Table of Content

15 June 2023, Volume 0 Issue 6

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Theoretical Economics

Digital Transformation, Labor Marketization and Enterprise Human Capital Investment

CAO Ke, ZHANG Rong-quan

2023, 0(6):  3-15. 

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Accelerating the construction of digital China and developing the digital economy cannot be separated from the support and guarantee of talents. This paper adopts the data from the World Bank’s China Private Enterprise Survey to analyze how enterprises invest in human capital during the process of promoting digital transformation. The findings show that digital transformation will promote enterprises to increase their investments in human capital. The specific measures are: to raise the requirements for educational level in the recruitment of employees, to increase the proportion of on-the-job training for productive employees, and to extend the duration of employee employment contracts. Further study reveals that R&D innovation and quality certification are important factors that promote digital transformation enterprises to increase their human capital investments. Although digital transformation enterprises with different informatization levels will all extend the employment contract period of their employees, enterprises with higher informatization levels pay more attention to the education level of their employees, while enterprises with lower informatization levels mainly carry out on-the-job training for productive employees. In addition, the labor market is an important external environmental factor that affects the human capital investment of enterprises in the process of digital transformation. Therefore, the policy measures such as resolving the segmentation and distortion of the labor market, improving the legalization level of the labor market, reducing improper regulation of the labor market, and strengthening the construction of the labor marketizationare of great significance in promoting enterprises to increase human capital investment in the process of digital transformation.

The Evolution Logic and Basic Laws of China’s Industrialization System since the Founding of New China

HU Hai-bo, MAO Chun-bing, HUANG Su-jian

2023, 0(6):  16-28. 

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The evolution of the industrialization system led by the CPC has witnessed China’s great journey from a big industrial country to an industrial power. Since the founding of New China, under the guidance of Marxism that takes the industrial revolution and the dialectics between the productivity and production relations as the core and the theoretical system of industrialization with Chinese characteristics that takes Chinese style modernization, the preferential development of heavy industry, the socialist market economy and productivity development, and the new industrialization as the core, China’s industrialization system has experienced a historical evolution from plan orientation to market orientationand to qualitydevelopment orientation, which follows the practical principle of adhering to the leadership of the Party and seeking truth from facts, firmly establishes the practical goal of meeting the needs of the people and highlighting Chinese characteristics, practices the practical means of continuously optimizing the dualistic relationship between the government and the market and continuously promoting the two major market patterns at home and abroad, reflects the stage and people attributes of the industrialization, and has made great achievements in significantly enhancing its industrial strength, leading the world in product output, and improving its international competitiveness. In the new era and new journey, facing the goal of building an industrial power, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of the industrial big data sharing platform, optimize regional industrial planning systems, effectively utilize domestic and foreign industrial resources, improve industrial development supervision mechanisms, and strengthen innovation driven strategies.

Public Economics & Administration

Tax Incentive and Capacity Expansion and Quality Improvement of Residents’ Consumption under the New Pattern of Dual Cycle Development: Empirical Evidences from“Replacing Business Tax with Value-Added Tax”

ZHANG Qing, ZHOU Quan-lin

2023, 0(6):  29-41. 

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Under the new development pattern of dual circulation, promoting consumption and expanding domestic demand will play a fundamental role. Tax reduction is an important policy choice to reduce the tax burden on market entities and expand domestic demand. Based on the data of Chinese Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this study uses the evidence from the quasi natural experiment of“replacing business tax with value-added tax”to examine the mechanism and policy effects of tax reduction on the capacity expansion and quality improvement of the consumption of Chinese residents. The results indicate that the“replacement of business tax with value-added tax”has significantly promoted the residents’ consumption and increased the household average consumption propensity and consumption upgrading index, having a capacity expansion and quality improvement effect. Further research has found that“replacing business tax with value-added tax”can stimulate residents’ consumption from both supply and demand sides; following the price mechanism and income mechanism, the consumption upgrading effect of the income mechanism is more sustainable. The consumption effect of the“replacing business tax to value-added tax”policy is heterogeneous among households in different income groups, with a greater impact on the capacity expansion and quality improvement of consumption for low-income households. Therefore, it is suggested to reduce the burden on enterprises, assist residents in employment and in income growth, improve the consumption willingness and the ability of low and middle-income residents, stimulate social consumption potential, promote the equalization and accessibility of basic public services, reduce residents’ motivation for preventive savings, promote the development of modern life service industry, and optimize the supply of development oriented and enjoyment oriented consumption.

