Jinning Zhang

From the perspective of financialization motivation, this study empirically investigates the impact and mechanism of economic policy uncertainty on firm financialization using data from China's A‐share listed firms from 2010 to 2021. The results show that economic policy uncertainty has a positive effect on firm financialization, and the effect is more significant when uncertainty is high. Moreover, economic policy uncertainty promotes firm financialization by enhancing the “precautionary saving” motivation and inhibits firm financialization by alleviating the “profit chasing” motivation, and the “precautionary saving” motivation has a greater impact. Both financing constraints and executive financial experience play a positive moderation role. And there is heterogeneity in financial asset categories and marketization degree.

In this study, we investigate the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China’s carbon emissions. We use data for a panel of 30 Chinese provinces over the period January 2020 to December 2020. The results indicate that carbon emissions in China decreased considerably during the COVID-19 outbreak. This finding remains robust when we use different proxies for core variables. The pandemic had a more pronounced impact on carbon emissionsin regions with a surplus of carbon emission allowances, and the negative effects of the pandemic on carbon emissions were greater in the first half of 2020 compared to the second half. Reduced carbon emissions are just a temporary and short-term benefit of the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative impact of COVID-19 on China’s carbon emissions is unsustainable in the long-run. This study provides valuable recommendations for China and other countries to achieve green economic recovery and climate goals in the post-pandemic era

As the global COVID-19 rages around and world, economic uncertainty increases, and green and sustainable development is facing tough challenges. Based on a panel data of 30 Chinese provinces from January to December 2020, we investigate the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on China’s carbon emissions. The results indicate that carbon emissions in China decreased considerably during the COVID-19 outbreak. This finding remains robust after replacing the core variables. The negative impact of COVID-19 on China’s carbon emissions is not sustainable in the long run though. This study provides valuable recommendations for China and other countries to achieve green economic recovery and reach climate goals in the post-epidemic era.

In recent years, the increasing trend of financialization of non‐financial enterprises and the improvement of total factor productivity (TFP) have attracted extensive attention. The research sample for this study covers non‐financial firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2008 to 2020. Then an econometric regression model is built to examine the impact of financialization of non‐financial enterprises on enterprises' TFP. The mediation effect model is used to investigate the mechanisms of non‐financial enterprises' financialization (NFEF) on TFP. The heterogeneity in investment efficiency, property rights and political affiliation is further discussed. The findings show that the NFEF has a considerable negative influence on enterprises' TFP, which still stands after endogenous treatment and a series of robustness tests. Moreover, NFEF significantly inhibits TFP by crowding out R&D investment and significantly promotes TFP by alleviating financing restrictions. Both the ‘crowding‐out effect’ and ‘reservoir effect’ of financialization of non‐financial enterprises are verified, and the former is greater. The influence of NFEF on TFP has the heterogeneity in investment efficiency and political affiliation, but the heterogeneity in property rights is insignificant.

The promulgation and execution of green credit (GC) policies have had a significant influence on the development of the economy and society, and their impact on low-carbon development (LCD) needs to be taken seriously. On the basis of elaborating the mechanism of the role of GC on LCD, this study constructs a panel fixed effects (FE) model to test the direct impact of GC on LCD by using Chinese provincial-level data from 2007 to 2020. An intermediary effect model is constructed to investigate its indirect effects. A dynamic SDM is further constructed to examine the spatial effects of GC on LCD in neighbouring regions. The results show that GC is helping China to achieve LCD. GC can promote LCD through promoting green innovation, optimizing energy structure and upgrading industrial structure. It is crucial to acknowledge that all three pathways are essential channels of influence and should not be disregarded. GC not only fosters LCD in the local areas, but also has a positive spatial spillover effect in adjacent regions. Based on the above conclusions, this study proposes policy recommendations such as increasing support for GC, smoothing the transmission channel from GC to LCD, and establishing a synergistic linkage mechanism between interregional credit and environmental governance. This study provides valuable insights for China to realize LCD, as well as for other countries to actively engage in energy conservation and emission reduction efforts.

Global environmental issues are becoming increasingly prominent, and green finance may play a key role in achieving sustainable development. This study takes the “Green Financial Reform and Innovation Pilot Zone” policy as a quasi‐natural experiment. The Difference‐in‐Difference model and Propensity Score Matching‐Difference in Difference model are applied to examine the direct effect of green finance policy on the green development of enterprises. A mechanism test model is used to investigate its indirect transmission mechanism. Then several heterogeneity analyses are performed from five perspectives. The results show that green finance policy considerably promotes enterprise green development and the conclusion is supported by a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analyses show that financing constraints and green innovation are the two transmission channels for green finance policy affecting enterprise green development. The heterogeneity analyses indicate that the policy effect is more significant among enterprises those are non‐state‐owned, have managers with a financial background, operate in regions with high marketization, belong to industries with low monopoly, and locate in poilt zones of Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Guizhou. Based on the above findings, policy suggestions are made to establish a win‐win scenario for the economy and the environment.

This study selects Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020 as the research sample, constructs a Difference-in-differences model to analyze the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect policy on enterprise green innovation. The transmission channels are tested, and the heterogeneity of this impact is further explored. It is found that the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect policy has significantly improved the total level, quality and quantity of enterprise green innovation, and the effect on the total level and quality is greater than the quantity. The Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect policy can effectively alleviate the financing constraints faced by enterprises, improve the information environment of enterprises, and thus improve their green innovation. There is heterogeneity in the nature of property rights, corporate social responsibility, industry monopoly and regional marketization in the promotion of enterprise green innovation by the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong stock connect policy. First published online 21 July 2023 Keyword : capital market opening, enterprise green innovation, financing constraint, information environment