Table of Content

15 February 2022, Volume 0 Issue 2

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Theoretical Economics

Unified Market, Information Technology and Agricultural Product Price: An Empirical Analysis Based on the Shock of COVID-19 Epidemic

ZHANG Hao, WANG Zhen-xia, LI Yong-jian

2022, 0(2):  3-15. 

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The outbreak of COVID-10 Epidemic can be used as an external shock to study the role of unified market and information technology in stabilizing the prices of agricultural products. The empirical analysis based on the daily price data of 29 products in 160 wholesale markets across China with the difference-in-difference method shows that market segmentation has a significant amplification effect on the price rise of agricultural products after the occurrence of COVID-19. However, the unified market pattern of farm products circulated in the whole country has not been affected fundamentally by the epidemic, and even the small jump phenomena of market segmentation after the Spring Festival usually seen in previous years is not obvious. Further analysis shows that the improvement of informatization level of market players is one of the important reasons for this, while the gap of informatization level between regions has a negative impact on the integration of the markets. These conclusions suggest that relying on the ultra-large domestic markets and unblocking the domestic cycle and the domestic unified markets will help improve the ability of China to respond to external shocks.

Floating Population and Economic Development: An Empirical Research Based on Urban Panel Data

ZHANG Li-guo, LENG Lang-ping

2022, 0(2):  16-27. 

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In recent years, the phenomenon of population return in China indicates that the floating population and economic development are not simply the linear relation. The empirical research using the urban panel data from 2009 to 2018 shows that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the floating population and the economic development. The developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen etc., have gradually entered the stage of population backflow, while most of the remaining regions are still in a stage of positive correlation between floating population and economic development. In terms of spillover effect, economic development has a significant positive spatial spillover effect, which can promote population inflows in the surrounding areas. Population floating has a significant siphonic effect, which can inhibit the population inflow in the surrounding areas to a certain extent. Therefore, the developed areas should realize the inevitable trend of population backflow and promote the“double transformation and upgrading”of the industrial structure and the demographic structure. The underdeveloped areas should conform to the general trend of population backflow, undertake industrial transfer from developed areas, reasonably guide the returned population and let them set down, and promote the further development of urbanization and rural revitalization.

Public Economics & Administration

Market Participation in Vital Emergent Events Management: Generative Logic, Risk Spillover and Counter-Risk Choices

NAN Rui, WANG Jing-jie, ZHU Wen-jun

2022, 0(2):  28-40. 

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The dual characteristics of vital emergent events, i.e. vital and emergent, lead to the higher-degree complexity of the governance situation, while the emergence management mode of the traditional administrative control model is difficult to respond effectively. In order to improve the market mechanism and give full play to the efficiency, professionalism and competitiveness of the market, the market participation in the emergency management is imperative. The generation logic of market participation in the vital emergent events management can be divided into exogenous logic and endogenous logic. The exogenous logic is manifested as the emergency management of administrative control type, which is difficult to adapt to the highly complex emergency situations, and would result in multiple risks. The endogenous logic is manifested as the advantages of government and market complementing each other, which can work together to promote better governance in emergency. Market participation in vital emergent events management will generate risk spillovers while eliminating and reducing traditional risks, that is, the alienation of traditional government risks, the cluster of enterprise interest risks and the superposition of multiple public risks. In the face of rapid risk spillover, it is necessary for us to make counter-risk choices from the three dimensions of time, content and management, and build a vital emergent events management community participated by the government, the market and the social organizations.

The Fiscal Reform of“Province-Managing-County”and the Fiscal Violations of Local Governments: An Empirical Study Based on Fiscal Governance and Audit Governance

ZHU Ying, HUANG Ke

2022, 0(2):  41-53. 

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Fiscal governance and audit governance are the foundation and important components of the government governance system. This paper takes advantage of the“Province-Managing-County”(PMC) finance reform to explore the impact of these two forms of government governance on local government fiscal violations. The findings show that the fiscal PMC reform can significantly increase the amount of fiscal violations by county governments, but this effect will decrease gradually and fade away in 5 years. The mechanical analysis indicates that the increase of the amount of fiscal violations by county-level governments is mainly due to the loosening of audit supervision restrictions caused by reform in a short term, while the audit supervision environment being strict and the improvement of audit technology efficiency can effectively restrict the fiscal violation behaviors. There is no evidence to support that fiscal incentives are the channels through which the reform affect the fiscal violations of county-level governments. Further study finds out that the fiscal PMC reform can also increase the amount of fiscal violations by prefecture city governments; however, its influencing mechanism is mainly due to the fiscal incentives generated by not participating in the county-level tax sharing or losing of fiscal interception opportunities. Therefore, it is suggested to balance the fiscal decentralization relationship between governments, improve audit quality and audit independence, and pay attention to the policy coordination of fiscal system reform and government audit system reform.

Modern Finance

Reflection on Asset Prices in Inflation Target of Monetary Policy: From the Perspective of Asset Bubbles

YANG Qiu-yi, LANG You-ze

2022, 0(2):  54-65. 

