Table of Content

15 May 2023, Volume 0 Issue 5

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Theoretical Economics

Artificial Intelligence, Employment Structure and High-Quality Development

SHI Dan, YE Yun-ling

2023, 0(5):  3-14. 

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As a leading force in a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) is bound to have a profound impact on the high-quality development. Based on the panel data of 283 cities in China from 2008 to 2019 and bringing the employment structure of the labor force with different skills into the analytical framework of AI and high-quality development, this paper conducts an empirical study. The findings show that the application of AI can promote the upgrading of urban industrial structure, raise the level of urban technological innovation and green and low carbon, so as to further promote the high-quality development of the cities. From the perspective of theoretical mechanism, the application of AI can promote high-quality urban development by reducing the employment share of low-skilled labors and increasing the employment share of high-skilled labors. From the perspective of different regions, the application of AI in the eastern region can significantly promote the high-quality development of the cities, and the high-skilled labor force will strengthen the impact of AI on the high-quality development; while the application of AI in the northeast region will significantly inhibit the high-quality development, and the low-skilled labor force will intensify the inhibition of AI on the high-quality development. The above conclusions suggest that the application of AI should be actively promoted to enable the high-quality development. Meanwhile, different regions should formulate differentiated AI development strategies according to the objective realities, such as employment structure and so on.

High-Quality Human Capital and China's Urban Economic Resilience: An Empirical Analysis Based on the University Enrollment Expansion Policy

SUN Hong-xue, ZHU Jin-he, WANG Ya-li

2023, 0(5):  15-28. 

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Cultivating and strengthening the reserve army of high-quality talents is the fundamental guarantee for building a strong country with talents and enhancing the country's economic resilience.By employing the double difference method and constructing a quasi-natural experiment based on theexogenous shock policy of university enrollment expansion in 1999, this paper conducts an empirical study with the result that the scale expansion of high-quality human capital caused by the university enrollment expansion policy can improve the resilience of China's urban economy. The result of the mechanism test shows that the scale expansion of high-quality human capital can enhance the resilience of urban economy by promoting the entrepreneurial vitality of cities, raising the urban wage level, and strengthening the urban informatization level. The heterogeneity test shows that the improvement effect of high-quality human capital on urban economic resilience is more prominent in eastern cities, large-scale cities and cities with high economic development level. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the strategy of strengthening the country through talents and improve the quality of education in the institutions of higher learning; meanwhile, to increase the policy tilt to areas with backward education resources, optimize the fertility subsidy policy, and improve the supporting facilities of the fertility policy; in addition, to accelerate the construction of the policy support system for entrepreneurial cities, so as to enhance the economic resilience of China's cities.

Public Economics & Administration

Fiscal Policy to Promote High Quality Development of County Economy under the Background of Chinese Modernization

WANG Qiao, WANG Yu-qi, QI Zong-fu

2023, 0(5):  29-38. 

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The high-quality development of county economy is an inevitable requirement of Chinese-style modernization. For a long time, China's county economy has bottle-neck problems in three aspects which cannot meet the requirements for the common prosperity for all, i.e., the insufficient investments in the county infrastructure and serious brain drain; the uneven levels of county economic development and difficult industrial transformation and upgrading; the lower efficiency in the use of county resources and incompetent economic radiation drive capacity. Under the impact of the domestic and foreign economic downturn and the outbreak of novel coronavirus infection, China's county economic development is faced with more difficulties. The county-level finance is an important foundation for county economic development, and the healthy operation of county finance plays a key and fundamental role in promoting the high-quality county economic and social development. However, China's county finance is obviously insufficient to support county economic development, mainly in terms of weak revenue growth, increased expenditure pressure, prominent local debt risks, and so on. In order to strengthen the financial foundation of counties and promote the high-quality development of county economies, this paper suggests to take measures from the following four aspects: the first is to reform the financial system and mechanism, increasing the income of urban and rural residents, and laying the foundation of common prosperity; the second is to promote the transformation of county industries, enhancing the vitality of county economies, and widening the sources of county finances; the third is to improve the fiscal policy and system, strengthening the management of financial income and expenditure, and improving the efficiency of financial funds; and the fourth is to strictly manage local debts, preventing the risks of local debts, and ensuring county economic security.

