Accelerating the construction of a unified national market, breaking down local protectionism and market segmentation, and stimulating the innovation motivation and vitality of research and development entities are powerful measures to build a new development pattern and promote high-quality economic development. The empirical analysis based on the data from Chinese prefecture level cities and listed companies from 2003 to 2019 shows that market segmentation has significantly inhibited corporate technological innovation, and that market segmentation has a restraining effect on technological innovation in high-tech industries, digital economy industries, and state-owned enterprises, while its impact on non high-tech industries, non digital economy industries, and non-state-owned enterprises is not significant. This indicates that market segmentation has a more serious hindering effect on enterprises that rely on technological innovation to maintain market competitiveness. The mechanism test reveals that market segmentation has reduced the degree of market competition and hinders the formation and intensity improvement of regional industrial clusters. Further research shows that market segmentation is not conducive to cultivating regional localization innovation capabilities and hinders the development of technological innovation. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the inherent connection between market segmentation and enterprise technological innovation. We should take market-oriented reforms as the guide, enhance the enforcement of competition policies, accelerate the construction of a unified national market, and promote the implementation of innovation driven development strategies.

Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important measure for China to realize high-level opening-up and high-quality economic development. The development of industrial intelligence can enhance the quality of urban labor supply, promote industrial restructuring, improve the level of innovation, and form agglomeration economies, thus becoming a“new engine”for China to attract foreign investments. The empirical study based on China’s 2008-2019 municipal panel data shows that, firstly, industrial intelligent development can significantly attract FDI inflows. Secondly, the mechanism analysis shows that the human capital optimization effect, the innovation-driven effect, the industrial structure optimization effect, and the industrial agglomeration effect are the important channels through which industrial intelligent development attracts FDI inflows. Thirdly, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that, in the cities with higher levels of trade liberalization and east of the Hu Huanyong Line, the development of industrial intelligence has a stronger attraction for FDI; in addition, due to the agglomeration effect of industries, the development of industrial intelligence has a stronger role in attracting FDI in the cities of lower administrative levels. Fourthly, further analysis finds that, by attracting the inflow of FDI, industrial intelligent development promotes the development of the city’s foreign trade and promotes the improvement of the city’s total factor productivity. Therefore, we should further promote the development strategy of urban intelligent industry, focus on differentiated policy adjustments, and give full play to the important role of industrial intelligence as a “new engine”for China to attract foreign investments.

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of CPC called for further comprehensive deepening of reforms to further liberate and develop productive forces. Deepening the reform of the tax sharing system is undoubtedly the key to developing new quality productive forces, solving development problems, and promoting sustained growth. The 30-year reform of the tax sharing system is a process of proactive adjustment of the fiscal system around the goal of liberating and developing productive forces, while the construction of a modern fiscal system requires it to further support the development of new quality productive forces. The distribution logic based on the Marxism view of the state, the method logic based on goal coordination and competition mechanism, and the standard logic of fairness and efficiency are the logical foundations for the tax sharing system to promote the development of new quality productive forces. The development of new quality productive forces requires continuous improvement of the tax sharing system in improving resource allocation efficiency, balancing fiscal functions, and stimulating local government enthusiasm. To this end, three major strategies are proposed to deepen the reform of the tax sharing system: optimizing the allocation of fiscal resources through the “allocation paradigm”and“transaction paradigm”, with the aim of strengthening resource coordination and competitive efficiency; adopting the fiscal management strategy of “evidence-based management” and “ratio indicators”, with the aim of introducing a mechanism for displaying fiscal functional preferences and improving budget performance; deepening the reform of fiscal revenue and expenditure division based on the principle of “benefit”, with the aim of standardizing fiscal operations and strengthening budget constraints.

The digital economy has become an important engine to promote the development of new quality productive forces and a driving force to promote Chinese-style modernization. Under significant financial pressure, it is crucial for local governments to utilize limited financial investment to promote the rapid development of the digital economy. Based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2022 in China, this paper investigates the impact and mechanism of fiscal technology investment intensity on the development of the digital economy. The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between fiscal technology investment intensity and the level of digital economy development, and with the increase of fiscal technology investment intensity, both the digital industrialization and industrial digitization levels show a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. The mechanism analysis shows that a higher intensity of fiscal science and technology input is not conducive to the formation of digital human capital, the construction of digital infrastructure, and the improvement of technology market activity. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in the samples of the eastern region, better economic base and poorer business environment, the inverted U-shaped relationship between the intensity of fiscal science and technology input and the digital economy is more obvious. Therefore, it is recommended to continuously optimize the direction of fiscal science and technology input, and improve the efficiency of fiscal fund utilization; to make fiscal science and technology input plans based on local conditions, and promote the coordinated development of regional digital economy; to strengthen the research and development of digital technology and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and empower the development of new quality productivity forces.

