Suzhou and Shenzhen are among the top cities in China by GDP, and both have performed exceedingly well in terms of cultivating technological industries and attracting foreign investment. This is in spite of the fact that neither city is a provincial capital nor a centrally administered city like Shanghai and Beijing. Yet, the two cities embody very different administrative models with respect to their relationship with the provincial and central governments. Shenzhen, in particular, has a closer relationship with the central government than almost any non-centrally administered city in China, whereas Suzhou is a city that remains closely in coordination with the provincial government even as its economy has grown by leaps and bounds. This begs the question of which city's model will prevail moving forward: the Shenzhen model, typified by "re-centralization" of power, or the Suzhou model, which represents more of the conventional regional decentralization model that has been prevalent in China since the 1980s. The article attempts to argue that even though Shenzhen is of pivotal importance to the central government's policies, it will remain an outlier for the time being so as to avoid disturbing the delicate balance between the central and provincial governments, barring an unforeseen economic or political crisis.

The role of Market-incentive environmental regulation (MIER) within the framework of environmental governance is patently evident. While extant literature lauds the advantageous outcomes attributed to the environmental protection tax (EPT) which as a representative of MIER, our empirical inquiry presents a contrasting narrative. By employing the sophisticated Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference (DDD) methodology and utilizing data from A-share listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2015-2022, our investigation reveals a significant decrease in firms’ total factor productivity (TFP) following the implementation of EPT. Our core assertion is fortified through the discernment of two plausible mechanisms, namely, the production downsizing effect and the production capital crowding-out effect. Building upon this revelation, we delve into the nuanced pathways through which firms can strategically mitigate the impacts of EPT, encompassing the enhancement of human capital, amplification of research and development (R&D) investments, and fortification of overall firm resilience. Heterogeneity analysis discloses a notably heightened impact of EPT on TFP of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), larger enterprises and enterprises located in eastern regions. Ultimately, an approximately cost-benefit analysis conclusively demonstrates that the benefits derived from EPT far surpass the costs incurred by the concomitant industrial output reduction, which further illustrates the rationale for the implementation of EPT.

As China’s population ages, more older workers are participating in the labor market, including a significant number of older migrant workers moving to urban areas. However, surprisingly little research has been done on their destination city and employment patterns. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the impact of city-level and industry specialization on the employment prospects of older migrant workers. Using both individual- and city-level data, we find that unlike prime-age migrant workers, older migrant workers have higher employment probabilities in relatively less-developed lower-tier Chinese cities than in better-developed high-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, or Guangzhou. This phenomenon is driven by industry specialization, particularly in the construction sector, which fosters a dense labor market and facilitates higher job-finding rates. Additionally, construction firms and real estate developers in lower-tier cities are more willing to offer better wages than those in high-tier cities, which aligns with older migrant workers’ relatively moderate education profile and wage preferences over housing costs.

In order to clarify the effect and mechanism of servitization level and digital transformation on the performance of listed sporting goods manufacturing enterprises in China, the index of the degree of digital transformation is constructed based on the data of 31 sporting goods manufacturing enterprises listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen A shares and the New OTC Market in China, taking the proportion of service business income in enterprise operating income as the index of servitization level, by analyzing the semantic expression of national policy related to digital economy and collecting "digital" category keywords in enterprise annual report with the help of crawler technology, then, the influence of servitization level and digital transformation on enterprise performance is discussed, and whether digital transformation plays a moderating effect between servitization and enterprise performance is tested. The results show that the servitization level suppresses the performance of listed sporting goods manufacturing enterprises, and there is a "Servitization Paradox" phenomenon. The degree of digital transformation has a positive U-shaped impact on enterprise performance, and at the same time, digital transformation has a weak positive moderating effect on servitization level and enterprise performance.

