ABSTRACT Research on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance usually treats it as an aggregate capability that lowers firm risk and pays little attention to how evenly a firm develops across the three pillars. We examine ESG imbalance, defined as pronounced unevenness in a firm's environmental, social, and governance development, and ask how it affects corporate risk‐taking and whether this effect depends on CEOs' early‐life experiences. Using a panel of 15,570 firm‐year observations on Chinese A‐share listed firms from 2006 to 2024, we find that ESG imbalance raises corporate risk‐taking, reflected in higher net leverage and lower cash holdings. Drawing on imprinting theory, we use the Great Chinese Famine as an exogenous shock and show that this amplifying effect is muted among firms led by CEOs who experienced early‐life scarcity. The famine imprint thus shapes how executives respond to structural ESG risk, acting as a cognitive buffer rather than a uniform tendency toward caution. In doing so, the study extends imprinting theory to the setting of ESG governance and corporate risk‐taking and shows that the direction of an early‐life imprint depends on the nature of the adversity, with chronic scarcity fostering preservation rather than risk‐seeking. These findings caution against relying on aggregate ESG ratings and point to the value of structural balance across the E , S , and G dimensions for corporate governance and sustainable finance.

We conceptualize corporate green innovation as a portfolio of real options providing strategic flexibility against regulatory and market uncertainty. Using a return-volatility framework on Chinese listed firms, we find systematic asset pricing evidence of option-like pricing. Green patents significantly strengthen the positive sensitivity of firms' stock returns to volatility. This premium is facilitated by financial analysts' information discovery and ESG funds' capital allocation. Cross-sectional analyses reveal this option value is amplified for firms facing high environmental liabilities, demonstrating strong green governance, or holding technologically diversified and complex portfolios. Consistent with real options dynamics, this premium dissipates following green investment peaks and surges after environmental policy shocks. We demonstrate how capital markets price sustainable, strategic assets.

Government procurement in developed countries is becoming increasingly important. Little is known,however, about its role in developing countries, in particularly how it affects firms' market power in environments with imperfect institutional frameworks. This paper examines how large-scale government procurement in China influences firms' market power by using a dataset of Chinese government procurement contracts involving A-share listed companies. We find that firms experience a significant increase in market power after securing government procurement contracts. This surge in market power can be attributed to improvements in productivity, alleviation of financial constraints, and reductions in marketing expenditures. The effect is particularly pronounced for small firms, state-owned enterprises, and firms in industries with lower levels of competition. Overall, our findings provide valuable insights into the impact of government intervention on market dynamics.

Current research has not yet reached a consensus on the relationship between corporate diversification strategies and risk, in part because of the difficulty in addressing the potential endogeneity of diversification strategies and the fact that the manifestation of risk becomes more pronounced only under strong exogenous adverse shocks. The outbreak of COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to re-examine the relationship between corporate diversification strategies and risk. We find that the outbreak of COVID-19 significantly increases the bankruptcy risk of firms employing diversification strategies. The further test reveals that the increased overall cash flow volatility, and financing constraints resulting from reduced bank and trade credit are the primary mechanisms behind this effect. However, heterogeneity tests indicate that the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the bankruptcy risk of diversified strategic firms is significantly mitigated when the firms are state-owned, have affiliations with customers or suppliers, hold shares in commercial banks, or maintain a high level of information disclosure quality. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the potential vulnerability of diversification strategies when faced with significant adverse shocks.

China’s prolonged real estate expansion has profoundly reshaped economic incentives and social structures, raising concerns about how housing price inflation may erode social trust and credit behavior. Using a novel dataset on city-level dishonest judgment debtors between 2003 and 2018, we examine how elevated housing prices shape the integrity of the social credit environment. Our results show that a 1000 CNY increase in housing prices per square meter is associated with a 4.5% rise in the share of dishonest firms. This relationship is particularly pronounced in higher-tier cities and among non-real estate firms, suggesting that the moral strain induced by unaffordable housing and unequal access to asset appreciation may distort credit behavior. Further analysis reveals that stronger legal enforcement and prevailing moral norms help attenuate this effect, while greater income inequality amplifies it. This highlights the complex interplay between asset inflation, institutional capacity, and social stratification in shaping the moral foundations of market behavior under rapidly urbanizing contexts. By tracing how asset-driven housing booms may undermine social ethics and creditworthiness, this research contributes to broader debates on the unintended institutional costs and social consequences of real estate expansion in emerging markets.