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The inflation target is the crucial variable when the central bank formulates monetary policies. In recent years, the major developed countries maintain a low rate of inflation when injecting massive money into the economy, which challenges the effectiveness of monetary policy: The traditional inflation target measured by price index is not only incapable of accommodating the new changes of consumer expenditures at the stage of high-quality development, but also unable to capture the influence of the asset prices and the prices of investment goods on the price perception of residents, which cannot been ignored at present. By constructing a general equilibrium model with the credit constraints, this paper introduces asset price bubbles that can be pledged into the inflation target and examines the effectiveness of monetary policy regulations on the macro economy. The results show that although asset bubble fluctuations can restrain household consumption, it leads the fund to flow into the production sectors, booming the production of the real economy. The monetary policy taking asset prices into considerations in the inflation target can smooth the bubble fluctuations and stabilize economy. When the asset prices are considered, the consumption restraints caused by bubble fluctuations will be reduced, thus social welfare will be improved. Therefore, the adjustment of macroeconomic policies should lay emphasis on the true reflections of asset prices on inflation level, stabilize market expectations under specific situations, and flexibly lead the economy to develop in a stable and healthy way.

The Financial Agglomeration Effect and the Influencing Mechanism of the Rise of City Clusters

XIE Yang, HONG Zheng

2022, 0(2):  66-78. 

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The formation and evolution of city clusters are deeply influencing financial agglomeration and regional financial development; however, the traditional researches have neglected the influence of city clusters on financial agglomeration. By measuring the financial agglomeration degree of 18 city clusters in China, this paper studies the temporal and spatial characteristics and the financial agglomeration effect of financial agglomeration during the process of the evolution of city clusters as well as the mechanism affecting the financial agglomeration in city clusters with the help of the β convergence model and the spatial econometric technology. The findings show that city clusters are becoming a significant factor affecting financial agglomeration. To be specific, financial resources are accelerating the agglomeration from non-city clusters to city clusters, and from underdeveloped city clusters to developed city clusters. The internal of city clusters at different development stages has different“center-outskirts”agglomeration effects; the underdeveloped city clusters show a siphonic effect, the rapidly developing city clusters a connected effect, the developed city clusters a radiation effect, and the down turning city clusters a dissipation effect. The level of coordinated development within city clusters is an important mechanism affecting financial agglomeration. Therefore, we should speed up the planning and construction of city clusters, innovate the coordinated development mechanism for city clusters, and promote the coordinated development of regional finance.

Business Administration

The Influence of Dual Institutional Pressure on CSR Report Disclosure: Catering or Defending

ZHAO Xiao-yue, JIA Ming, ZHANG Zhe

2022, 0(2):  79-90. 

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The existing researches focus more on the impact of conflicts among multi-dimensional stakeholders on CSR report, less on how conflicts from the inside of the same stakeholder affecting the internal mechanism of the release of CSR report. Combining the resource dependence theory, this paper puts forward that when enterprises are faced with conflicting demands from different departments within the same level of government, they will respond to the above-mentioned pressure by choosing different forms of contents in CSR reports, namely, to disclose the specific social responsibility activities substantively or symbolically. The results indicate that with the increase of financial pressure, or when the financial pressure is greater than the environmental protection pressure, enterprises will make substantial disclosure on the operation part of CSR report. As the environmental protection pressure increases or the environmental protection pressure is greater than the financial pressure, enterprises will make symbolic disclosure on the environmental part of CSR report. The above hypothesis is supported by the empirical studies based on the data of China's listed companies from 2013 to 2017. This paper conducts an analysis of the impact of conflicting government pressure from the same level on the corporate strategic and political behaviors, which has enriched the relative researches on institutional complexity and corporate political actions.

Mixed Ownership Reform and Charitable Donation Behaviors Optimization in State-Owned Enterprises

MA Xin-xiao, TANG Tai-jie, HU Jun

2022, 0(2):  91-102. 

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Consciously fulfilling the civic obligations is an important driving force for micro-enterprises to settle down and even to achieve economic and social stability. To optimize the charitable donation behaviors also has become an important target of state-owned enterprises in advancing their mixed ownership reforms in the new era. Taking the state-owned listed companies from 2008 to 2018 as the samples, this paper investigates whether the mixed ownership reform can promote the optimization of the state-owned enterprises' charitable donations characteristics on the basis of hand sorting the natures of shareholders, the equity ratio and the information of the appointed directors. The findings show that to send directors to state-owned enterprises by non-state shareholders and to participate in their governance can alleviate agency problems and improve the efficiency of operation and management, thereby exerting a positive effect on the charitable donation behaviors of state-owned enterprises, which is manifested in the increase at the level of charitable donations. Further research indicates that this effect is more obvious in local state-owned enterprises, the enterprises in the competitive industries and those with higher external social expectations. Finally, non-state-owned shareholders' governance can enhance the value effect of charitable donations of state-owned enterprises and improve the quality of their social responsibility information disclosure. This conclusion indicates that the participation of non-state shareholders in the high-level governance of state-owned enterprises can optimize their charitable donations and realize their economic goals in an comprehensive way, which not only supports the active exploration of the decision-makers to improve the governance of state-owned enterprises, but also does useful supplement to the academic researches on the charitable donations and the heterogeneous shareholder governance of state-owned enterprises in the context of deepening the reform in all respects.

