The rapid increase in household leverage in China has led to potential financial risks and threatened socio-economic stability. In mitigating household debt risks, the effectiveness of monetary policy regulation varies significantly with differences in household financial literacy. Based on micro-level household financial data from China, this paper delves into the impact of monetary policy on household leverage and its underlying mechanisms and analyzes the role of financial literacy in the transmission of monetary policy. The findings reveal that expansionary monetary policy helps reduce household leverage, while contractionary monetary policy leads to an increase. Monetary policy affects household leverage through the “income effect,”“wealth effect” and “substitution effect.” Notably, low financial literacy amplifies the impact of contractionary monetary policy on leverage, whereas high financial literacy mitigates this effect. This paper suggests strengthening financial regulation and risk warning systems, optimizing the design of monetary policy transmission, promoting multi-tiered financial product supply, and deepening the promotion of financial literacy education to achieve an effective balance between “stable growth” and “risk prevention.”

How a terrorist attack (TA) as an extreme shock affects the energy efficiency of the attacked country has been controversial. This study investigates the relationship between TAs and energy intensity (EI) based on generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation utilizing cross-country panel data of 68 countries from 1970 to 2016. The findings reveal a generally negative effect of TA on EI. Subsample regression results further suggest that the magnitude of this negative impact varies depending on political party orientation (left-wing vs. right-wing) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) status of the country. Our analysis also identifies that the negative effect of TA on EI is primarily driven by the implementation of energy efficiency policies (EEPs) and the rise in energy prices (EPs) following an attack. Additionally, we find that more efficient government institutions can positively moderate the adverse effect of TAs on EI. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the complex dynamics between security shocks and energy efficiency, with important policy implications for enhancing resilience through institutional efficiency and energy management strategies.

The circular economy is vital for sustainability, yet its resilience to unexpected socio-economic shocks is not well understood. This study explores the impact of one of the major global disruptive events, the COVID-19 pandemic, on the circular economy by focusing on copper recycling. Using transaction-level data from a waste trading platform and causal inference methods, we evaluated how the pandemic disrupted copper scrap supply and transactions. The findings indicate significant and enduring negative effects, including reduced trading volumes, prices, and material diversity. The disruption was uneven across sectors: laborintensive industries were most seriously affected, while technology-intensive and capital-intensive sectors demonstrated greater resilience. To enhance recovery and strengthen the resilience of a circular economy, we recommend coordinating policy and market signals, incentivizing resilience-enhancing practices, and balancing efficiency, sustainability, and resilience goals. By mitigating adverse effects from unexpected disruptions, these strategies aim to foster a more resilient circular economy.

This study examines the socio-economic factors influencing material efficiency in over 100 countries from 1970 to 2016, amidst growing material consumption and environmental concerns. It assesses material efficiency using production and consumption metrics, revealing four distinct trajectories reflecting diverse economic and demographic contexts. The research shows that globally, economic growth and technological advancement significantly enhance material efficiency. However, the effects of such factors vary greatly by income, human development level, and aging demographics. As countries advance in income and human development, and as their populations age, the beneficial effect of economic growth on material efficiency diminishes. Conversely, the positive impact of technological progress intensifies with higher levels of human development. Moreover, as societies age, population growth shifts from hindering to promoting material efficiency, especially in "super-aged" societies. The findings highlight the need for context-specific strategies for material efficiency, acknowledging the unique stages of development and demographics of each country.

Under the dual-carbon background, enterprises' ESG performance and sustainable development capability have become a topic of great concern to all sectors of society. The ESG industry in China is very young, and there isn't much research looking at how ESG performance relates to business risk for corporations. This paper empirically tests the impact of firms' ESG performance on their business risk. It discusses the mechanism from the viewpoints of financing constraints and agency costs, the moderating role of economic policy uncertainty, and the analysis of differences in corporate size. The results indicate that firms with strong ESG performance experience a significant reduction in business risk. These firms face lower financing constraints and agency costs, which contribute to the mitigation of business risk. Furthermore, economic policy uncertainty moderates the link between ESG performance and business risk. Additionally, the influence of ESG performance on business risk is more significant in larger-scale companies.

