ESG is emerging as a new benchmark for measuring a company's sustainable development capabilities and social impact. As a measure of ESG performance, ESG ratings are increasingly receiving attention from companies, the general public, and government institutions, and are becoming an important reference factor influencing their decision-making. This paper investigates the impact of corporate ESG ratings on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) and its mechanisms of action. Focusing on listed companies in China, we find that higher ESG ratings contribute to improving a company's TFP, and this conclusion remains valid after robustness tests and addressing endogeneity issues. Further exploration into the reasons behind this result reveals that ESG ratings can be seen as a signal that a company sends to the outside world, representing its overall performance. Higher ESG ratings enhance a company's TFP by reducing market financing constraints and obtaining government subsidies. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of ESG ratings on TFP is more pronounced for companies with higher levels of attention, reputation, and audit quality. Additionally, we explore whether ESG ratings can serve as a predictive indicator for measuring a company's TFP. This hypothesis was tested using machine learning algorithms, and the results indicate that models incorporating ESG rating indicators significantly improve the accuracy of predicting a company's TFP capabilities.

This paper examines the impact of ESG rating divergence on stock price delays in the context of the Chinese capital market. We find that ESG rating divergence significantly increases the stock price delays. Mechanism analysis results suggest that ESG rating divergence affects stock price delays by reducing information transparency and firm internal control quality. Heterogeneous analysis results indicate that the impact of ESG rating divergence on stock price delays is more pronounced in high-tech firms and when investor sentiment is high.

There is substantial evidence indicating that enterprises are negatively impacted by climate risk, with the most direct effects typically occurring in financial domains. This study examines A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2023, employing text analysis to develop the firm-level climate risk indicator and investigate the influence on corporate financial risk. The results show a significant positive correlation between climate risk and financial risk at the firm level. Mechanism analysis shows that the negative impact of climate risk on corporate financial condition is mainly achieved through three paths: increasing financial constraints, reducing inventory reserves, and increasing the degree of maturity mismatch. To address potential endogeneity, this study applies instrumental variable tests, propensity score matching, and a quasi-natural experiment based on the Paris Agreement. Additional tests indicate that reducing the degree of information asymmetry and improving corporate ESG performance can alleviate the negative impact of climate risk on corporate financial conditions. This relationship is more pronounced in high-carbon emission industries. In conclusion, this research deepens the understanding of the link between climate risk and corporate financial risk, providing a new micro perspective for risk management, proactive governance transformation, and the mitigation of financial challenges faced by enterprises.

We study how financial markets integrate news about pollution abatement costs into firm values. Using China’s automation of pollution monitoring, we find that firms with factories in bad-news cities---cities that used to report much lower pollution than the automated reading---see significant declines in stock prices. This is consistent with the view that investors expect firms in high-pollution cities to pay significant adjustment and abatement costs to become “greener.” However, the efficiency with which such information is incorporated into prices varies widely---while the market reaction is quick in the Hong Kong stock market, it is considerably delayed in the mainland ones, resulting in a drift. The equity markets expect most of these abatement costs to be paid by private firms and not by state-owned enterprises, and by brown firms and not by green firms.

通货膨胀如何影响资产价格？经典的“债务-通胀”渠道认为，通胀将降低债务的实际价值并将财富由银行转移至企业。而本研究发现，不同监管环境下通胀会引起银行和企业间非单调的价值转移。理论分析结果表明，在债券违约率更高、回收率更低的松监管环境下，通胀使得回收率上升，实际价值从企业向银行转移；在违约率较低、回收率较高的严监管环境下，通胀使得名义债务贬值，实际价值从银行向企业转移。本文利用1994-2025年的A股数据，提供了支持分析的经验证据：08金融危机引发对银行监管的关注和巴塞尔Ⅲ导致了银行价值对通胀的暴露由正转至长期为负，而影子银行的发展又重新降低了银行对通胀的负向暴露。基于DSGE的量化模型中，货币政策与通胀冲击会产生符合分析的价值转移结果。本文为通胀对资产价格和实体经济的影响提供了一个新的研究视角，为货币政策制定与银行监管提供了重要的关注对象和货币非中性的证据。

We evaluate the impact of digital finance on the ESG performance of manufacturing enterprises and whether digital and traditional finance play a complementary or substitute role in promoting the ESG performance. First, we find that developing digital finance can alleviate financing constraints and promote technological innovation, thereby increasing enterprises' investment in environmental, social, and governance, providing sufficient technical support, and improving their ESG performance. Furthermore, digital finance and traditional finance have a direct impact on the ESG performance and further enhance their influence through complementary effects. Therefore, this paper may provide a valuable reference for finance to support manufacturing enterprises' development effectively.