Given the limited information for assessing borrowers in online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, the textual content of loan requests has been recognized as a crucial factor influencing lenders' lending decisions. However, whether politeness, an important but largely neglected linguistic element in loan requests, is related to lenders' decisions remains underexplored. Drawing from signaling theory, this paper seeks to answer two important questions: (1) Is the use of polite language in loan requests related to lenders' decisions? (2) If so, for which types of borrowers or loans is politeness more beneficial? We test our theoretical framework using a sample of 127,044 loan requests from Renrendai, a leading online P2P lending platform in China. Our findings reveal a significant and positive relation between the use of polite language and the likelihood of successful funding. This positive relation is stronger for borrowers with higher credit ratings, higher education levels, as well as for loan requests with lower information richness and higher certainty in language. Our findings suggest that politeness functions as a costless signal that complements costly signals, reducing information asymmetry in P2P lending. This paper bridges the gap between the literature on the role of politeness in individual decision making and information asymmetry in financial markets, providing new insights into the role of language use in P2P lending.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the matching relationship between factor endowment and industrial structure, and its impact on economic growth.Design/methodology/approachThe assortative matching method is developed to quantitatively measure the matching between factor endowment and industrial structure. A series of empirical tests are then carried out to evaluate the impact on the economic development of the matching.Findings1) The matching between factor endowment and industrial structure has a significantly positive impact on economic growth. (2) Economic growth reaches its maximum when the gap between the two sectors narrows to zero. (3) This effect is particularly significant for countries with higher GDP per capita and GNI per capita. (4) The results remain robust after employing a series of tests.Practical implicationsAggressive industrial policies are not desirable. The optimal industrial structure is the one that complied with the comparative advantage of the given factor endowment in the economy.Originality/valueSo far, there has been a significant lack of an applicable quantitative indicator for measuring the matching between factor endowment and industrial structure, which is essential for conducting empirical tests and providing evidence for related economic theories.

Synopsis The research problem This paper assesses whether and how people’s perceptions of time — strong future time reference (FTR) versus weak FTR — affect corporate default risk. Motivation or theoretical reasoning Studies have shown that default risk varies across firms, regions, and countries, highlighting the need for a comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors. Traditional studies focus on how firm-level, industry-level, national and international economic and financial variables shape corporate default risk, but they fail to explain cross-country and cross-regional differences in corporate default risk from the perspective of informal institutions, particularly, language. This study takes the first step to examine whether and how future-oriented language shapes corporate default risk. The test hypotheses We first tested whether strong-FTR language decreases corporate default risk. We further tested whether the effect of strong-FTR language on default risk depends on firms’ level of information transparency. In addition, we tested whether the effect of strong-FTR language on default risk depends on a country’s disclosure requirements. Lastly, we tested whether the effect of strong-FTR language on default risk depends on a country’s control of corruption. Target population We find that corporate default risk is significantly higher in regions dominated by speakers of weak-FTR languages, using a comprehensive sample of firms in 36 countries with 180,013 observations spanning from 1988 to 2017. Adopted methodology Ordinary least square regressions were used in this study. Analyses Corporate default risk is measured by two proxies of firm probability of default, following Merton [(1974) Journal of Finance, 29(2), 449–470] and Lee and Lin [(2012) Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions, and Money, 22(4), 973–989]. Our independent variable is Strong FTR, which equals 1 if a language belongs to the strong-FTR language family, as defined by the European Science Foundation’s Typology of Languages in Europe (EUROTYP) project. If a language does not require “obligatory [FTR] use in (main clause) prediction-based contexts” [Dahl (2000)Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe, O. Dahl (Ed.), pp. 309–328], then we put this language into the weak-FTR group. On the other hand, if a language does have the above-mentioned requirement, then it belongs to the strong-FTR group. Findings We found that corporate default risk is significantly higher in regions dominated by speakers of weak-FTR languages. Furthermore, the FTR effect on default risk is weakened in countries with stronger formal institutions (e.g., high disclosure quality, greater transparency, and less corruption). Our results introduce a new explanation for heterogeneity in corporate default risk, provide insights about whether language is an economic institution, and adds to research on the effects of languages on economic and financial outcomes.

晋升锦标赛下,官员在有限任期内存在晋升预期差异,由此导致的短视行为的变化可能对创新产出造成影响.然而现有文献并未从官员晋升动机视角深入研究城市创新的制度动因,也未曾厘清官员任期等政治体制对创新活动的具体影响机制.本文利用2004-2016年285个城市的面板数据,通过多元统计回归分析,实证检验了官员任期如何通过经济增长目标影响城市创新的机制路径,并从土地财政、环境治理视角提出了新机制路径.研究发现:(1)相对于市长,市委书记任期对城市创新的影响更大,且呈现出显著的倒U型关系;(2)市委书记的更替显著抑制了城市创新水平的提升;(3)机制分析发现,市委书记的任期通过动态影响经济增长目标制定,土地财政依赖以及环境治理水平进而对城市创新产生影响.譬如当经济增长目标越高,官员越倾向于采用短视的扩张策略刺激经济,进而减少对创新活动的投入;(4)异质性分析发现在市场化条件较好,东部以及城市规模较大的地区,市委书记任期对创新的U型特征仍然显著.本文建议政府在推进财政分权体制改革时,应采用因地制宜的推进方式,将"有效市场"与"有为政府"更好地结合起来.本文研究结论丰富了晋升锦标赛理论的经验证据,有助于理解行政体制对高质量转型发展的影响.