Under dual constraints of green production responsibility and recycling responsibility, the optimal contract between upstream and downstream firms is crucial to achieve low-carbon development, but information asymmetry poses a great challenge to the above contract design. Based on Stackelberg game theory, this paper develops a contract model in a supply chain with information asymmetry under dual environmental responsibility constraints, in which the producer invests in green technology while the retailer exerts green marketing efforts. The paper aims to explore how the producer designs optimal contracts under the different information structures to improve environmental performance while ensuring profitability. Results indicate that: (i) in the full information scenario, the two-part optimal contract makes the decentralized supply chain to achieve the same channel profit and carbon emissions as the centralized scenario. (ii) In the information asymmetry scenario, the producer should design differentiated contract configurations for different types of retailers to eliminate double marginalization. That is, the producer designs low wholesale price and high side payment for the high-type retailer, which enables the producer to earn high profit with low carbon emissions and makes the retailer to obtain additional information profit. While under some conditions, the producer considers the possibility of terminating cooperation with the retailer of low-type, as such a cutoff policy not only guarantees the profitability of the channel members but also improves environmental performance. Furthermore, the impact of some key factors on firms' decisions, profits, and equilibrium carbon emissions is summarized to guide management decisions.

Low-carbon urban policy (LCUP) and corporate green innovation are considered crucial strategies and methods for reducing urban carbon emissions, addressing climate change, and promoting urban environmental sustainability. This study constructed a quasi-natural experiment based on the low-carbon city strategy program implemented in China in 2010, utilizing data from Chinese prefecture-level cities and publicly listed companies from 2005 to 2020. Employing a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) approach, this paper reveals that the establishment of low-carbon model cities effectively fosters green innovation in corporations. Further analysis demonstrates that this promotional effect is particularly significant in non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises with high media attention, those with a high level of digitalization, and enterprises located in cities with high levels of green finance and in the Eastern and Central regions of China. These conclusions withstood a series of robustness tests, confirming their validity. Meanwhile, the examination of policy mechanisms reveals that public environmental awareness, government environmental regulation, and corporate environmental information disclosure are three key policy transmission mechanisms through which LCUP affects corporate green innovation. The findings of this study provide significant empirical insights for addressing climate change and enhancing the sustainable capacity of urban environments.

Rapid urbanization in Chinese cities has led to a surge in municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, necessitating the development of high-quality MSW disposal facilities. This study utilizes multi-source data and regression models to examine the status, development pathways, and driving forces of MSW disposal facilities in China. Our findings reveal an inverted U-shaped relationship between the capacities or numbers of MSW disposal facilities and GDP per capita of cities. Historical data show that cities in East and Southeast China preferred incineration, while cities in West and Central China developed landfills more, largely shaped by the imbalance of development levels and endowments among regions in China. The study also identifies mixed and differentiated influences of socioeconomic factors on capacity expansion and increases in the number of MSW disposal facilities. The results suggest the need for updated construction guidelines and regulations, as well as enhanced technological and managerial capabilities for MSW infrastructure. These findings can inform policymakers and practitioners in their efforts to promote sustainable waste management practices in China.

家族企业作为社会发展的主要参与者,在促进经济增长方面发挥着不可替代的作用.家族企业若想实现长期发展,必然依靠创新.然而,我国家族企业普遍面临创新投入不足、创新产出效率低下等问题.基于2010—2018年中国上市家族企业数据,分析经济政策不确定性对于家族企业创新是否存在激励作用.结果发现,经济政策不确定性提高,会对家族企业创新研发活动投入与产出产生正向激励作用,促进家族企业创新.从融资约束与政府补助视角,分析两者在上述正向激励作用中的调节作用.结果表明,对于融资约束小以及受到政府补助的家族企业而言,其受到经济政策不确定性的正向激励作用更显著,有助于其开展创新研发活动.结论不仅验证了经济政策不确定性对于家族企业创新的激励作用,还揭示了融资约束以及政府补助的调节作用,可为政府制定相应补助政策,构建完善的金融市场提供理论支持和经验证据.

本文基于中国城市居民家庭消费金融调查数据,研究了金融知识、收入风险对家庭金融市场参与行为的影响.通过双栏模型研究发现,金融知识对家庭金融市场参与意愿和参与程度都有显著的正向影响,金融知识水平提高1个单位,家庭参与金融市场的概率提升3.06％,参与金融市场的家庭投入资金比例将提高0.66％;收入风险对家庭金融市场参与意愿有显著负向影响,收入风险每增加1个单位,则家庭参与金融市场的概率减少2.92％.