Table of Content

15 January 2024, Volume 0 Issue 1

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Theoretical Economics

Can Machine Replacement Accelerate the Process of Domestic Substitution in the Manufacturing Industry?

ZHANG Ben-xiu, WU Fu-xiang

2024, 0(1):  3-17. 

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In the context of machine replacement, the manufacturing enterprises as innovative entities need to concentrate high-quality resources and work together to achieve breakthroughs in the key technologies and the independent control of core equipment, consolidate market and competitive advantages, and accelerate the process of domestic substitution in the manufacturing industry. Based on the panel data of the manufacturing industry from 2011 to 2019 and incorporating product quality upgrading into the analysis framework of machine replacement and localization substitution in the manufacturing industry, this paper conducts an empirical research. The findings show that machine replacement is beneficial for accelerating the localization substitution process in the manufacturing industry. The quality upgrading of the efficiency enhancing products and the technology optimizing products are their main mechanisms of action. Moreover, the impact of machine replacement on domestic substitution in the manufacturing industry has industrial heterogeneity. The promotion effect of machine replacement is more prominent in labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries, but it is not affected by the heterogeneity of R&D personnel density in the industry. The above conclusion indicates that a reasonable response to the impact of machine replacement is the key to promoting the stable and positive localization substitution in the manufacturing industry. The precise measures for the key industries such as labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries will bring more effective promotion effects in localization substitution.

Gap and Catch-up of Intelligent Robot Technology: Statistical Measurement Based on Intellectual Property Data

ZHOU Song-lan, LI Ling-ling

2024, 0(1):  18-31. 

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Intelligent robots are increasingly and profoundly influencing human production, life, and innovation paradigms, becoming the core area for countries to strive for new advantages in the future. The new technological revolution has opened a window of opportunity for late-coming economies to catch up with the intelligent robot technology. China has actively responded and proposed a new catch-up strategy of transforming technological innovation towards parallel and leading advancements. To effectively implement the new catch-up strategy, an important prerequisite is to scientifically measure and dynamically track the technological gap between the main competitors in the field of intelligent robots, so as to optimize the innovation routes and overcome the “medium technology trap”. The statistical measurement results based on the intellectual property data such as paper influence and patent influence show that the gap in intelligent robot technology between China and the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea has converged to a narrow range of 10%, with overtaking and anti-overtaking repeatedly shifting positions, presenting the typical characteristics of the parallel running stages. China has overwhelming advantages in the total number of papers, highly cited papers, and the number of patents. But on the whole, China has more patent applications and fewer authorizations. The domestic and international layout structure of China’s patents lack international competitiveness. China’s top ten institutions for intelligent robot patents in the world are all universities, lacking leading enterprises that can compete with the four leading international families. The key and core technologies, software, hardware, and operating systems are still subject to the control of other countries.

Public Economics & Administration

The Impact of Livelihood-Related Fiscal Expenditure on the Income Gap between Urban and Rural Residents under the Goal of Common Prosperity: An Analysis Based on the Fiscal Expenditure on Education and Social Security

WU Jun-pei, ZHANG Hao-ze

2024, 0(1):  32-45. 

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Under the socialist market economy system, the livelihood-related fiscal expenditure plays an important role in narrowing the income gap of the residents and promoting social equity by its incentive and security effect, thus further promotes the realization of the goal of common prosperity. Based on the panel data of 90 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper makes an empirical analysis of the impacts of the two major livelihood-related fiscal expenditures, education and social security employment, on the income gap between urban and rural residents. The findings show that the marginal effect of fiscal expenditures on education and social security employment on the income gap between urban and rural residents is significantly negative, indicating that these two types of expenditures have played a significant role in narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents. Further research has found out that the above marginal effects have a significant single threshold effect, with a threshold value of 56.010%. When the level of urbanization exceeds 56.010%, the impact of the two types of fiscal expenditures on narrowing the income gap between urban and rural residents will be significantly weakened. It can be seen that relying solely on fiscal expenditure policies cannot sustainably and effectively narrow the urban-rural income gap and achieve common prosperity. We should work together in the two aspects: the market-oriented reform and the improvement of fiscal expenditure structure. Therefore, it is recommended to strengthen market-oriented reforms, gradually eliminate liquidity barriers between urban and rural areas, and promote the construction of a unified national market. While maintaining the steady expansion of fiscal expenditure in areas with lower levels of urbanization, we should adjust the fiscal expenditure structure in areas with higher levels of urbanization, further improve the fiscal transfer payment system, enhance the equalization level of local basic public services, and put into effect of the basic guarantee role of finance for people’s livelihood.

Research on the Impact of Industrial Digitization on Regional Tax Revenue

XI Wei-qun, YANG Qing-yu

2024, 0(1):  46-58. 

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Accelerating the digitization of industries is not only an inevitable choice to achieve high-quality economic development, but also a necessary path to promote regional tax revenue growth. Therefore, based on the explanation of the relationship between industrial digitization, regional total factor productivity, and regional tax revenue, this study empirically analyzes the impact and mechanism of industrial digitization on regional tax revenue based on the provincial-level panel data from 2011 to 2019 in China. The results indicate that industrial digitization can significantly promote the growth of regional tax revenue, and industrial digitization exhibits certain heterogeneity characteristics among different regions, tax types, and levels of industrialization. The mechanism analysis reveals that the increase of regional tax revenue by industrial digitization is achieved by acting on regional total factor productivity. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to deepen the development of industrial digitization, improve the regional total factor productivity, and thereby promote the improvement of tax revenue effects. At the same time, we should improve the current tax system, formulate regional tax support policies to narrow the“digital gap”between regions, and further strengthen tax collection and management to reduce the inter-regional tax revenue transfer and the loss effects of the industrial digitization.