VAT Rate Reduction, Investment Scale of Private Enterprises and Investment Efficiency

YAN Hao, XIAO Chun-ming, MA Jin-hua

2023, 0(6):  42-53. 

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Private enterprises are an important force in promoting economic and social development, however, the changes of the tax policies is an important factor affecting the development. Under the impact of such adverse factors as the global economic downturn, the poor supply chain and industrial chain, and so on, the insufficient investment and low investment efficiency of the private enterprises have become obstacles preventing the stimulation of their vitality. By making use of the quarterly data of private listed companies from 2017 to 2019, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of VAT rate reduction on the investment scale and investment efficiency of private enterprises, as well as the impact mechanism of VAT rate reduction on investment efficiency of private enterprises. The results show that the incentive effect of VAT rate reduction can not only significantly promote the expansion of investment scale of private enterprises, but also significantly improve the current situation of insufficient investment, so as to improve the investment efficiency. Further research shows that the reduction of VAT rate can indirectly improve the investment efficiency of private enterprises when promoting the expansion of investment scale. Therefore, it is necessary to perfect the fiscal and tax supporting policy system, to form the fiscal and tax policy joint force to support the healthy development of private enterprises, to optimize the combined tax support policy, to let the tax policyplay the supporting role for private enterprises, to strengthen the coordination between more prudent monetary policy and active fiscal policy, and to effectively solve the problem of financing constraints faced by private enterprises.

Modern Finance

Fintech, Resource Allocation and Banking Structure

HE Xiao-gang, LUO Xin, GUO Xiao-bin

2023, 0(6):  54-66. 

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Whether fintech can promote effective competition in the traditional banking industry is of great significance for the financial industry to better serve the real economy. This paper conducts an empirical study with the data of 290 cities from 2011 to 2020. The findings show that Fintech leads to the exit of the outlets from the market through the competition effect and the empowerment effect, while inhibiting the entry of the outlets. In terms of banking heterogeneity, the resource allocation effect of fintech makes theexit of the large commercial bankoutlets in a larger scale, while the technology empowerment effect of fintech makes the exit of the listed bankoutlets ina larger scale. In terms of inter-city heterogeneity, in the cities with higher levels of economic development, lower population aging, stronger education levels and smaller loan-to-deposit ratios, the outlets are more impacted by fintech and the exit of the outlets are more significant. In terms of the impacting channels, fintech reduces households’ bank savings, optimizes household asset allocation, and leads to the exit of the inefficient outlets. Further study reveals that fintech reduces the concentration of banking market and optimizes the competition pattern of the financial industry by affecting the entry and exit behaviors of bank outlets. At the same time, fintech also compensates for the negative impact of the exit of outlets on the regional financial lending.

Availability of Traditional Finance, Development of Digital Finance and Digital Transformation of Enterprises

LI Jian-pei, LIU Zhen-peng, GU Nai-hua

2023, 0(6):  67-80. 

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Enterprise digital transformation is an essential part of the digital China strategy and the only route promoting the high-quality economic development, while the stable and sufficient exogenous financing is a key factor affecting the digital transformation of the enterprises. Based on the data of A-share listed manufacturing enterprises in China from 2009 to 2020, this paper conducts anempirical study by integrating both traditional finance and digital finance into the analytic framework of the external motivations of enterprise digital transformation. The findings show that the improvement of the availability of traditional finance has effectively promoted the enterprise digital transformation, the reduction of financing constraints, financing costs, and information asymmetry is an important route for the traditional finance to play a role. The development of digital finance also boosts the enterprise digital transformation and complements the traditional finance. In the regions with relatively underdeveloped financial sectors, the traditional finance plays a even more critical role in promoting the enterprise digital transformation, just like a timely support; whereas in the regions with richer financial resources, digital finance is playing a more prominent role, just like icing on the cake. The promotion effect of the traditional finance is mainly embodied in the fine-quality enterprises with lower financial mismatch, higher production efficiency, or higher innovation levels; while the digital finance has a more inclusive promoting impact. Therefore, it is necessary to let the digital finance to play a better complementary role on the basis of strengthening the traditional finance, so as to collaboratively servethe digital transformation of the real enterprise and promote the high-quality economic development.

Business Administration

Multiple Large Shareholders, Control Transfer of State-owned Enterprises and Controlling Investment

BU Dan-lu, WEN Cai-hong, LI Yan-lin

2023, 0(6):  81-93. 

