Current Articles

2026, Volume 42,  Issue 3

Intelligent Finance
How Does Artificial Intelligence Enhance Corporate Organizational Resilience
WANG Jingda, XIAO Yangtian, XU Shibo
2026, 41(3): 4-16.
Abstract:
Against the backdrop of the accelerated evolution of digital technologies intertwined with external shocks from global uncertainties, the vigorous development of artificial intelligence has become a core way to drive technological innovation and strengthen the resilience of China's economy. Based on the sample of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2010 to 2023, this paper explores the influence of artificial intelligence on corporate organizational resilience as well as its internal mechanism. The empirical results reveal that the application of artificial intelligence can significantly boost the level of enterprise organizational resilience. Mechanism tests further indicate that artificial intelligence can realize the systematic improvement of organizational resilience through three multidimensional paths, namely decision empowerment, operational empowerment and innovation empowerment. Heterogeneity analysis shows that such promotional effect is more pronounced among technology-intensive enterprises, small and medium-sized firms, non-state-owned enterprises, and enterprises operating in competitive industries. Further research also indicates that artificial intelligence could generate resilience spillover effects on upstream and downstream enterprises via supply chain linkages. Meanwhile, the improvement of individual organizational resilience can greatly enhance the overall resilience of the whole supply chain. Accordingly, relevant policies on artificial intelligence development should be steadily advanced in the future, so as to give full play to the amplification, superposition and multiplication effects of digital technology and fully release the development dividends brought by artificial intelligence.
Computing Power Deployment, Supply Chain Network and Enterprise Resilience: Evidence from the Intelligent Computing Center
JIAN Guanqun, LIU Tianmin
2026, 41(3): 17-32.
Abstract:
With the profound advancement of artificial intelligence technology, computing power resources are gradually replacing traditional production factors as the key driver for enhancing corporate resilience. Given that intelligent computing centers serve as the core physical infrastructure for computing power deployment, this study examines whether and how such centers influence the resilience of upstream and downstream enterprises. The research reveals that the computing power deployment by central enterprises significantly enhances the resilience of their supply chain partners. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that for upstream suppliers, central enterprises strengthen resilience through three primary channels: optimizing resource allocation, providing supply chain financing support, and promoting supply chain decentralization; for downstream clients, resilience improvement is achieved via three mechanisms: increasing supply chain transparency, enhancing agile responsiveness, and boosting innovation capabilities. Further analysis reveals significant spatial distribution and structural variations in these effects. This study expands the theoretical framework of digital infrastructure research from a computing power perspective, offering policy insights to foster high-quality corporate development and strengthen the foundation of the digital economy.
Promoting Stability through Digitalization: Digital Technology Application and Urban Export Resilience
QIAO Zhihong, CHENG Zhonghai
2026, 41(3): 33-48.
Abstract:
Driven by the strategy of building a trading power and amid the profound restructuring of the global trade landscape, digital technology application has become a core path for China to break through traditional competitive barriers and build new advantages in international competition. Taking 285 prefecture-level cities from 2009 to 2023 as the research sample, this paper deeply explores the effect and mechanism of digital technology application on urban export resilience. The study finds that digital technology application significantly enhances urban export resilience, and this conclusion has passed a series of robustness tests and endogeneity tests. Mechanism tests reveal that digital technology application can empower urban export resilience by alleviating resource misallocation and improving innovation efficiency. Moderating effect analysis shows that both the "proactive government" and the "efficient market" can strengthen the impact of digital technology application on urban export resilience. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the empowering effect of digital technology application is more prominent in regions southeast of the Hu Huanyong Line, regions with higher initial levels of digital infrastructure, and regions with stronger intellectual property protection. This study provides important theoretical support and empirical evidence for unlocking the value of digital technology application and enhancing urban export resilience.
Economic Theory and Exploration
Can the Agricultural Support Relending Promote Rural Residents' Non-Economic Collective Action: An Empirical Analysis Based on CLDS Data
CHU Erming, ZHANG Yan, LI Yuan
2026, 41(3): 49-64.
