The governmental governance environment significantly influences real corporate investment. Based on the data of listed A-share enterprises from 2010-2020,we adopt a heterogeneous timing difference-in-differences method to examine the impact of Open government data (OGD) on real corporate investment by leveraging the launch of OGD platforms. It is found that OGD significantly promotes real corporate investment. This conclusion remains robust after a series of tests for robustness and endogeneity, including parallel trend, placebo, heterogeneity treatment effect, and replacing variable. The analysis of the impact mechanism reveals that OGD influences real corporate investment by reducing enterprise uncertainty and alleviating financing constraint. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that OGD exerts a more pronounced investment promotion effect on non-state-owned enterprises, without political affiliations, regions characterized by intense government intervention, and areas exhibiting low social trust. This study contributes both conceptual insights for advancing the real economy with higher quality and practical recommendations to support the modernization of national governance structures and administrative effectiveness.

This paper examines the role of institutional investors in shaping pricing dynamics within China’s nascent infrastructure Real Estate Investment Trust market. Introduced in 2021, China’s REITs have rapidly gained policy and market attention as a tool for financing large-scale infrastructure projects through equity-based securitisation. Unlike mature REIT markets, China’s infrastructure REITs are characterised by a high concentration of institutional ownership dominated by state-owned financial institutions. Using panel data on first 9 REITs from May 2021 to April 2024, we find that institutional ownership significantly boosts the premium to net asset value. This effect operates primarily through two channels: reduced market liquidity and increased idiosyncratic return volatility, likely reflecting institutions’ trading activity and informational advantages. The findings highlight how institutional capital serves as a confidence signal in China’s emerging REITs ecosystem. The study contributes to the global REITs literature by offering insights from an emerging market context and provides policy recommendations to guide China’s REITs market development toward greater transparency, diversity, and long-term resilience.

Copper resources are widely used in power networks and clean - energy tech like PV panels, wind turbines, and NEVs. Restricted by domestic resources, China's copper supply chain is vulnerable with risks. Based on six supply - chain stages, this paper builds an assessment system for China's copper supply - chain risks. By adopting an improved Benefit of Doubt (BOD) model, this paper has systematically evaluated the risks in the whole copper supply chain, revealing the trends and deep-rooted causes of these risks. The findings of this study reveal that: (1) The supply chain risk of China's copper resources presents a significant upward trend over the past 15 years; (2) The current supply chain risks in copper are mainly concentrated at the stages of import, production, and application; and the recycling risk has a great potential for reducing the copper supply chain risks in the future. Based on these findings, this paper proposes two policy recommendations: (1) Develop diversified channels for importing copper resources and optimize overseas investment patterns and; (2) Improve the domestic supply capacity of secondary copper resources and reduce the risks at the recycling stage.

The commodity and financial characteristics of carbon emission allowances play a pivotal role within the Carbon Emission Trading Scheme (CETS). Evaluating the effectiveness of the scheme from the perspective of carbon price is critical, as it directly reflects the underlying value of carbon allowances. This study employs a time-varying Difference-in-Differences (DID) model, utilizing data from publicly listed enterprises in China over the period from 2010 to 2023, to examine the effects of carbon price level and stability on Total Factor Productivity (TFP). The results suggest that both an increase in carbon price level and stability contribute to improvements in TFP, particularly for heavy-polluting and non-stateowned enterprises. Mechanism analysis reveals that higher carbon prices and stability can stimulate corporate engagement in green innovation, activate the Porter effect, and subsequently enhance TFP. Furthermore, optimizing the system environment proves to be an effective means of strengthening the scheme's impact. The study also finds that allocating initial quotas via payment-based mechanisms offers a more effective design. This research highlights the importance of strengthening the financial attributes of carbon emission allowances and offers practical recommendations for increasing the activity of trading entities and improving market liquidity.

In the mid-1990s, the concept of smart growth emerged in the United States as a critical response to the phenomenon of suburban sprawl. To promote sustainable urban development, it is necessary to further investigate the principles and applications of smart growth. In this paper, we proposed a Smart Growth Index (SGI) as a standard for measuring the degree of responsible urban development. Based on this index, we constructed a comprehensive 3E evaluation model—covering economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental sustainability—to systematically assess the level of smart growth. For empirical analysis, we selected two medium-sized cities from different continents: Wuhu County, China, and Colima, Mexico. Using an improved entropy method, we evaluated the degree of smart growth in recent years and analyzed the contributions of various policies to sustainable urban development. Then, guided by the ten principles of smart growth, we linked theoretical insights to practical challenges and formulated a development plan for both cities. To forecast long-term trends, we employed trend extrapolation based on historical data, enabling the prediction of SGI values for 2020, 2030, and 2050. The results indicate that Wuhu demonstrates a greater potential for smart growth compared with Colima. We also simulated a scenario in which the population of both cities increased by 50 percent and then re-evaluated the SGI. The analysis suggests that while rapid population growth tends to slow the pace of smart growth, it does not necessarily exert a negative impact on the overall trajectory of sustainable development. Finally, a study on the application of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) theory in Wuhu County was conducted. Based on this analysis, we proposed several policy recommendations aimed at enhancing the city’s sustainable urban development.

