We show that executives’ early-life poverty experiences reduce both internal (executive–employee) and external (executive–peer) corporate pay disparities. Three mechanisms drive this effect: increased risk aversion in poverty-exposed executives, strategic avoidance of negative media coverage to protect reputation and curtailment of excessive executive perks. The results hold under multiple robustness tests. The poverty–equity link intensifies in state-owned enterprises, eastern-region firms, labor-intensive industries, firms with elevated donations, and firms led by executives with advanced degrees. This pay gap reduction primarily stems from restrained executive compensation, particularly when it exceeds industry benchmarks, rather than increased employee wages. These findings advance behavioral agency theory by revealing how leaders’ socioeconomic origins interact with institutional contexts to reshape compensation systems, offering new insights into inequality management.

Accelerating a unified national market construction requires further promotion of inter-regional capital flows. This paper examines the impact of digital government construction (DGC) on inter-regional capital flows. The result shows that DGC can promote inter-regional capital flows and facilitate inter-regional mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of local enterprises. In the case where the geographical and cultural distance between the acquiring and target party is relatively large, the acquiring party is a state-owned enterprise, and the acquiring party belongs to the service industry and the eastern and central regions, the promotion effect of digital government construction is more significant. Mechanism result shows that DGC could reduce institutional friction and enhance resource access for inter-regional M&As. Moreover, DGC can motivate local enterprises’ inter-regional M&As towards regions with relatively low levels of DGC, exhibiting a positive spatial spillover effect. When the overall level, subdivision dimensions, and the expenditure ratio of general public service categories of the DGC in acquiring city are higher than those in target city, this effect is more significant. The results verify the techno-economic paradigm theory of the digital economy development, provide a new perspective for the study of inter-regional capital flows, and increase empirical evidence support for the construction of a unified national market.

This paper studies how RMB depreciation affects corporate investment through liability-side currency mismatch arising from foreign currency debt. Using a panel of A-share and H-share listed Chinese real estate developers from 2014 to 2022, the evidence shows that firms with higher foreign currency debt significantly reduce investment during RMB depreciation episodes. Mechanism analyses show that this effect operates through higher financing cash outflows, tighter access to new credit, and increased earnings volatility. Moreover, the negative investment response is mainly driven by short-term, rather than long-term, foreign currency debt. In addition, the contractionary effect is weaker for firms that use derivative instruments for hedging, but stronger among state-owned firms and firms with weaker corporate governance. Overall, the findings highlight how liability-side currency mismatch amplifies the real effects of exchange rate movements and provide policy-relevant evidence on foreign currency debt risk in China's property developers.

Space competition has been escalating in recent decades. The 2015 commercialization of Chinese space sector provides a quasi-natural experiment. We establish a positive link between commercialization and capital structure adjustment speed of space firms, especially when their capital structures are below target levels. Such a link is more pronounced among non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), firms in regions of stronger intellectual property protection or better financial inclusion. Improved access to financial resources at lower cost, public scrutiny, and internal motivation underlie the impact. Furthermore, space commercialization enhances firms' innovation performance and total factor productivity (TFP) by accelerating their capital structure adjustment, thereby promoting the development of the real economy. This study may enrich discussion over commercialization of the space sector and effectiveness of China's market economy.

Using a sample of Chinese A-share non-financial firms from 2013 to 2022, this paper empirically examines the impact of Fintech engagement on the speed of capital structure adjustment. The results show that firms engaging in Fintech activities significantly accelerate their capital structure adjustments, particularly when leverage is below the target level. Further heterogeneity analyses reveal that this positive effect is more pronounced in regions with stricter financial regulation, in firms with stronger financial affiliations, and among high-tech firms. In terms of adjustment mode, Fintech primarily facilitates capital structure adjustment by enhancing firms' debt financing capacity. Mechanism tests indicate that Fintech alleviates financing frictions and reduces agency costs, thereby expediting dynamic capital structure adjustment. This study confirms the effectiveness of Fintech activities in non-financial firms and contributes to the literature by revealing their economic consequences.