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Controlling investment can improve the operating efficiency of the internal capital, while it may also increase the agency problems. Using the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2007 to 2019, this paper applies the dynamic DID model to examine the impact of the transfer of the state-owned control on the controlling investment and its influencing mechanism. The results show that the transfer of the control of state-owned enterprises has promoted the controlling investment, and that the control transfer of state-owned enterprises can increase the controlling investment mainly through the tunnelling effect of the controlling shareholders. The multiple large shareholders have a negative governance effect on the controlling investment promotion effect of state-owned control rights transfer. Further analysis shows that the companies with state-owned control transfer can achieve industry changes and scale expansion through the controlling investment, but they tend to controlling investment with higher premium and lower expansion efficiency. In addition, the control transfer of state-owned enterprises has an obvious time effect on the controlling investment. From the perspective of the tunnelling effect of the controlling shareholders and the governance effect of the multiple large shareholders, the above-mentioned conclusion reveals that the transfer of the state-owned control is an important factor affecting the corporate controlling investment, which not only provide empirical evidences for the investors and other stakeholders to screen the corporate controlling investment behaviors, but also provide policy references for the stock right design in the mixed ownership reform of state-owned enterprises.

Differentiated Impact of Different Digitization Route on Enterprise Innovation Ability: An Study Based on 1035 Questionnaires of Industrial Enterprises

ZHAO Bo, GUO Zi-yu, HUANG Xin-zao, LUO Xiao-juan

2023, 0(6):  94-105. 

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Digital transformation can help to enhance the innovation capability of enterprises. However, only a few researches focus on the differences in the improvement of enterprise innovation ability by management digitization and production digitization. Based on 1035 questionnaires of industrial enterprises, this paper conducts an empirical test. The findings show that digitization of management and digitization of production are important factors affecting the improvement of enterprise innovation ability, of which the digitization of management is conducive to the overall improvement of enterprise innovation ability (the overall effect), while the digitization of production is only positively correlated with innovation output, and has no significant correlation with R&D input and innovation input-output ratio (the local effect). Secondly, the two types of digital transformation paths have a heterogeneous effect on the enterprises with different sizes, types and industrial chain locations. Due to the nonlinear relationship existing between enterprise size and innovation ability, the digitalization of small, medium and micro enterprises is significantly and positively correlated with the improvement of innovation ability, while there is no correlation between the two in larger enterprise samples. Compared with high-tech enterprises, digital transformation has a stronger positive impact on the innovation capability of non-high-tech enterprises. The management digitization can significantly improve the innovation ability of enterprises in different industrial chain positions, but this kind of role of the production digitization is biased. According to the above research conclusion, in the context of digital economy, the government should strengthen its support for the two types of digital transformation paths, and introduce precise and differentiated policies to support the digital transformation of the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the non-high-tech enterprises, so as to improve the innovation ability of such enterprises.

Industry & Trade

Domestic Value Chain Circulationand Energy Efficiency

CHEN Guo, LI Bao-xi, CHENG Shi-xiong

2023, 0(6):  106-118. 

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Faced with the increasing risks of Sino-US trade friction, Russia-Ukraine conflict, and global value chain breakage, China has begun to look more for the development of domestic greater circulation, which has a profound impact on energy consumption and utilization. This paper first constructs a domestic value-chain embedding index from the perspective of the source of the final demands by using the input-output model of province embedded in the globe, so as to measure the degree of participation in the domestic value chain circulation of each province and industry. Then, based on the three-dimensionaldata of 13 manufacturing industries in the 30 provinces of China from 2002 to 2017, it conducts an empirical study of the impact and mechanism of domestic value chain embedding on energy efficiency with the high-dimensional fixed effect model. The findings show that domestic value chain embedding will significantly inhibit energy efficiency. After taking into consideration such factors as replacing variables, changing clustering standard errors, eliminating sample extreme values, and using instrumental variables, this conclusion is still valid. The heterogeneity tests reveal that the negative impact of domestic value chain embedding on energy efficiency is more pronounced in the low-polluting industries, high-tech industries, years before 2008, and coastal regions. The mechanism test reveals that domestic value chain embedding will produce adverse effect on industrial structure and productivity, thus inhibiting the improvement of energy efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the industrial layout of the domestic value chain, improve the level of division of labor and cooperation at all links, and promote the research, development and application of energy technology.

