2023 Vol. 38, No. 3

Environmental Economy and Three Rural Issues
Smart Carbon Reduction: The Effect and Mechanism of Digital Economy Development on Urban Carbon Emissions
QIN Bing-tao, YU Yong-wei, GE Li-ming, GUO Yuan-guo
2023, 38(3): 4-23.
Abstract:
While reshaping China's economic development trajectory in the post-COVID-19 era, digital economy also has a profound impact on China's "dual carbon" process. In this paper, the smart city pilot policy is taken as the proxy variable for the development of digital economy. Based on the panel data of 281 cities at the prefecture level and above in China from 2006 to 2019, the carbon emission reduction effect of smart city construction under the perspective of digital empowerment is empirically investigated by comprehensive use of the differential method, the two-stage three-step method and the spatial differential method. The conclusions show that compared with non-pilot cities, the carbon emissions of pilot smart cities are reduced by 2.8% on average, which means that the construction of smart cities significantly reduces the level of carbon emissions. This conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests, such as changing the estimation model and selecting the control group. Mechanism studies show that smart city construction has transformed urban development from the factor and investment-driven to the innovation-driven, and promoted urban low-carbon transformation through digital empowerment to exert energy upgrading effect, life transformation effect and resource allocation effect. The results from quantitative decomposition show that the above mechanism contributed more than 80% of the explanatory effect. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon emission reduction effect of digital economy development is more obvious in large and above scale cities, more developed regions in eastern and southern China, and cities with high endowment of human, financial and physical resources. The spatial effect analysis shows that with the increase of distance threshold, the spillover effect generated by smart city construction is significantly reduced, and the conclusion is still valid after the use of differential spatial Durbin model. This paper not only provides new documentary evidence for the causal relationship between digital economy development and carbon emission governance, but also has important practical significance for exploring how to use digital economy to enable green and low-carbon transition in the post-pandemic period, so as to achieve high-quality economic development.
Can Low-carbon Strategy Enhance the Coordination between Economic Development and Ecological Environment: Quasi-natural Experiments Based on Low-carbon City Pilot Policy
ZHANG Ming-dou, YAN Yu-rui
2023, 38(3): 24-37.
Abstract:
The implementation of low-carbon city pilot policy is a concrete practice of the low-carbon strategy; analysis of its effects helps to provide sufficient empirical evidence for identifying the effects of the low-carbon strategy. Based on the data of 284 cities at prefecture-level and above from 2005 to 2019, this paper regards the low-carbon city pilot policy as quasi-natural experiments, and uses the difference-in-difference method to evaluate the impact of low-carbon strategy on the coordination of economic development and ecological environment. The results show that low-carbon strategy can significantly improve the coordination between economic development and ecological environment through promoting green technology innovation, optimizing industrial structure and improving energy efficiency. The grouping regression results show that the effects of the low-carbon city pilot policy have obvious heterogeneity in cities with different locations, resource endowments and population sizes. The moderating effect analyses show that the promotion of human capital can strengthen the effects of the low-carbon city pilot policy, reflecting that the synergy of low-carbon strategy and human capital has effective benefits both in economy and ecology. Therefore, we should focus on the building of low-carbon cities and comprehensively implement the low-carbon strategy, fully apply low-carbon policy tools guided by the coordination of economic development and ecological environment, and accurately assist in achieving low-carbon goals according to regional differences.
Finanial Development and Supervision
An Empirical Research on the Financial and Environmental Results of Corporate Green Bond Issuance
CHEN Feng-gong, ZHANG Yi-hao
2023, 38(3): 38-53.
Abstract:
As an important global green financial instrument, it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study the consequences of the issuance of green bonds. Based on the data of A-share non-financial listed companies from 2011 to 2020 and Difference-in-Difference model, this paper tests the financial and environmental consequences of green bond issuance. The results show that the issuance of green bonds can significantly improve the financial value and environmental performance of issuing companies at the same time, that is, achieving a "win-win" result. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the practical performance of green bond issuance is more significant in heavy pollution industries and private enterprises. Mechanism analysis shows that the ascension of financial value is resulted from the reputation effect. Through reducing financing constraints and improving the institutional ownership, issuers of green bonds can obtain higher financial value. However, the improvement of environmental performance is mainly subject to the supervision effect. The stronger the company is subject to social invisible supervision and institutional visible supervision, the more obvious the environmental improvement effect can be achieved by issuing green bonds. Further analysis shows that the issuance of green bonds also has sustainable incentive effect on green innovation. The results of this study provide useful policy implications for improving the green financial system and promoting green and low-carbon development.
How Does Digital Finance Suppress Corporate Entrusted Loan
QIU Shan-yun, BAI Jun
2023, 38(3): 54-68.