Legalization of Government Budget, Fiscal Transparency, and Local Fiscal Efficiency: Evidences Based on the Implementation of the New Budget Law

MO Long-jiong, ZHANG Xiao-lu

2023, 0(5):  39-51. 

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The legalization of government budgets and the disclosure of financial information are the core goals of the reform of public budget governance, which are crucial for achieving the modernization of local financial governance. From the new perspective of legalizing government budgets, and taking advantage of the implementation of the new Budget Law in 2015, this study empirically analyzes the impact of budget system reform on the efficiency of local financial governance by employing the Intensity Dual Difference Model (DID). The findings show that the implementation of the new Budget Law is conducive to the disclosure of financial information, thereby improving the efficiency of local fiscal expenditure. Further analysis shows that the legalization of government budgets can improve the efficiency of local fiscal expenditures by improving fiscal transparency and strengthening government audit supervision. The more perfect the market institutional environment, the higher the efficiency of government governance, and the higher the level of public attention, the more obvious the improvement effect of the implementation of the new Budget Law on the efficiency of local financial expenditure will be. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of the rule of law in government budgeting, promote the transparency of financial information, improve the long-term mechanism of budget supervision, constraints, and performance management, improve the governance capacity of local governments, establish a budget collaborative governance system with good interaction between the government and the public, and fully leverage the financial governance effect of the implementation of the new Budget Law.

Modern Finance

Strategic Alliances and Stock Price Crash Risk

CHEN Hong, ZHAO Rong-quan, ZHU Zhen, HU Yao-dan

2023, 0(5):  52-64. 

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With the increasing number of listed companies joining strategic alliances, the capital market effects of strategic alliances and their function mechanisms have become significant research topics. This paper conducts an empirical test based on the related data of strategic alliance cooperation announcements issued by listed companies in China from 2009 to 2021. The findings show that joining strategic alliances can generally inhibit the future stock price crash risks faced by the enterprises. This inhibition effect is more significant in the samples with lower total factor productivity, higher financial risks, greater management power, and lower media attention, which indicates that improving enterprises'resource allocation efficiency andoperational stability, and strengthening internal and external supervision of the alliance are important paths for strategic alliances to reduce stock price crash risks. Further examination reveals that both equity strategic alliances and contractual strategic alliances can inhibit the stock price crash riskssignificantly. It is found after distinguishing the characteristics of the allied partiesthat this inhibition effect is more significant when the alliance object is a listed company and the nature of the enterprise is not a leading one. Therefore, the relevant government departments should create a favorable policy environment for listed companies to carry out strategic alliance cooperation, regulate the operation mechanism of the alliance, and give full play to the function of the strategic alliances to reduce the stock price crash risks and promote the steady and healthy development of the capital markets.

Corporate Digitalization and Leverage Manipulation

LUO Hong, GUO Yi-ming, QIAO Hui-ying, WU Dan

2023, 0(5):  65-78. 

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Corporate leverage manipulating behaviors can increase both corporate financial risks and systematic financial risks. From the perspective of information complementarity, this paper conducts an empirical analysis. The findings show that corporate digitalization can significantly lower the degree of its leverage manipulation, and that the digitalization has a more significant inhibiting effect on their leverage manipulation of the enterprises with weaker relationships with banks. The results of a mechanism test show that corporate digitalization increases the public information transparency of the enterprises with weaker relationships with banks, release financing constraints and inhibit the leverage manipulation of the enterprises. Further analysis reveals that the media attention, R&D investment, and the strength of bank-firm relationships can play a moderating role in the impact of corporate digitalization on its leverage manipulation. The result of the economic consequence analysis indicates that corporate digitalization can adjust the leverage structure of the enterprises with weaker bank-firm relationship, promote the enterprises from virtual to real, optimize the efficiency of resource allocation of bank credit, and reduce bank dependence on collaterals. The above-mentioned conclusions not only clarify the channel through which corporate digitalization reduces corporate leverage manipulation from the perspective of information complementarity but also provide insights for promoting corporate digitalization, the development of bank-fintech, and the integration of digital technology and the real economy.

