This study examines factors that determine prefectural industrial policies and their impact on firm total factor productivity (TFP), utilizing a natural language processing algorithm and data from the Report on the Work of the Government in China. We find that compliance with upper-level governments is crucial in shaping prefectural industrial policies. When an industry is favored by the upper-level government, the probability of the prefectural government’s favoring that industry increases. However, prefectural policies driven by political compliance have a minimal positive impact on TFP, due to inadequate implementation of policy measures like tax deductions, preferential loans, and land price discounts.

This study investigates the impact of CIO on the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance. Our analysis is based on a panel dataset comprising 2395 Chinese listed companies throughout the period from 2007 to 2020. Evidence from empirical results shows that CIO is positively correlated with ESG performance. In other words, CIO enhance the corporate ESG performance. The issue of endogeneity was duly considered, and appropriate measures were made to address it. Furthermore, robustness tests were conducted, and the findings remained consistent and reliable. The examination of the mechanism indicates that CIO enhance internal control quality that facilitates the advancement of ESG activities within firms. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by examining the impact of external governance systems on the promotion of ESG activities in Chinese enterprises. This study adds to the existing body of scholarship on the implications of Common institutional ownership. Findings recommend several possible policy and economic ramifications that might support Chinese enterprises in their endeavors to incorporate ESG initiatives and contribute to the overall sustainability of society.

Utilizing a unique P2P dataset, this study employs the PSM-DID method to explore the learning effect brought about by default events on investors. The findings reveal that investors who experience their first default event demonstrate an improved ability to select a higher-quality project the next time. Notably, this positive effect is more pronounced when facing substantial defaults, as opposed to cases where overdue principal and interest are eventually settled. Investors' initial confidence in defaulted projects contributes to a greater enhancement of their investment skills. Furthermore, the beneficial impacts of defaulted events diminish as investors’ investment experience accumulates.

中央金融工作会议将数字金融与普惠金融列入“五篇大文章”之中。解决应收账款被占用导致的资金周转困难是破解中小微企业“融资难、融资贵”问题从而推动普惠金融发展的关键突破点。 为了降低银行与中小微企业的信息不对称与提升动产可质押性，中国人民银行征信中心搭建了应收账款融资服务平台作为重要的数字金融基础设施，并通过数字化系统直连进一步推动普惠金融的发展。借助平台应收账款质押与融资数据，本文的实证研究表明，核心企业使用数字化系统直连后：（1）核心企业通过系统直连上传的应收账款数量和金额上升，且新接入的主要是规模小、利润率高、现金流压力大、债务负担重的中小微型供应商企业；（2）中小微企业供应商贷款笔数与贷款金额均显著上升，且贷款利率更低；（3）供应商与核心企业财务指标均显著改善。本文结论表明建设数据中心化的统一平台作为重要的数字金融基础设施，可以为传统金融难以触及的客户提供金融服务，有力地推动普惠金融的高质量发展。

There are large regional disparities in relation to the development of digital finance in China. This study expands on the human–land relationship to analyze the impact of terrain relief on digital finance adoption using China Household Finance Survey data. The results show an inverted U-shaped relationship. Further, mechanism analysis indicates that terrain relief influences the wealth creation environment and stimulates the likelihood of entrepreneurship, especially through small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the impact is more pronounced in rural and western areas. These findings provide insights enabling the development of a more inclusive financial system.

Using the formal implementation of the 2012 Green Credit Guidelines (GCG) as an exogenous shock to construct a quasi-natural experiment, we study the impact of green credit policies on the inefficient investment of heavily polluting firms in China's listed companies from 2008 to 2020. We find that green credit policies can significantly alleviate the inefficient investment of heavily polluting enterprises. By reducing agency costs and long-term liabilities, green credit policies mitigate the problem of inefficient investment in heavily polluting firms. Moreover, the mitigating effect of green credit policies on the inefficient investment of heavily polluting enterprises has significant heterogeneity in terms of property rights, internal characteristics.

This study examines a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2021 and finds that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance significantly reduces bankruptcy risk. Robustness tests support the bankruptcy risk mitigation effect of ESG performance. Mechanism analysis shows that ESG performance reduces bankruptcy risk by decreasing systematic risk and alleviating financing constraints. Further analysis indicates that the performance of the three dimensions of ESG, namely Environment (E), Social (S), and Governance (G), contributes to the reduction of bankruptcy risk.

This study provides the first empirical evidence on the relationship between the chairman of the board of directors (COB) and corporate financial performance. Using a sample of Chinese A listed firms between 2008-2017, we find reliable evidence that the COB turnover improves corporate financial performance. Moreover, the existence of a majority shareholder (Majority) positively influences corporate financial performance, while firm nature (private majority shareholder or public majority shareholder)(Private) may not.

In this study, we empirically analyze the impact of the effects of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on high-quality economic development in Chinese prefecture-level cities. We find the following conclusions: first, the total index and sub-index of DIF can promote high-quality economic development. Second, DIF significantly promotes high-quality economic development by narrowing the urban-rural income gap and alleviating financing constraints. Third, DIF is conducive to the improvement of economic quality in neighboring regions.

Corporate philanthropy is increasingly seen as an effective way to promote social equity. This paper estimates the effect of donation tax deduction policy on corporate donations. Using data from Chinese A-share listed companies, we find that the donation tax deduction policy has a significant positive effect on the amount donated. This finding remains robust to a number of robustness tests. Meanwhile, our study also suggests that the policy increases donation participation. Finally, heterogeneity analysis suggests that the effect is significant only for firms with high media attention and political connections. Our findings provide important evidence for the optimizing of social welfare.