PurposeThe green credit policy regulates corporate environmental responsibility practices of heavily polluting firms by influencing their financial resources, thereby driving sustainable development. This study aims to explore the strategic decisions of firms to evaluate whether the policy has achieved this outcome.Design/methodology/approachUsing the implementation of the green credit policy in 2012 as a pivotal event, the authors conduct a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the impact of the policy on firms' corporate environmental responsibility.FindingsThe authors find that heavily polluting firms will reduce corporate environmental responsibility practices following the green credit policy. Further tests suggest that the green credit policy curtails corporate environmental responsibility practices by impacting bank credit and trade credit. In addition, such a link is stronger among firms characterized by weaker political connections and poorer previous performance. Moreover, reducing corporate environmental responsibility practices aids in alleviating firms' financing constraints and enhancing core business performance in the next period, which indicates that firms have sacrificed sustainable development to ensure short-term survival.Practical implicationsThe green credit policy limits corporate environmental responsibility practices of heavily polluting firms. This finding provides empirical evidence and relevant recommendations for the formulation and implementation of green finance policies.Social implicationsGovernments, financial institutions and firms should fully grasp the interactions between the green credit policy and corporate strategy. A series of improvement and safeguard measures are essential to mitigate the unintended negative effects of the policy and to promote sustainable development.Originality/valueThe findings align with prospect theory and provide empirical evidence for the ongoing debate regarding whether green credit policy can achieve the expected outcomes, thereby broadening the research scope on green finance.

IntroductionCorporate climate transition plans are increasingly used to explain how firms intend to align climate commitments with measurable decarbonization actions. However, the credibility and completeness of these plans vary substantially, raising concerns about whether transition planning reflects substantive climate accountability or symbolic climate communication. This study examines whether credible climate transition plans are associated with subsequent carbon performance among Fortune Global 500 non-financial firms.MethodsThe study uses panel data from 239 Fortune Global 500 non-financial firms, comprising 1,126 firm-year observations during 2018–2023. A Climate Transition Plan Credibility Index is developed across six dimensions: target credibility, emissions scope coverage, implementation strategy, governance and accountability, risk and strategic integration, and progress reporting. Carbon performance is measured using subsequent changes in Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions scaled by lagged revenue. Fixed-effects regression models are used for the main analysis.ResultsHigher transition plan credibility is significantly associated with lower subsequent carbon emission changes. External assurance strengthens this association, while mandatory or quasi-mandatory disclosure environments provide more modest moderating support. Robustness tests using alternative carbon performance measures, alternative index construction, subsample analyses, and additional fixed-effects specifications generally support the main findings, although the Scope 3 subsample produces weaker evidence.DiscussionGiven the observational panel design, the findings are interpreted as systematic associations rather than causal effects. The study suggests that credible transition plans provide a useful basis for evaluating the alignment between corporate climate commitments and measurable operational carbon outcomes.

Delivering on climate pledges hinges not only on setting ambitious targets but on translating them into credible, equitable, and regionally feasible action. In China, current policies over the past 30 years have driven a sustained decline in carbon intensity and pushed total installed renewable capacity to 2.16 TW, exceeding 40% of the global total. China's 2060 carbon neutrality goal is supported by a growing suite of detailed energy and climate policies, yet whether near-term actions are already on a pathway that converges with that target remains uncertain. Here, we evaluate how sectoral policy measures adopted between 2019 and 2024, and their plausible near-term extensions, shape China's decarbonization trajectory using a policy-informed integrated assessment model with provincial detail. Our results show that, compared to Current policy, national CO2 emission intensity falls by 12% to 0.35 kgCO(2) per 2020USD and the nonfossil share of primary energy increases from 33% to 44% by 2035 under Continued policy strengthening. Most near-term reductions are driven by solar and wind expansion as well as industrial and building efficiency gains. However, sustaining such momentum exposes regional disparities: in several western provinces, annual power sector investment requirements are comparable to more than 5% of 2023 provincial GDP. Nationally, cumulative power sector investments exceed $13 trillion through 2060, concentrated in solar and wind technologies. By linking national targets with disaggregated policy and investment pathways, this study provides an actionable framework for assessing the feasibility and equity of deep decarbonization in heterogeneous economies.