The study indicates that under conditions of financial repression, a enterprise’s ESG performance significantly impacts the extent of its short-term debt used for long-term purposes. The mechanism test reveals that ESG performance mitigates the degree of short-term debt for long-term use through three pathways: enhancing information transparency, alleviating financing constraints, and curbing excessive investment. Further research suggests that the influence of ESG performance on the use of short-term debt for long-term purposes is more pronounced among private enterprises, high-pollution and high-energy-consuming enterprises, and enterprises in underdeveloped regions. This paper enriches the research on the relationship between ESG performance and corporate financing decisions.

This paper investigates whether Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance influences the stock idiosyncratic risk and extreme risk. We find that the ESG performance of listed companies significantly reduces the stock idiosyncratic risk and extreme risk. Furthermore, we identify that this mitigating effect is shaped by the nature of enterprise ownership and the firm life cycle. Through additional mechanistic analysis, we confirm that ESG performance affects the stock price volatility risk of listed companies by reducing levels of corporate earnings management and bolstering corporate reputation, thereby alleviating both idiosyncratic risk and extreme risk in stock prices.

统筹金融开放和安全是构建高水平开放型金融新体制的基本要求。本文以美国货币政策为切入点，先从实证角度分析美国加息对我国产出的影响，然后构建包含跨境金融关联的两国DSGE模型，定量分析美国货币政策的溢出效应及应对之策。研究发现，美国加息1个百分点使中国产出下降约0.4个百分点，其中贸易渠道和金融渠道分别使中国产出下降0.2个百分点。分析作用机制发现，UIP偏离机制使金融中介净值波动和汇率波动相互强化，外部融资溢价机制使金融中介净值波动和企业净值波动相互强化，正是这两个机制放大了美国货币政策的外溢效应。进一步研究发现，金融开放度越高和汇率越缺乏弹性，美国加息冲击对我国变量的传导效应越显著。基于不同的福利函数特征，本文构建了统一的政策评估框架，对宏观审慎政策和双支柱调控应对美国加息冲击的有效性作出了精准评估。结果表明，无论是针对国内金融机构信贷监管的宏观审慎政策还是针对跨境资本流动和外汇相关的宏观审慎政策，均能降低美国加息的溢出效应，且宏观审慎政策有效性与汇率制度无关。在联合最优政策组合下，货币政策无需对名义汇率作出反应，外汇市场要强化价格调控淡化数量干预。在货币政策和宏观审慎政策相互协调搭配下，双支柱调控通过维护经济金融稳定具有显著的社会福利增进效应。本文为构建高水平开放型金融新体制，以金融高质量发展加快推进中国式现代化提供了政策启示。

气候信息披露对于实现“双碳”目标，促进供应链可持续发展至关重要。本文通过合并中国上市公司和海关数据，基于各国强制性ESG披露政策的自然实验，考察其对中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露的影响。研究发现，出口目的国强制性ESG披露政策对中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露具有增进效应，供应商企业的主动模仿和客户倒逼是重要的实现机制。异质性检验发现，当中国出口供应商为污染型企业、面临较高的外部环境关注度，及目的国强制性ESG披露政策执行更为严格时，政策效果更为显著。进一步分析发现，中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露的完善不仅有助于增加企业对实行强制性ESG披露政策国家的出口，而且能够提升供应商企业未来的经营绩效。本文丰富了气候信息披露影响因素与实现机制的研究，增强了对强制性ESG披露政策的理解，对构建可持续供应链和提升企业国际竞争力具有重要启示。