This paper investigates the price overreaction during the initial continuous trading period of the Chinese corn futures market. Using a dynamic modeling algorithm, we identify the overreaction behavior of intraday high-frequency (1 min and 3 min) prices during the first session of daytime trading. The results indicate that the overreaction hypothesis is confirmed for the daytime prices of the Chinese corn futures market. We also find a noticeable reduction in overreaction following the introduction of night trading and this decline appears to diminish over time. Furthermore, this paper conducts an overreaction trading strategy to assess traders’ returns, revealing a slight decline in average return after the introduction of night trading. This study provides valuable insights and recommendations for exchanges and regulators in monitoring overreaction and formulating effective policies to address it.

Recently, the Chinese Government has strengthened the enforcement of bankruptcy laws to protect creditors’ rights. This study shed light on the effect of creditor protection on asset-debt maturity mismatch by employing a quasi-natural experiment in China. The results show that creditor protection mitigates maturity mismatch, and the effect is more pronounced among financially constrained firms. Results remain robust after the dynamic effects test, placebo test, propensity score matching approach, entropy balancing method, and controlling for COVID-19 shocks. Mechanism tests show that creditor protection decreases the cost of debt and reduces over-investment. The effect of creditor protection is pronounced in private companies, financially independent companies, and companies with secured loans. Creditor rights can alleviate maturity mismatch in firms with medium ownership concentration and managerial ownership levels. Economic consequences studies suggest that creditor protection reduces corporate default risk. This study reveals the mechanism and effect of creditor protection on asset-debt maturity mismatch in emerging markets, providing recommendations to policymakers for assessing and improving bankruptcy law regimes.

Local financial development is crucial for advancing regional financial supply side structural reform, enabling local governments to leverage financial instruments to effectively mobilize land resources and foster competitive growth. The introduction of numerous financial products linked to land-related rights and interests has resulted in a pronounced transmission and interconnection of fiscal and financial risks across regions. This study examines the impact of local financial development on land financialization in China using panel data from prefecture-level cities and detailed information on land mortgages. The findings indicate that the establishment of city commercial banks (CCBs) contributes to the progress of land financialization by incentivizing local government financing vehicles to participate in land mortgage financing, increasing the transfer of debt risks to the financial sector. Notably, the impact of CCBs on land financialization is more pronounced in regions with urban agglomeration, high GDP manipulation, inadequate local financial regulation, and robust implicit government guarantees. Further analysis reveals that CCB establishment has negative spillover effects on land financialization in neighboring areas, while expansion strategies such as establishing intercity branches, engaging in cross-regional mergers, and relaxing regulations have mitigated the rise of land financialization at the regional level. This study provides policy recommendations that focus on reducing local governments’ reliance on land financing and enhancing the prevention and management of financial risks.

Since the global financial crisis of 2007–2009, preventing financial crises has become one of the most important objectives of regulators and banks. Although previous studies have identified the phenomenon of risk contagion in the banking system, the underlying mechanisms of risk contagion are still unclear. This study delves into the multi-stage contagion mechanism of liquidity risk based on interbank lending linkages and clearing rules and introduces a new index to quantify bank liquidity risk. We find that the contagion of liquidity risk is primarily determined by the network structure of risk exposures between banks in default and is not significantly influenced by the lending relationships of banks that remain solvent. The empirical results suggest that banks with high risk should be prioritized for cash injections to improve system liquidity. These findings offer new insights into financial risk contagion and practical recommendations for regulatory authorities formulating intervention strategies and for banks conducting risk management.

The use of green finance to slow down global warming in support of sustainable development remains widely discussed. This study examines whether investment structure moderates the impact of green finance on the environment in China, one of the top carbon-emitting nations and the second-largest economy in the world. We primarily used the moments-quantile regression approach with fixed-effect models on panel data from 1992Q1 to 2020Q4. First, the results confirmed that green finance and public and private investments worked synergistically to lower CO2 emissions, especially in Central and Western China. However, there was no proof that green finance and foreign direct investment were complementary in reducing CO2 emissions in China, unlike the Central region. Second, green finance marginally lowered CO2 emissions in all provinces, mainly in Eastern and Western China; this reduction was largely dependent on private investment in the Western region’s most polluting areas and foreign direct investment in Eastern and Western China’s least polluting provinces. Third, the beneficial effect of green finance occurred at varying optimal thresholds and investment-related conditions across Chinese regions at different quantiles. Lastly, we showed that in contrast to the variable impacts of urbanization, oil prices, and economic growth across Chinese regions at different quantiles, renewable energy, and trade openness reduced CO2 emissions. In conclusion, the study makes some policy recommendations for China’s sustainable economic development, an important model from which other countries can tailor their investment strategies and environmentally friendly policies.