The Influence of Intellectual Property Pilot Policy on the Efficiency of Innovative Factor Allocation

XU Ye

2023, 0(6):  119-130. 

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As a new factor of production, the innovation elements cover the elements of technology and data, which are inseparable from the supply of knowledge resources. As a major policy to guide intellectual property protection and promote innovation-driven development, the intellectual property pilot policy is an important measure to protect intellectual property. Based on the data of 262 cities in China from 2008 to 2019, this paper uses the multi-period policy effect estimation method (CSDID) to explore the impact of pilot policies on the efficiency of innovation factor allocation. The findings show that the promotion effect of the intellectual property pilot policy on the efficiency of innovation factor allocation continues to increase. Meanwhile, with the continuous expansion of the scale of pilot cities, the policy effect will gradually increase. For pilot cities established in different batches, there are differences in the promotion effect of intellectual property pilot policies on the efficiency of innovation factor allocation. After a series of robustness tests, the above conclusions are still valid. The mechanism analysis shows that the intellectual property pilot policies can improve the efficiency of innovation factor allocation through attracting the agglomeration of high-tech enterprises and increasing the local technology absorption. The heterogeneity analysis shows that in the cities with higher judicial intensity of intellectual property protection or higher development level of digital government, the promotion effect of intellectual property pilot policies on the efficiency of innovation factor allocation is more significant. Therefore, it is necessary to expand the scale of intellectual property pilot projects, improve and refine the pilot system measures, improve the judicial protection system of intellectual property rights, and strengthen the construction of digital government, so as to achieve the goal of improving the efficiency of innovation factor allocation.

Modern Accounting

Equity Pledge of Controlling Shareholders and Interaction of Online Platforms

ZHANG Xiao-qing, MA Lian-fu, YUAN Chen

2023, 0(6):  131-144. 

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In the context of equity pledge, it is a topic worth paying attention to whether the controlling shareholder enhances the interaction of the network platform in order to alleviate the risks of control transfer. Based on the data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2020, this paper conducts an empirical study. The findings show that, after the equity pledge of the controlling shareholders, the response richness and response timeliness of the companies on“Easy Interaction”and“Shanghai Stock Exchange e Interaction”improve significantly, i.e., the equity pledge of controlling shareholders has a positive impact on the interaction of online platforms.When the controlling right transfer has higher risks, larger scale of retail investors and lower visibility, the equity pledge of the controlling shareholders will have a greater impact on the interaction of the online platform. Further study shows that irrelevant responses of the listed companies decrease after the controlling shareholders’equity pledging. The behavior of the listed companies to strengthen the interaction of the online platforms has reduced share crash risks and share price fluctuation risks, and also alleviated asset mispricing, which is conductive to the promotion of the capital market stability and the improvement of market information efficiency. Therefore, in the era of increasingly convenient“voicing”of investors, the market value management ideas of listed companies should be changed from the traditional “information supply”to the“information demand”. The controlling shareholders should pay more attention to the improvement of the interaction of online platforms from the perspective of corporate long-term interests, and conduct market value management in the way of considering both themselves and other stakeholders simultaneously.

Director and Executive Liability Insurance and Green Total Factor Productivity

LI Yuan, ZHAO Yang, QIN Shuai

2023, 0(6):  145-156. 

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High quality development requires quality foremost and efficiency first to form a green production mode and to correctly grasp the relationship between environmental protection and economic development. Based on the empirical evidence of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2017 to 2021, this paper conducts a study. The findings show that the directors’ and executives’ liability insurance has significantly reduced green total factor productivity. After the robustness test, the above conclusion is still valid. The negative impact of director and executive liability insurance on green total factor productivity is mainly realized by limiting the green transformation of enterprises, and this negative effect is more significant in situations with higher environmental risks. But if the corporate governance mechanism operates effectively, the negative impact of director and executive liability insurance on green total factor productivity will be suppressed. The extensive testing reveals that the director and executive liability insurance reduces the efficiency of enterprise resource allocation, leading to the extensive production of enterprises and then a decrease in green total factor productivity. The above conclusion indicates that in the absence of effective corporate governance mechanisms and environmental protection systems, the director and executive liability insurance may have adverse effects on the green transformation and high-quality development of enterprises. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the corporate governance mechanism, strengthen the construction of environmental protection systems, give full play to the government, the public, and insurance companies, and make the management pay more attention to long-term interests, thereby promoting the director and executive liability insurance to generate relatively positive economic consequences.