在防范和化解重大风险背景下,企业投融资期限结构错配问题越来越受到学术界关注.基于国务院出台的去产能政策信息,以2010-2020 年中国A股上市企业为研究样本,实证研究抑制型产业政策对企业投融资期限结构错配的影响和作用机制.结果显示:去产能政策缓解了产能过剩行业企业的投融资期限结构错配,即政策抑制了企业"短贷长投"行为.机制检验表明,去产能政策主要通过抑制企业固定资产投资和增加企业内源融资发挥缓解企业投融资期限结构错配的作用.异质性分析发现,相较于民营企业,去产能政策对国有企业投融资期限结构错配的缓解作用更强.对抑制型产业政策与企业投融资期限结构之间关系的认识能够为更好地推行产业政策、防范和化解金融风险提供重要启示.

PurposeThis paper empirically investigates the relationship between financial availability and crime by measuring it across five dimensions: banking, securities, insurance, private lending and digital inclusive finance.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes 2011–2017 data from prefecture-level cities as a representative sample. Moreover, these findings remain robust after addressing endogeneity through the use of the historical distance between cities and the railroad network as an instrumental variable.FindingsThe findings demonstrate a significant negative relationship between financial accessibility and crime rates. Heterogeneity exists in the inhibitory effect of different types of financial accessibility on crime, with banking finance exhibiting a stronger inhibitory effect compared to private lending. Areas affected by natural disasters and infectious diseases exhibit a stronger inhibitory effect of financial accessibility on crime rates, particularly in areas with severe shocks of natural disasters and epidemics. This effect is attributed to the low financing threshold and easy access to private lending, which plays a more effective role than bank finance when people face extreme risks.Practical implicationsThere should be stricter regulations imposed on private lending markets and the introduction of more rational legislation aimed at guiding a healthy development within these markets; such measures serve as effective and complementary means for individuals from all walks of life to access credit financing.Social implicationsThe regulation of financial resources by the government should always prioritize ensuring the accessibility of financial policies to cater to the needs of the majority population.Originality/valueThis study is for the first time in an emerging economy context, the causal relationship between financial accessibility and crime. To provide a more comprehensive measure of financial accessibility in a region, this paper proposes a five-dimensional methodology.

Different types of capital are better suited to financing technologies with different risk profiles, and structural matching between finance and technology may critically influence economic growth. Using cross-province panel data from China, we estimated the impact of the matching relationship between regions' financial structure and technology level on economic growth. We show that: (i) the matching relationship had a statistically significant positive impact on economic growth; (ii) structural mismatching reduced economic growth in comparison with the optimal matching point; (iii) structural matching better facilitated economic growth in more developed regions; and (iv) capital accumulation and technological progress were two of the main channels through which matching influenced economic growth. We address potential endogeneity concerns and perform robustness checks, and our results remain valid. Our findings provide convincing evidence for the optimal financial structure theory and explain China's rapid growth despite its comparatively underdeveloped securities market.

通过构建一个关于金融与法治的新的理论框架,并借鉴婚姻经济学中的排序匹配法构造金融结构—法治环境匹配度指数,实证检验了金融结构—法治环境匹配度与技术进步的关系.结果显示,金融结构—法治环境匹配度越高,技术进步越快.证券市场与强法治的匹配以及银行体系与弱法治的匹配均能促进技术进步,从而逻辑一致地解释了欧美发达国家和中国等发展中国家的技术进步路径.

Although researchers have extensively documented the effect of urban educational resources on families and individuals, the impact of these resources on corporate decision-making remains underexplored. Hence, this study uses the imbalance in urban educational resources across China to examine the effect of these resources on corporate labor costs. We gather data from publicly listed companies in China from 2003 to 2018 to examine this relationship. We find that urban educational resources have a causal and negative influence on labor costs. We further show that urban educational resources affect employee remuneration via the employee turnover channel. The impact is more prominent in firms with high employee bargaining power, cities with low barriers to settlement, and privately owned companies. Overall, this study combines intergenerational interactions with compensation incentives to provide new evidence on how employees can obtain compensation for their families’ education costs.