Improving the construction of the capital market system is an inevitable path to enhancing the functions of the capital market, but the effectiveness of the registration system reform remains to be discussed. From the perspective of stock price collapse risk and investment returns, this paper takes A-share listed companies from 2019 to 2022 as samples and applies dual machine learning to analyze the impact of the registration system reform on the capital market. The findings indicate that the registration system reform not only suppresses the risk of stock price collapse in the capital market, but also reduces the long-term holding returns of investors, reflecting a“double-edged sword”effect. This phenomenon is particularly significant in non-state-owned enterprises, public utilites and industrial enterprises, enterprises with high institutional shareholding ratios, and enterprises in the eastern region. The causal mediation effect shows that the registration system reform plays a role through the three paths: improving the quality of corporate information disclosure, suppressing irrational trading by investors, and reducing capital market liquidity. In addition, the registration system reform can alleviate the financing constraints faced by listed companies, but at the same time, it exacerbates the phenomenon of“focusing on financing”while supporting the development of the real economy. To this end, the government should strengthen the supervision of information disclosure and investor education, improve the delisting system, establish a sound investment return mechanism, and ensure that the registration system reform promotes the sustained and healthy development of the capital market.

The standard of unemployment insurance benefits is closely related to employees’ perception of unemployment risks, and studying its impact on corporate investment decisions has important practical value. Based on the practical background of Chinese physical enterprises’ enthusiasm for allocating financial assets, this study empirically tests the impact of unemployment insurance benefits on the structure of corporate financial asset allocation. The results show that unemployment insurance can significantly increase the level of corporate financial asset allocation, meanwhile, it also increase the short-term financial asset allocation driven by the“reservoir”motivation and the long-term financial asset allocation driven by the“investment substitution”motivation. The mechanism testing shows that unemployment insurance benefits can change the investment willingness and preference of enterprises. The increase in investment willingness strengthens the“reservoir”motivation, and the preference for high-yield financial investment strengthens the“investment substitution”motivation. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in companies with higher levels of employee care and higher quality of information disclosure, the promotion effect of unemployment insurance benefits on financial asset allocation is more significant. Furthermore, with the significant increase in unemployment insurance benefits, the motivation for corporate financial asset allocation has shifted from“reservoirs”to“investment substitution”. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the economic effects of unemployment insurance should be conducted, and efforts should be made to optimize labor security while improving the quality and efficiency of enterprises.

In the context of digital transformation, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance of enterprises is crucial to open green innovation. Based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2022, this study explores the mechanism of the impact of corporate ESG performance on open green innovation in the context of digital transformation. The findings show that good ESG performance has a positive promotion effect on the open green innovation of enterprises, and the conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests; in the case of a higher level of regional digital economy development and a higher degree of enterprise digitization, this promoting effect is more significant. The heterogeneity analysis shows that ESG performance has a stronger promoting effect on open green innovation in high-tech enterprises, enterprises with higher regional trust levels, and enterprises with strong financing constraints. Based on the above findings, enterprises should establish a modern ESG management system, fully leverage the benefits of regional digital economic development, and proactively promote the role of corporate digital transformation in fostering an open green innovation system and cultivating ESG capabilities.

In the context of further integration of digital economy and real economy, digital economy has become the key force driving Chinese modernization. Consequently, a thorough examination of enterprise digital transformation behaviors holds significant importance. An empirical study based on the data from A-share non-financial listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2007 to 2021 shows that there is a significant industry peer effect in the digital transformation of enterprises, revealing the phenomenon of industry interaction and clustering in the digital transformation of enterprises. The mechanism analysis results show that competitive pressure is the core driving force of the peer effect in the digital transformation industry of enterprises, which is mainly manifested as the better the information environment and the more intense the market competition, the more significant the peer effect in the industry. The expansion analysis reveals that the higher the performance level and geographical proximity of the peer enterprises, the more significant the industry peer effect, which conforms to the law of logical imitation and the principle of internal first and external second. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis results indicate that the industry peer effect of digital transformation is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises and high-tech enterprises with relatively fierce competitive environments.