Business Administration

Value Chain Reconstruction Path in Digital Transformation of Traditional Enterprises and Its Mechanism: A Longitudinal Single Case Study from the Perspective of Digital Empowerment

YU Ke-fa, YANG Hui

2023, 0(5):  79-91. 

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With the fast development of information technology, to push the reconstruction of value chain through digital transformation has become an important strategic measure for many enterprises. From the theoretical perspective of digital empowerment, this paper explores how traditional enterprises can use digital technology to empower value creators in digital transformation, and then studies the continuous restructuring of enterprise value chain by combining the vertical single case study of Renhe Group, a traditional pharmaceutical enterprise. The findings show that: (1) during the process of digital transformation of the traditional enterprise, corporate value chain reconstruction experiences the evolution path of “optimization of internal value chain -- integration of industrial value chain -- construction of ecological value chain”; (2) digital technology can exert effect on enterprise value chain reconstruction, mainly through the empowerment on employee, customer, cooperation, process and product; (3) digitization drives ecological value chain construction to be the new competitive model, the construction ecological value chain is the main direction for enterprise value chain reconstruction in the era of digital economy. During the digital transformation of the traditional enterprises in the era of digital economy, to present the evolution path model of value chain reconstruction provides some management enlightenment for the traditional enterprisesto obtain systematic competitive advantages by constructing an ecological value chain with the help of digital technology.

Consultant Teams for M&As and the Duration of Cross-Border M&A Deals: The More the Better or Enough is Enough?

LI Ya-ting, ZHANG Zhu, QI Bao-xin

2023, 0(5):  92-105. 

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Cross-border M&A is not just a game between the target and the acquirer, the consultant is another important party in the transaction. However, the existing studies pay little attention to the role of consultant teams in cross-border M&As. Taking the cross-border M&As initiated by Chinese enterprises as analyzing targets, this paper studies the influence of the consultant teams hired by the acquirers on the duration of cross-border M&As.The results show that the larger the team of consultants, the longer the M&A transaction lasts. This conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests with instrumental variables, etc.. In addition, if the consultant team has abundant host country experience, or when the target is a public-listed company, the above-mentioned effect will be weakened. When the transaction is properly-ordered M&As or the top management team of the acquirer has rich overseas experience, the above effect will be strengthened. The above conclusions have complemented the previous literatures on the role of consultants in M&As, and enriched the understanding of the process before the completion of M&As of the existing literatures. Meanwhile, the results indicate that multinational enterprises should select appropriate consultant team in accordance with the characteristics of M&A transaction to improve the efficiency. Thus, this study provides important theoretical references for enterprises to carry out cross-border M&As.

Industry & Trade

Cultural Confidence and Sustainable Development of Cultural Product Trade

WANG Ying

2023, 0(5):  106-118. 

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Cultural confidence is a more fundamental, profound, and enduring force in national development, and the sustainability of cultural product trade is an important aspect of high-quality development of cultural trade. This paper for the first time uses the survey data of the world values to quantify cultural confidence. Based on the data of bilateral sextant cultural product trade statistics from 76 countries and regions worldwide from 2008 to 2017, it studies the impact of cultural confidence on the duration of cultural product export trade with the analytical method of discrete time survival model. The research results indicate that the cultural confidence, with full recognition and firm confidence in China's own excellent cultural values and cultural vitality as the important content, will play a significant promoting role in the sustainability of cultural product export trade. Social trust is an important channel for cultural confidence to promote the duration of cultural product export trade. Cultural confidence also plays a regulatory role in the relationship between cultural distance and the duration of cultural product trade, indirectly promoting the sustainability of cultural product export trade. Therefore, attaching great importance to the cultivation and enhancement of cultural confidence is of great guiding significance for promoting the sustainable development of China's cultural product trade. The government should increase the excavation, protection, and promotion of excellent traditional culture, and expand the international influence and the influencing range of Chinese culture. Enterprises should fully attach importance to the integration and innovation of ethnic cultural elements in cultural products, making unique ethnic cultural resources the deepest foundation and richest nourishment for maintaining the long-term competitive advantage of cultural products.