企业的任何投资决策高度依赖于企业的内部现金流,对企业现金流不确定性的变化非常敏感.本文利用2005-2016年沪深A股上市公司数据,检验了实体企业持有房地产的内在决定因素——现金流不确定性的作用机理.结果发现:(1)现金流不确定性对企业房地产持有的预防效应占主导,即现金流不确定性会加剧企业融资约束程度,进而抑制房地产投资.(2)在不同的现金流不确定性程度下,现金流不确定性双重效应的主导地位会发生变化.即当企业面对高现金流不确定性时,现金流不确定性的预防效应占主导.反之,资助效应占主导.(3)前一年高现金持有及现金流正向流动会缓解现金流不确定性对企业房地产持有的预防效应.(4)一线城市会加强现金流不确定性的预防效应,而房地产超额回报率和担保物权制度改革会削弱这种效应.因此,建议企业尤其是先进制造业企业,不应高杠杆经营房地产业务,应降低非主营业务的债务负担与经营风险,将有限的金融资源集中于技术创新.此外,企业应客观地应对现金流不确定性的冲击,管理好现金流不确定性,密切关注不同城市的金融财政政策和房地产调控政策,合理规避"风险".

本文以2010—2017年沪深两市非金融类上市公司为样本,基于上市公司的年报文本,采用文本分析法,构建衡量企业竞争文化的指标,并研究企业竞争文化对于股价崩盘风险的影响.研究结果表明,企业在年报中越强调竞争,股价崩盘风险越大.在采用双重差分法及工具变量法解决可能存在的内生性问题后,结论依然稳健.机制检验发现,企业内部有意识的文化建设及机会主义行为是影响股价崩盘风险的潜在渠道.进一步的研究表明,竞争文化的作用强度受到行业竞争力、员工裁员压力及代理问题的影响.本文不仅从企业文化的微观视角丰富了股价崩盘风险影响因素的研究,为文化金融提供了新的微观经验证据,而且为市场各方洞悉独特的企业文化对金融市场稳定的规制作用提供实证参考.

This study examines the impact of cash-flow uncertainty on corporate dividend payouts and how this impact is shaped by country-level institutional environments. Employing a large sample of 41,157 firms in 49 economies from 1996 to 2018, we document that cash-flow uncertainty has a negative impact on dividend payouts and that this negative relation is more pronounced in economies with stronger institutions. Our results indicate that strong institutions could facilitate information disclosure, reduce government interventions and promote corporate financing opportunities, thus making firms less subject to agency costs and less motivated to disguise their cash-flow risk.

硅谷和深圳的经验表明,对创新来说,用风险投资类证券市场资金来匹配高技术人才会更有效率.因此本文根据新结构金融学强调的金融要与资源禀赋结构相匹配的原则,考察金融结构与劳动力结构之间的匹配度对技术创新的影响.本文借鉴社会学排序匹配方法,将中国2005～2018年间31个省的金融结构与劳动力结构分别通过标准排序并相减来构造匹配度指标,进而对创新进行回归.实证结果表明:匹配度与创新之间显著正相关,市场型金融结构与高技能劳动力匹配、银行主导型金融结构与低技能劳动力匹配能够促进创新产出增长,且匹配度对创新增长的解释力强于金融结构与劳动力结构的简单交乘项;金融-劳动力结构差距与创新成"倒U型"关系,即匹配度存在最优状态使得创新产出边际增长达到最大值;创新产出水平越高,结构匹配对创新增长效应越大.本文首次考察并验证了金融与劳动力的结构匹配问题的重要性,拓展了传统增长理论中有关劳动与资本相互替代这一总量分析结论,也为新结构金融学提供了新的经验证据.

市场分割不利于企业跨区域资源整合.本文研究高铁开通对企业异地并购活动的影响,求证交通基础设施缓解市场分割的作用.研究发现:高铁开通能分别提高企业17.02％的跨市并购和12.31％的跨省并购的发生概率,以及28％的异地并购成功概率,显著降低了市场分割对资源流动的阻碍作用,该结论经过工具变量检验和安慰剂检验后依然成立;且这一效应在国有企业更为显著,在市场分割程度高的地区更加显著;"润滑剂机制"是高铁开通促进异地并购的作用机制.进一步分析发现,高铁开通一方面会增加异地并购收购方的企业价值,但另一方面也会加剧收购方的过度投资.本文的研究丰富和拓展了高铁经济学、市场分割和异地并购的相关研究,有助于理解交通基础设施、政府干预及企业异地投资对经济发展的影响.

本文以2020年新冠疫情为准自然实验,构建双重差分模型探究新冠疫情对于居民存款的影响,实证结果发现:新冠疫情受灾程度与居民存款显著正相关,动态效应分析表明这种影响在疫情发生后具有一定持续性,异质性分析发现这种影响在农村更加显著,机制检验结果表明疫情对于存款激增的作用主要是通过影响消费者信心和投资者情绪实现的.本文验证了新冠疫情对居民存款激增的促进作用,丰富了疫情经济学的研究,为从建立消费者信心、完善资本市场方面刺激消费的政策设计提供了经验证据.