In the context of increasing external environmental uncertainty, enhancing the endogenous driving force of the domestic circulation is crucial. The industrial chain and supply chain are the key to the domestic economic cycle, and the digital economy is conducive to breaking through the key bottlenecks in the operation of the domestic industrial chain and supply chain, becoming an important lever to smooth the domestic circulation. The deepening of division of labor and cooperation among various regions in China is an intuitive manifestation of the smooth domestic circulation. Taking the length of the domestic value chain as a characterization variable of the development level of the domestic circulation, this paper theoretically analyzes and empirically tests the impact of the digital economy on the domestic circulation. The findings show that the digital economy significantly promotes the increase of the length of the domestic value chain, effectively smoothing the domestic circulation. The industry heterogeneity indicates that the digital economy is conducive to the development of labor-intensive manufacturing and downstream domestic circulation, and has a stronger driving effect on the domestic circulation of non productive service industries. The heterogeneity of the digital economy in different dimensions indicates that industrial digitization, digital applications, digital infrastructure, digital industrialization, and digital development environment all contribute to the smooth circulation of the domestic economy, but their effects gradually decrease. The mechanism analysis shows that reducing market segmentation is an important mechanism for the smooth domestic circulation of the digital economy. Therefore, in order to promote the development of the domestic circulation, attention should be paid to optimizing the digital development environment, promoting the development of digital industrialization, further stimulating the empowering effect of the digital economy on high-tech industries, accelerating the construction of a unified national market, and better playing the important pivot role of the digital economy in facilitating the domestic circulation.

The spatial divergence of pollution control and emission effects between central and peripheral cities has led to the occurrence of emission reduction“islands”, which restricts the high-quality development of regional green development. Based on the center-periphery spatial structure, a theoretical model of pollution control and emission spatial effects is constructed to explain the reasons for the formation of emission reduction“islands”from the perspective of heterogeneity in scale returns of production activities between cities. Combined with the panel data from 279 prefecture level cities in China from 2003 to 2016, this paper makes use of spatial network analysis and spatial econometric models to provide empirical tests for the theoretical deduction results. The findings show that under the effect of increasing returns to scale, the output level of unit pollutant emissions increases with the increase of urban centrality, and the emission control effect of the central cities is more obvious, leading to the formation of emission reduction“islands”. The spatial urban emission control effect is positively correlated, the higher the centrality of the city, the more significant its positive spatial spillover effect from other cities; and the“island”of emission reduction is further strengthened. The heterogeneity of the dominant industries between central and peripheral cities and the resulting industrial associations are the fundamental reasons for the spatial divergence of emission control effects. Therefore, it is necessary to accept the basic reality that it is difficult to automatically bridge the emission reduction gap between central and peripheral cities solely based on the internal strength of the economic system. However, policy supply can be optimized from the perspectives of promoting the transformation of green industries in the peripheral cities, accelerating the spillover of green technologies from the central cities, and enhancing the economic cooperation between central and peripheral cities, in order to maximize the relative convergence of the pollutant discharge intensity.

Government public data opening is a crucial initiative for advancing data circulation and sharing, strengthening the competitiveness of the digital industry, and fostering the ecosystem for digital economic growth. Using the data from A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2023, this paper studies the impact of government public data opening on corporate risk-taking. The findings suggest that government public data opening can increase corporate risk-taking levels, with the effect being more pronounced when the quality of data opening is higher. The mechanism analysis reveals that government public data opening can optimize the governance mechanism of enterprises, alleviate financing constraints, and expand the physical investment space of enterprises. Therefore, government public data opening can improve the risk-taking level of enterprises. The heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the effect of government public data opening on corporate risk-taking is especially pronounced in the enterprises with higher levels of digital transformation, limited analyst coverage, and lower information disclosure quality. Therefore, it is essential to improve the public data opening system and enhance the quality of government data opening.

Currently, the digital economy has become the new engine of China’s high-quality economic development. In this context, it is urgent for enterprises to promote digital transformation. For this purpose, this paper takes China’s A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2022 as samples to investigate the impact of the equity investments by city investment platforms on enterprises’ digital transformation and its underlying mechanisms. The findings show that the equity investment by city investment platforms can enhance the digitalization level of enterprises. The mechanism test reveals that after the city investment platform invested in enterprises, it could alleviate the enterprises’ financing constraints, improve their innovation capacity, and reduce their agency costs. Therefore, the investment of the city investment platform in enterprises can promote the digital transformation of enterprises. The heterogeneity analysis shows that if the city investment platform has higher credit rating, higher administrative level and higher shareholding ratio, the enterprises that invested on the city investment platform will play a more obvious role in promoting the digital transformation of the enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary to actively promote the cooperation between enterprises and city investment platforms to promote the digital transformation of enterprises.