Industry & Trade

How Does the Division of Domestic Value Chain Affect the Efficiency of Resource Allocation within the Industry

LI Feng

2022, 0(2):  103-114. 

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In the context of the rising of counter globalization wave and the global value chain being blocked, is carrying out the division of domestic value chain beneficial to the improvement of resource allocation efficiency within China's industries? Compared with the regional market segmentation, the division of domestic value chain can generate obvious technical progress effect and resource allocation effect. Through the empirical analysis of the data of the industrial level of China's provincial regions from 2002 to 2007, it is found that the resource allocation efficiency in the eastern coastal areas is superior to that of the inland areas on the whole, while the ever deepening of the division of domestic value chain has pushed the improvement of resource allocation efficiency within the industry. This effect is more significant in the inland areas, indicating the convergence of the gap of resource allocation efficiency between the regions. In terms of the influencing mechanism, with the deepening of the degree of domestic value chain embedment, the industrial layout in inland regions becomes more concentrated, thus promoting the rapid improvement of resource allocation efficiency. Therefore, it is urgently required to thoroughly destroy the interregional administrative barriers and local protectionism, improve the efficiency of resource allocation in eastern coastal areas with the characteristic industrial clusters and the specialized inter-regional division of labor, and seize the historical opportunity of the national new western development plan to promote the division of domestic value chain and the industrial gradient transfer.

Technology Spillovers and Corporate Competitive Environment: Empirical Evidences from Limited Companies of China

LIU Chao-yu

2022, 0(2):  115-126. 

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To identify the impact and transmission mechanism of technology spillovers on corporate competitive environment correctly can help clarify the affecting path of technology spillover on corporate production, so as to allocate production factors and other resources among the enterprises more efficiently. From the perspective of spatial economics, this paper extends the regression model of technology spillovers, and performs an empirical analysis based on the micro dynamic panel data of A- and B-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2000 to 2016. The findings show that, firstly, when the technological level and the other conditions remain the same, the intra-industry technology spillovers can push the competition that they are faced to be eased on average. Secondly, the inter-industry technology spillovers will significantly increase the competitive pressure that the enterprises are faced. Thirdly, the lagging items of the competition degree will make the current competition degree adjust in the opposite direction. The result of the mechanism study reveals that the impact of technology spillovers on the corporate competitive environment is transmitted through the flow of production factors among enterprises; the re-allocation of the production factors of different types has rather big differences in its impacts on the corporate competitive environment of different industries. These conclusions have practical significance in the distinguishing of the heterogeneous production effect of technology spillovers and the depicting of the law of dynamic evolution of corporate competitive environment, thus they can effectively guild the enterprises to obtain the factors and carry out production in competitive environment.

Modern Accounting

Can the Reform of Environmental Protection Fee to Tax Suppress Corporate Financialization? A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law

YU Lian-chao, XIE Peng, LIU Qiang, BI Qian

2022, 0(2):  127-137. 

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The reform of environmental protection fee to tax marks a shift from a government-led pollution discharge fee system to a market-oriented environmental tax system; then can this change suppress corporate financialization and promote the high-quality development of the real economy? Taking the implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law in 2018 as an opportunity and China's A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2015 to 2020 as samples, this article explores the impact of the reform of environmental protection fee to tax on corporate financialization by using a double-difference approach. The findings show that the reform of environmental protection fee to tax can significantly inhibit corporate financialization; when the market system is better and the media supervision is stronger, the reform of environmental protection fee to tax has a more significant inhibitory effect on corporate financialization. The results of further intermediate mechanism analysis show that the mechanism of the reform of environmental protection fee to tax in inhibiting corporate financialization lies in that it can help enterprises to increase environmental protection investments and R&D investments.

Corporate Business and“Blood-Making”Poverty Alleviation: Sustainable Poverty Reduction Effect and Corporate Strategic Effect

ZHANG Jing-xin, QIN Shuai, TAN Jin-song

2022, 0(2):  138-148. 

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At present, under the guidance of the national poverty alleviation strategy, enterprises are actively carrying out the“blood-making”poverty alleviation according to their own business advantages, thus they have achieved the unification of economic benefit and social benefit. Taking the A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2016 to 2019 as samples, this paper explores the sustainable poverty reduction effect and the corporate strategic effect of enterprises'“blood-making”poverty alleviation behaviors. The findings show that the enterprises with better quality products and business invest more in their“blood-making”poverty alleviation. Further study finds out that enterprises with higher-quality products and businesses can significantly improve their poverty alleviation performance and their own financial performance by carrying out “blood-making”poverty alleviation, so as to achieve the double win of their corporate benefit and their social benefit.