We examine the effect of the identification of high-tech enterprises on corporate innovation from the perspective of supplier relationship management. We use data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2020 as samples and a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) method. The results show that the identification of high-tech enterprises significantly promotes corporate innovation. The potential mechanism is that there is a sharp decline in the concentration of suppliers, the occupation of suppliers’ trade credit, and the inventory cost of enterprise after getting the identification of high-tech enterprises. Further analyses show that the enterprise identified as a high-tech enterprise tends to be more innovative due to the improvement of the supplier relationship management, leading to a better operating performance. Overall, our findings indicates a positive implementation effect of the policy of identification of high-tech enterprises. This paper not only contributes to the research about the economic consequences of the identification of high-tech enterprises from the perspective of supplier relationship management, but also enriches the existing literature on the effect of the supply relationship on corporate innovation, and supplier relationship management from the perspective of identification of high-tech enterprises. In summary, this study provides a theoretical basis and policy reference for the evaluation of the implementation effect of the policy of identification of high-tech enterprises, and the strengthening of supplier relationship management .

Taking the national carbon market and seven local carbon markets in China, we use DEA model to measure market efficiency, and then classify them by hierarchical cluster method. Efficiency of the national carbon market and local carbon markets of Beijing, Shenzhen, Hubei and Shanghai are leading, while Guangdong is in the middle; Chongqing and Tianjin are left behind. Room for improvement and scale returns are further analyzed, and suggestions for each carbon market are proposed finally.

This paper explores the impact of the three kinds of heterogeneity of the executive team on the enterprise's total factor productivity and the mechanism of the impact of the heterogeneity of the executive team on the enterprise's total factor productivity, with the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies in China as the research samples in the period of 2010-2022. The final results of the study found that (1) the heterogeneity of the professional background of the executive team, the heterogeneity of the overseas experience, and the heterogeneity of the financial background of the military contribute to the increase in the total factor productivity of the enterprise. (2) Improving the financial flexibility of the enterprise, improving the quality of the internal control of the enterprise, and improving the research and development and innovation of the enterprise are effective paths for the rise in the level of the enterprise's total factor productivity.

This paper examines whether China’s switch back and forth from fixed to floating exchange rates in 2005 and 2008 changed the contribution to stock price discovery by foreign and domestic investors. During that time, mainland investors could only trade the RMB-denominated A-shares in the domestic Shanghai and Shenzhen markets, while the dual-listed HKD-denominated H-shares were available only to overseas investors. Using intraday data on overlapping trading hours, we find that the switch from a fixed rate to managed floating in July 2005 increased the H-shares’ contribution to price discovery; while the exchange rate regime reversal in July 2008 allowed the domestic stocks to regain their dominance in information shares. These results imply that, in a market subject to restrictions on capital flows, a flexible exchange rate regime increases the propensity of investors to trade foreign-issued stocks to speculate on the RMB exchange rate, which raises overseas investors’ contribution to price discovery.

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of information disclosure by unlisted bond issuers on the stock price informativeness of listed firms in the same industry. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes advantage of information disclosure during the bond issuance and examines the spillover effect of unlisted bond issuers’ information disclosure on listed firms in the stock market. The sample is composed of A-share firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2007 to 2018. All the data are obtained from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research and WIND databases. The impact of bond market information disclosure on price informativeness of listed firms in the same industry is identified through multivariate regression analyses. Findings – Empirical results show that price informativeness of listed firms has a significantly positive association with the information disclosure of same-industry unlisted bond issuers. Further analyses show that the above finding is more significant when information disclosure of bond issuers is a more important channel for acquiring industry information (i.e. when industry is more concentrated, when economic uncertainty is high, and when industry information is less transparent) and understanding the industry competitive landscape (i.e. when bond issuers are relatively large, when bond issuers and listed firms have more direct product competition, when bond issuance firms are large-scale state-owned business groups), and when there are more cross-market information intermediaries (i.e. more cross-market institutional investors and more sellside analysts).This paperindicates that information disclosure of bond issuers has a positive spillover effect on the stock market. Originality/value – The novelty of the research is that the authors examine industry information spillover from unlisted firms to listed firms leveraging on unlisted firms’ information disclosure in bond markets.

This paper explores the relationship between ESG rating disagreement and the stock price crash risk. Using 2011-2020 Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen as research sample, the empirical test results show that ESG rating disagreement significantly increases the stock price crash risk. The mechanism tests find that ESG rating disagreement influences the stock price crash risk by undermining corporate information transparency and increasing the level of investor sentiment. The findings of this paper reveal the potential negative economic consequences of ESG rating disagreement and enrich the research on the influencing factors of stock price crash risk, which contribute to the prevention of possible financial risk and the sustainable development.