Abstract:
The non-economic collective action of rural residents constitutes an indispensable component of rural public affairs governance and rural residents' spontaneous operations, and serves as a vital pathway toward comprehensive rural revitalization. Drawing on micro data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) and employing a panel fixed-effect model, this paper empirically investigates the effects and mechanisms of agricultural support relending. The findings reveal that agricultural support relending not only positively promotes the overall non-economic collective action of rural residents, but also exhibits varying degrees of facilitating effects on different types of collective action. Mechanism tests demonstrate that agricultural support relending plays a mediating role in fostering rural residents' non-economic collective action through three channels: raising rural residents' income levels, improving the construction and operation of rural infrastructure, and expanding the boundaries of villagers' social networks. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the promoting effect of agricultural support relending on collective action is more pronounced among credit beneficiary groups and collective fund-raising participants, as well as in large villages and villages with moderate economic development. This paper provides micro-level evidence on the impact of agricultural support relending on rural residents' non-economic collective action, aiming to uncover the specific pathways through which financial instruments, by alleviating economic constraints, induce the accumulation of social capital and improvements in social governance. It thereby supplies a theoretical foundation and policy references for strengthening rural governance and advancing comprehensive rural revitalization.
Sci-tech Financial Policy and Low-Carbon Economic Transition: Identification of Enabling Effects and Mechanisms
JIE Qiongnan, YAN Jiajia
2026, 41(3): 65-78.
Abstract:
As the core engine for realizing green and sustainable development, low-carbon economic transition depends on in-depth empowerment of sci-tech innovation and efficient allocation of financial resources. Using panel data from 281 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2003 to 2023, this paper employs a synthetic control method with difference-in-differences (SDID) to integrate the low-carbon economic transition into the evaluation framework of the sci-tech financial policy, and empirically analyzes its impact on low-carbon economic transition combined with the three-dimensional linkage mechanism of industries, enterprises and researchers. The results reveal that the sci-tech financial policy exert a significant promoting effect on low-carbon economic transition, with industrial chain resilience, artificial intelligence development level and sci-tech innovation vitality serving as core influencing mechanisms. Its impact on low-carbon economic transition of surrounding cities presents fluctuating spatial transmission characteristics. The role of sci-tech financial policy is more significant in cities with net population inflow, non-old industrial base cities, and coastal cities. The research findings provide practical references and policy insights for optimizing the allocation of sci-tech finance resources, enhancing the efficiency of low-carbon economic transition, and promoting regional green coordinated development.
From Pollution Control to Burden Reduction: How Environmental Regulation Affects Medical Expenditure of Middle-aged and Elderly Households
GULIBADAN Tuohan, WU Jing, LI Qing
2026, 41(3): 79-90.
Abstract:
Against the strategic backdrop of the coordinated advancement of the Beautiful China Initiative and Healthy China Initiative, exploring the impact of environmental regulation on household medical expenditure is of great theoretical and practical significance. Based on China's prefecture-level city data from 2013 to 2020 and micro data from four waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this paper empirically examines the impact of environmental regulation on medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly households. The results show that environmental regulation significantly reduces medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly households. This core conclusion still holds after endogeneity treatment and a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that environmental regulation curbs medical expenditure of middle-aged and elderly households through three pathways: environmental governance, health cognition improvement, and health improvement. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, at the household level, environmental regulation has a stronger inhibitory effect on medical expenditure of middle-aged and low-income households. At the regional level, households in resource-based cities and non-key environmental protection cities exhibit greater sensitivity to environmental regulation in terms of health spending. From the micro household perspective, this study expands the research scope of environmental regulation's influence on health expenditure, and provides empirical evidence for coordinating ecological civilization construction and national health development.
Management and Corporate Performance
Can Improvements in the Social Credit Environment Reduce ESG Rating Disagreement: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment of China's Social Credit System Reform
WANG Hui
2026, 41(3): 91-104.
Abstract:
ESG rating divergence is a key source of cognitive bias in capital markets' assessment of corporate ESG performance. Using Chinese A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2023 as the research sample and exploiting the pilot reform of the social credit system as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the impact of social credit improvement on corporate ESG rating divergence and its underlying mechanisms. The results show that social credit improvement significantly reduces ESG rating divergence. Mechanism tests indicate that social credit improvement operates through both an "information effect"and a "governance effect": it alleviates information asymmetry and reduces rating agencies' reliance on private information, while also improving internal control quality and curbing greenwashing risk, thereby lowering ESG rating divergence. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the mitigating effect of improved social credit on ESG rating disagreement is mainly reflected in the governance (G) dimension, and is more pronounced among firms located in regions with stronger environmental regulation and greater public environmental attention, as well as among heavily polluting firms and firms whose management teams lack environmental backgrounds. Economic consequence analysis shows that by reducing ESG rating divergence, social credit improvement helps lower stock price crash risk and supply chain risk, thereby enhancing firms' stability in both capital and product markets. This study extends the literature on the positive effects of social credit system development and provides implications for improving the ESG governance system and promoting high-quality sustainable development.