ABSTRACT Using a dataset of listed firms on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China, we find that mixed‐ownership reform (the Reform) can reduce unproductive expenditures in both state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) and non‐state‐owned enterprises (non‐SOEs). However, the underlying mechanisms differ. The governance effect dominates in SOEs, whereas the resource effect dominates in non‐SOEs. Further tests reveal that shareholder type and the appointment of directors, supervisors, and senior executives affect these effects. In addition, the interaction effect of the Reform and unproductive expenditures helps reduce the policy burdens of SOEs and increases the donations of non‐SOEs. Our findings remain robust after various tests. Our research has significant implications for advancing mixed‐ownership reform and enhancing market efficiency.

In the era of the digital economy, data has emerged as a critical factor of production. The exploration of methods to unlock the economic value inherent in the vast reservoirs of public data held by the government has now begun to draw the attention of scholars. However, little research has considered this issue from the perspective of financial market stability. Leveraging the staggered establishment of public data open platforms (PDOPs) across different cities of China and employing the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model, we find that the establishment of PDOPs significantly decrease local firms' stock price crash risk (SPCR). Our results remain valid after various robustness tests, such as placebo tests, entropy balancing analysis, alternative measures of SPCR, as well as alternative difference-in-differences (DID) estimators. Furthermore, additional evidence suggests that the observed effects are driven by two mechanisms: improved operating performance and enhanced external monitoring. The former mechanism reduces the generation of bad news within firms, while the latter restricts managers' ability to hoard bad news. Further research findings show that the motivation of management to withhold bad news and the nature of firms' property rights are important factors affecting the relationship between public data availability and SPCR. Overall, our findings suggest that government can help improve capital market resource allocation efficiency by supplying public data to market participants.

Previous research found that companies that fail to mitigate carbon emissions will make higher carbon disclosures than companies that successfully mitigate carbon emissions, and companies will also make decisions that are relevant to applicable regulations and policies. This research will explore the stakeholder perspective in assessing the company. This stakeholder perspective will determine whether more adequate regulations are needed to address the problem of greenwashing and stakeholder protection. This research will also explore whether the transparency of carbon information carried out by companies is directly proportional to the accountability for mitigating carbon emissions and whether current environmental regulations are able to motivate companies to mitigate environmental pollution. The results of the study found carbon emission disclosures have a positive effect on financial performance. Carbon emission disclosure has a positive effect on green innovation. Carbon emission disclosure has a negative effect on the cost of debt. The period of ratification of Presidential Regulation No.98 can strengthen the relationship between carbon emission disclosure and financial performance as measured by return on equity (ROE), but not with financial performance as measured by Tobin's Q. The period of ratification of Presidential Regulation No.98 can strengthen the relationship between carbon emission disclosure and green innovation. The period of ratification of Presidential Regulation No.98 has no effect on the relationship between carbon emission disclosure and the cost of debt.

Using a proprietary data set from the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, we examine the relationship between Supply Chain Finance (SCF) and strategic change in core firms. Our analysis reveals that SCF facilitates strategic change in growing firms but hinders it in declining firms, with no significant effect on mature firms. In growing firms, SCF enhances risk-taking capacity and reduces equity costs, while in declining firms, it stabilizes supply chains and increases customer concentration. In mature firms, SCF leads to strategic inertia. Economic tests suggest SCF aids firms in establishing unique competitive advantages at various stages of their life cycles.

Using manually collected firm-level data on foreign subsidiaries, we examine the impact of internationalization on analysts’ earnings forecast bias in Chinese corporations. We find that analysts’ earnings forecast bias is stronger among multinational firms when compared with domestic firms, and the higher the level of internationalization, the greater the bias in analysts’ earnings forecasts. Various methods, such as the Heckman two-stage least squares, propensity score matching, and difference in difference tests, are employed to ensure the robustness of our results. The mechanism analysis indicates that oversea business complexity, information asymmetry and analysts’ experience are critical factors that moderate the relationship between international diversification and forecast bias. These findings have important implications for multinational corporations, analysts, and investors.

