, whether borrowers work in state-owned enterprises or state agencies, and whether the fund is used for development purposes, affects the impact of social trust. In addition, the conclusions continue to be robust after replacing the explanatory variable, control variable, and sample. Finally, this study determines that fairness plays a consistent role with trust, but happiness plays an opposite role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Employing a novel hybrid Neural-Markovitz-Variable Reduction approach • Road transportation plays a dominant role in decreasing whole sustainability level • Trade, fixed asset investment, monetary and fiscal policy have positive effects • Consumer expectations and cornerstone economic prices show limited impact This paper analyzes the sustainability of the transportation sector in China by investigating feedbacks or endogenous effects among energy consumption, transportation, and major macroeconomic variables and their consequent CO 2 emission levels related to fiscal policy, monetary policy, inflationary pressure, and economic activity. A novel combination of Alternative Variable Reduction Techniques, a Markowitz Portfolio Selection Model, and Neural Networks is applied on monthly data from January 1999 to December 2017. The main idea is to develop a hybrid approach to unveil endogeneity in China's transportation footprint, which is mostly impacted by energy consumption and CO 2 emission levels of different transportation modes and major macro-economic factors while simultaneously exploring the epistemic uncertainty that surrounds this issue as captured by Information Entropy, Variance Inflation Factor, and Covariance matrix. It can be concluded that road transportation has played a dominant role in decreasing the entire sustainability level, which is mainly driven by trade and fixed-asset investment as well as monetary and fiscal policy, while consumer expectations and cornerstone economic prices have shown limited impact on the transportation footprint. Railways and waterways help mitigate the harmful impacts of increased economic activity and expansionist monetary and fiscal policy on the transportation footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of ETS pilot policy on green innovation in enterprises is analyzed. • Company level data in 31 Chinese provinces from 1990 to 2018 are used. • The DDD model is used to identify causal relationship. • ETS pilot policy cannot stimulate green innovation in enterprises. • Reducing output is a potential mechanism. For climate change mitigation, China launched seven pilot areas before establishing a unified carbon emission trading system in 2014. This study explores the "weak" version of the Porter hypothesis while focusing on listed companies in 31 provinces (municipalities or autonomous regions) from 1990 to 2018. In this study, we provided preliminary evidence on the influence of China's carbon emission trading scheme pilot policy on green innovation based on green patent data. Results show that the "weak" Porter hypothesis has not been realized in the current carbon trading market of China. Moreover, the pilot policy has significantly decreased the proportion of green patents by approximately 9.26%. Then, we find that the pilot policy has an evident lagging effect on restraining the green innovation of enterprises. Furthermore, inhibition is more pronounced among the samples of small-scale, manufacturing, and non-state-owned companies, including companies in the eastern and central regions. Most importantly, companies mainly choose to reduce output rather than increase green technological innovation to achieve their emission reduction targets. Moreover, companies reduce their investment in research and development because of the reduction in cash flow and expected income, which is not conducive to green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• investigate degree of persistence of financial stock markets in China; • use closing prices of Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite Indices in 1991-2020; • large degrees of persistence with shocks having permanent effects before coronavirus; • mean reversion with shocks having temporary effects in the coronavirus; • imply the Chinese government's rapid and effective response Global financial markets experienced distinct collapses during the global financial crisis in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and similarity in the underlying nature is still a hot topic to be investigated. This paper investigates their degree of persistence in order to detect whether the shocks affecting them have temporary or permanent effects by examining the closing prices of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Composite Indices from 1991 to 2020. The results before the coronavirus indicate large degrees of persistence with shocks having permanent effects, while during the coronavirus the results indicate a mean reversion with shocks having temporary effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]