Local Employment Growth Targets, Resource Misallocation, and Enterprise Total Factor Productivity
YUAN Yuan, LIU Dongsheng
2026, 41(3): 105-116.
Abstract:
Presetting annual employment growth targets is a key measure for Chinese governments at all levels to stabilize employment, yet this practice tends to distort resource allocation and cause productivity losses. Based on the employment growth targets specified in the government work reports of prefecture-level cities from 2014 to 2024, combined with data on A-share listed companies, this paper examines the impact of local employment targets on enterprises' total factor productivity (TFP). The results show that the employment growth target system significantly inhibits enterprises' TFP. Specifically, for every 10% increase in the local employment growth target, the enterprise TFP decreases by 0.16%, with a more pronounced effect in state-owned enterprises, labor-intensive industries, and regions with higher target fulfillment rates. Mechanism analysis indicates that local employment targets lower productivity by aggravating labor redundancy and restraining human resource reallocation. From a cost-benefit perspective, although these targets can expand short-term employment, this effect fails to offset the negative impact of productivity losses on operating revenue. Furthermore, the long-term erosion of profit margins weakens enterprises' sustainable employment capacity. This study reveals the productivity loss risk of the employment target system, providing insights for optimizing target setting and achieving policy coordination between stabilizing employment and boosting enterprise productivity.
Fiscal and Public Administration
Research on the Impact of Tax Incentives on Corporate Greenwashing Behavior: Quasi-natural Experiment Based on Value-Added Tax Refund Policy for Input Tax Credits
YU Haifeng, XIONG Shiqing, WANG Xingbo
2026, 41(3): 117-128.
Abstract:
China has long relied on tax incentive tools to guide enterprises in green transformation, and the value-added tax (VAT) refund policy for excess input tax credits has become an important policy instrument in the fiscal and taxation regulatory system. Taking A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen as research samples, this paper treats the gradual implementation of the VAT refund policy from 2018 to 2023 as a multi-period exogenous shock, and conducts an empirical test using the multi-period difference-in-differences model. The results show that the VAT refund policy significantly inhibits corporate greenwashing behavior through dual channels: on the one hand, the policy eases financing constraints by refunding input tax credits, thereby reducing enterprises' willingness to seek external resources through greenwashing; on the other hand, the policy strengthens regulatory effectiveness through the tax refund review process, compressing the operational space for corporate greenwashing. Heterogeneity tests indicate that the inhibitory effect is more pronounced in enterprises with low environmental investment, high VAT refund intensity, and high baseline greenwashing levels. This paper enriches the research perspective for the intersection of tax incentives and environmental governance, and provides empirical evidence for optimizing green tax policies and restraining corporate greenwashing behavior.
The Dual-Carbon Governance Effects of the Accountability Audit of Natural Resource Assets
ZHANG Yang, LIU Yizhen, PENG Jiaxi
2026, 41(3): 129-145.
Abstract:
The accountability audit of natural resources (AANR) is a distinct institutional innovation in China that systematically constrains local environmental governance. By integrating ecological responsibility into political incentives, it aims to shift the economic growth away from a GDP-oriented paradigm. Exploiting the staggered pilot rollout of the policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this study matches city-level carbon emissions and carbon sink data for 285 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2020 with audit pilot information. This study employs a multi-period difference-in-differences model (DID) and a spatial Durbin model (SDM) to evaluate its governance effects on the "dual-carbon" targets. The results show that AANR significantly reduces carbon emission intensity and enhances carbon sink capacity, indicating clear direct governance effects. Spatial impacts exhibit dimensional heterogeneity. Geographically proximate regions display diffusion effects driven by technological spillovers, while areas within the same administrative jurisdiction show siphoning effects characterized by pollution transfer. Further analysis finds that when neighboring regions are simultaneously audited, positive spillovers are weakened and may even reverse within provinces, suggesting strategic interactions among local governments under environmental regulation. This study also documents an administrative clustering pattern in carbon emissions, indicating that the dual-carbon transition is largely driven by government intervention. This study provides key evidence on the effectiveness of government-led environmental governance in China. It confirms the institutional value of AANR and offers policy implications for improving regional coordination and advancing integrated governance.