Abstract:
Using the unique data on entrusted loans collected manually, this paper discusses in depth the impact of digital finance on enterprise entrusted loans as a shadow banking activity and its mechanism. It is found that digital finance has a dampening effect on enterprise entrusted loans, which is manifested by a decrease in the probability and size of enterprise entrusted loans, and this effect is mainly achieved through digital finance to reduce enterprise excess bank credit and to increase enterprise information transparency. Further analysis shows that digital finance also affects the frequency and maturity of entrusted loans, and its coverage and digitalization have a more significant inhibiting effect on entrusted loans. In addition, digital finance has an error correction function for entrusted loans, which can correct the problems of attribute mismatch, de-realization and reverse credit cycle allocation of entrusted loans that exist in traditional finance. Moreover, digital finance has a positive effect on promoting enterprise innovation investment while reducing the entrusted loan issuance. This study provides empirical evidence to clarify the micro effects of digital finance and to suppress the risk of shadow banking.
Fiscal and Public Administration
Tax Incentives and Corporate Charitable Giving: Evidence from Changes in Corporate Giving Tax Credits
YANG Can-ming, YANG Yao-yu
2023, 38(3): 69-81.
Abstract:
Social charitable donations are particularly important for improving the third distribution mechanism of national income. Based on the changes in corporate donation tax credit policies in 2008, this paper studies the impact of tax incentives on corporate charitable donations. It is found that with the tax deduction ratio of charitable donations increasing, the corporate charitable donation intensity and charitable donation tendency increased significantly; the conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that companies in more market-oriented regions and companies with more abundant cash flow have more obvious responses to preferential tax policies, and the short-term and long-established businesses are more affected by tax incentives for charitable donations. There are also economic motives behind corporate charitable donations. The theoretical and empirical analysis in this paper enriches the research on the effect of corporate donation tax credit policy and the motivation of charitable donations, which provides empirical evidence for optimizing China's tax incentives for charitable donations in the future.
Digital Economy Theory and Application
Is Digital Empowerment "Production Oriented" or "Environmentally Friendly"? Micro Evidence from Enterprise Digital Transformation
CHE Shuai, WANG Jun
2023, 38(3): 82-97.
Abstract:
The digital transformation driven by enterprises is an important task to further promote the construction of digital China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period in China. Taking the data of Chinese listed companies as research samples, with the help of text data mining methods and econometric models, this paper comprehensively explores the impact of digital transformation on production efficiency and environmental efficiency, its channels of action and improvement paths. It is found that the current digital transformation of Chinese enterprises is "production oriented" rather than "environmentally friendly", that is, it can significantly improve enterprise productivity and is not conducive to environmental governance. Enterprise digital transformation improves production efficiency by improving corporate governance, reducing information asymmetry and innovation incentives, but digital transformation increases enterprise operating costs, which is not conducive to environmental efficiency improvement. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of enterprise digital transformation on production efficiency and environmental efficiency is more obvious in resource-based cities, eastern cities, state-owned enterprises and high pollution industries. Environmental policies can improve the impact of enterprise digital transformation on the environment to a certain extent, and the improvement effect of low-carbon city pilot policies is the most significant. Robustness test indicates that blockchain technology and digital platform applications have significantly improved enterprise production efficiency, while artificial intelligence technology and big data technology may become technical means for enterprises to avoid environmental disclosure. Digital transformation reduces the willingness of environmental governance actions, internal environmental management and environmental supervision certification. The national big data pilot zone and the pilot policy of "BRoadband China" have shown a consistent impact on the production efficiency and environmental efficiency of enterprises, supporting the effect of enterprise digital transformation. Therefore, we should continue to promote the digital transformation of enterprises, strengthen the green orientation of digital technology, enhance the regional cooperation ability between different cities and enterprises, and give full play to the synergy effect between policies to achieve the win-win goal of economic growth and environmental protection.
Research on Financial Characteristics and Judicial Precedents of Non-fungible Tokens
WU Yi-kai, LI Guo-an, WANG Jian-xuan
2023, 38(3): 98-112.
Abstract:
As the deepening application of blockchain technology, NFT (non-fungible token) not only guarantees the trust benefit and data rights between users through technology, but also builds a value system different from traditional financial assets. The business development and transaction data of crypto assets represented by NFT in the global market continue to expand, and the global digital economy and financial governance pattern is also in the process of reshaping. However, the attributes of NFT have not been unanimously recognized within and outside the domain. By identifying the differences between NFT and traditional financial assets in pricing mechanism, transaction mode, risk and other aspects, and examining the possibility of the conversion of attribute identification between crypto assets and financialization from the global judicial judgment, it is pointed out that the identification of NFT attributes should be considered from the aspects of asset characteristics, platform mode, holder elements, and judicial suggestions that are different from identification rules for traditional financial assets case.
2023, 38(3): 113-114.
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2023, 38(3): 115-116.
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2023, 38(3): 117-118.
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