We examine auditor responses to the voluntary resignation of independent directors. We show that auditors respond by increasing audit fees or rescinding engagement with their clients, but not by increasing their audit effort. Mechanism tests reveal that independent directors' voluntary resignation leads to increased regulatory sanctions and negative media coverage, these relationships are more pronounced after the New Securities Law. Auditor response strategies follow an order of priority: at an acceptable level of perceived risk, auditors increase audit fees; when perceived risk exceeds this level, auditors will discontinue the client relationship. Auditors associate greater risk with firms that have (vs. have not) experienced consecutive voluntary resignations by independent directors. Mandatory resignation has no such effect. (c) 2024 Sun Yat-sen University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

The implementation of the sustainability concept through Environmental, social, governance (ESG) by companies is an important step to address global challenges related to sustainability issues. The ESG guidelines of the Indonesian Ministry of Finance are one of the efforts made by the Indonesian government to address sustainability issues. Unlike previous studies, this study uses the ESG guidelines in assessing ESG disclosures of Indonesian companies. It is necessary to analyze how the level of ESG disclosure of Indonesian companies based on these guidelines can affect the search for company performance focused on company value, cost of capital and carbon performance. This study aims to analyze the relevance of the implementation and disclosure of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) based on these guidelines to company value, cost of capital, and carbon performance. This study uses a random effects model to analyze the relationship between variables with a sample size of 754 (Companies, years). The results show that ESG has a positive and significant effect on company value, ESG has a negative and significant effect on cost of capital, and ESG has a negative and significant effect on carbon performance. This study can explain that stakeholders are more interested in companies that seem to care about sustainability issues. The government needs to strive for more adequate regulations and sanctions to address sustainability issues and also protect stakeholders.

The rapid proliferation of information and communication technology has accelerated innovation in financial instruments, resulting in a heightened transformation of the competitive landscape and regulatory framework within the banking sector. Despite ongoing policy debates regarding the role and significance of financial innovation and regulation, there is a scarcity of empirical studies investigating their implications in the context of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Therefore, this study seeks to bridge this gap by examining the impact of financial innovation and regulation on bank performance. Specifically, it assesses how financial innovation influences bank performance and how this interaction varies across different aspects of the institutional environment in relation to bank performance. To achieve the objectives of study, we employ panel regression methods, including fixed and random effect models, to analyze a dataset consisting of 88 banks from SAARC countries for the period 2007 to 2019. Our findings reveal a significant positive relationship between financial innovation and banking performance. In addition to this, bank regulation has a moderating role in the relationship between financial innovation and bank performance over the sample period. This indicates that both financial innovation and regulation help to improve the quality and efficiency of banking services.

This study examines the effect of fiscal stress on EM, using data on China's firms over 2008–2019. We find that firms engage in income-decreasing REM due to fiscal political stress induced costs. A one standard deviation increase in fiscal stress leads to 1.1% of total assets increase in income-decreasing. We also find that the firms manage their earnings downward through abnormal production costs and discretionary expenses. In addition, both SOEs and private firms are sensitive to political costs. This paper contributes to the political cost hypothesis and provides further insights into the influence of fiscal stress on firms' behavior.

Country-level corporate governance reduces uncertainty, transaction, and search costs and ultimately affects banking performance. In this study, we look at the connections between financial innovation and a bank's ability to make money, as well as the role of corporate governance at the country level. We utilized the data of 88 banks from five South Asian countries over the period 2007-2019. In addition, we used the data from World Bank governance indicators for country-level governance. The results showed that there is a strong and positive link between financial innovations and a bank's profits. This suggests that financial innovation makes banking services better and more efficient, which helps banks make more money. Also, corporate governance at the country level had a positive and important effect on the link between financial innovation and a bank's profits.