Research on the Influence of Cultivating New Business Style of Information Industry on the Spatial Pattern of Digital Economy

LIN Ting

2023, 0(5):  119-130. 

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The upgrading of information technology has cultivated the new style of information industry, improved the innovation efficiency of the whole society and spawned digital economy. Aimed at the characteristics of the increasing development gap between the southern and northern regions presented by the spatial pattern of digital economy of China, taking the“Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Innovation and Development of Cloud Computing and Cultivating New Forms of Information Industry”as the policy evaluation object, and combined with the data of digital industry development of 62 cities from 2010 to 2019, this paper employs the PSM-DID method to measure the effect of policy implementation on the spatial pattern of digital economy in China from the three aspects: the degree of production factor agglomeration, the scale of digital industrialization, and the level of digital industrial value. It also employs the“core-periphery”theory of spatial economics to analyze the inner mechanism of the evolution of spatial pattern of China's digital economy. The findings show that the implementation of the policy has accelerated the regional agglomeration of the three production factors of digital industry: human resources, capitals and lands. The scale of the regional digital industrialization has also been expanded, while no significant influence is found on the promotion of the level of industrial contribution and the level of industrial value of the regional data factor. Meanwhile, there is regional heterogeneity in the net effect of the policy implementation; the promoting effect of the policy implementation on the agglomeration of production factors and the expansion of industrial scale is obviously greater in the southern region than that in the northern region.

Modern Accounting

Can the Environmental Credit Rating System Optimize the Allocation of Trade Credit Resources?

YU Lian-chao, MA Ning

2023, 0(5):  131-141. 

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The environmental credit evaluation system is an environmental management means used by environmental protection departments to evaluate the environmental behaviors of enterprises, determine their credit rating, and make it publicly available to society. Then, can the environmental credit rating system exert any impact on the commercial credit financing of enterprises? By making use of the data of the A-share heavily polluting enterprisesin Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2014 to 2020, this paper explores the impact of the environmental credit rating system on corporate commercial credit financing. The findings show that the environmental credit rating system has a non-significant impact on the commercial credit financing of enterprises with better environmental credit, but it can significantly reduce the commercial credit financing of enterprises with poor environmental credit, indicating that the environmental credit rating system has a disciplinary effect on the commercial credit financing of the enterprises with poorer environmental credit. The cause lies in that the environmental credit rating system has increased the policy risks and market risks of enterprises with poorer environmental credit. Further research reveals that the incentive and disciplinary effects of the environmental credit rating system are more significant when the financial system is poorer and the industrial competition is fierce. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to optimize the environmental credit rating system, so as to strengthen the disciplining effect on the enterprises with poorer environmental credit.

Social Network of Institutional Investors and Information Quality of Critical Audit Matters

LI Chen-xi, CHEN Song-sheng, TAN Yun

2023, 0(5):  142-156. 

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Can institutional investors improve the transparency of corporate information disclosure and restrain the private-interest behaviors of the controlling shareholders by forming institutional investor groups through social network connection? This is a topic worth indepth study. Taking A-share listed companies from 2016 to 2020 as the research samples, this paper identifies the shareholding of institutional investors groups from the network of institutional investors based on social network algorithm, then it studies the influence of the shareholding of institutional groups on the information quality of critical audit matters (CAMs). The findings show that the shareholding of institutional investor groups has significantly improved the information quality of CAMs, which is manifested as that the higher proportion of shares of the enterprises held by institutional investor groups, the more diversified the disclosure forms of CAMs, the more sufficient the disclosed content, the lower the text similarity, and the higher the readability of the text. The results of the mechanism study show that the shareholding of institutional investor groups can realize the improvement of the information quality of CAMs mainly through the information supervision effect. The cross sectional analysis reveals that the information quality of CAMs is higher in the groups without institutional investor visits or with shareholdings of the long-term institutional investor groups. The above conclusions imply that in order to improve the information quality of CAMs, the auditors should have a macro-perspective of auditing the whole situation, the institutional investor groups should establish long-term value investment awareness and hold core investment concepts, and the supervision agencies should quicken the mechanism construction for the long-term institutional investors to participate in the markets .