Modern Finance

Self-Defense and Risk Contagion in Financial Sub-Markets under the Impact of Extreme Events

SUI Jian-li, LI Yue-xin

2024, 0(1):  59-74. 

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Identifying the risk contagion path in financial sub-markets under the impact of extreme events has become an important part of financial risk prevention and control in the new era. Based on non-linear MSBIARCH model, this paper conducts a study to discriminate the volatility and contagion relationships and the volatility clustering trends among stocks, real estate, bulk commodities, exchange rates and bond markets. The findings show that, firstly, except for the one-way volatility contagion effects from the exchange rate market to the real estate market, from the bond market to the stocks, real estate, exchange rates markets and from the bulk commodity market to the bond market, there exists a two-way volatility contagion relationship between the other markets; secondly, the extreme risk events trigger the volatility contagion through market sentiment and expectations, the public emergencies generate volatility contagion based on market sentiment, and the policy announcements cause volatility contagion through fundamental factors and market expectations; finally, most of the volatility cluster trends in financial sub-markets originate from the volatility contagion in other sub-markets. The exchange rate market has weaker risk contagion ability, while the bulk commodity market and the bond market have stronger self-defense ability, which mainly carry out risk outputs. Therefore, it is necessary to further establish a full-process financial risk prevention and control system, improve the financial sub-market trading mechanism, strengthen communication and cooperation between markets, and reasonably guide public expectations, so as to enhance the anti-risk ability of financial markets and maintain the steady development of financial markets.

The Peer Effect of Share Repurchase Behavior of Listed Firms and Its Economic Consequences

WANG Jun-yi, ZHAO Xiu-yun

2024, 0(1):  75-85. 

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Share repurchase is a kind of supply adjustment behavior in stock markets and has the advantage of being a price stabilizer. The existing researches mainly explore the motivations for corporate share repurchase from their own factors of the enterprises. Then, will the company’s stock repurchase decision be influenced by other companies in the same industry? What is the mechanism of this impact? By making use of the data from Chinese listed companies from 2005 to 2021, this study explores the peer effect and its impacting mechanism of share repurchase at the industry level. The findings show that there is a significant peer effect in the share repurchase behaviors of China’s listed firms, and there is also a peer effect in the amount and the frequency of share repurchases. The mechanism analysis reveals that the peer effect of share repurchase in listed companies is generated by the learning and imitating behaviors and the competitive pressure among the companies in the same industry. The moderating effect analysis reveals that the more abundant a company’s cash flexibility reserve is, the higher the media attention received by the peer companies, and the stronger the peer effect of share repurchase. The findings of the economic consequence analysis show that the share repurchases based on the peer effect have an increasing effect on corporate value. To this end, it is necessary to guide enterprises to make stock repurchase decisions that meet their substantive needs, while at the same time strengthening the supervision of the share repurchase behavior of the listed companies.

Business Administration

Managerial Power Delegation and Efficiency Loss of Executive Compensation Incentives

XU Jia-qian, SHI Ke, XU Li-ping, XIN Yu

2024, 0(1):  86-99. 

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Based on the manually collected and organized data on the changes in management power in the amendment announcements of the charters of listed companies from 2010 to 2019, this paper adopts a double difference method to test the impact of management power sinking based on the autonomy of the company’s charter on the executive compensation. The findings show that after the management power sinking, both the executive compensation and the excess compensation are significantly increased. Specifically, when the management power sinks, the increase in executive compensation and excess compensation is mainly reflected in a significant increase in scale compensation (rather than performance-based compensation), while the sensitivity of the company’s compensation performance significantly decreases. These empirical evidences support the management power theory. When the management power sinks, the company’s on-the-job consumption increases and the internal and external salary gap widens, but the company’s future business performance and market value have not significantly improved. Therefore, the decentralization of management power according to the autonomy of the company’s charter may lead to efficiency losses in the executive compensation incentives. The internal and external supervision mechanisms of the company, as well as the shareholding of the management, have a restraining effect on the positive correlation between the sinking of the management power and the executive compensation. Based on the above research conclusions, when companies modify their charters to authorize the management, they should pay attention to the potential rent-seeking behaviors of the executives, and achieve appropriate authorization and effective supervision.

Research on the Trigger Mechanism of Corporate Breaking-Through Green Innovation under the“Dual Carbon”Goal

ZENG Jing-wei, LI Xiao-hong, SONG Peng

2024, 0(1):  100-111. 

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The“dual carbon”goals put forward new requirements for enterprise to conduct green innovations. The break-through green innovation plays an important role in promoting the achievement of the“dual carbon”goals, as it faces the breakthroughs in green technology and the crossing of green technology tracks. However, current studies have not fully focused on how to trigger breakthrough green innovations in enterprises in the context of the“dual carbon”goals. To this end, by adopting the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theoretical framework and making use of the questionnaire survey data from 287 manufacturing enterprises, this paper explores the impact mechanism of “dual carbon”goals focus - enterprise dual perception - enterprise radical green innovation, and analyzes the moderating role of knowledge power in it. The empirical results show that the “dual carbon”goal focus has a positive impact on enterprise radical green innovation, and the enterprise green innovation mission and market green pressure perception play a mediating role between the two. Knowledge power exhibits a differentiated regulatory effect, positively regulating the relationship between the focus on“dual carbon”goals and the sense of green innovation mission, while negatively regulating the relationship between the focus on“dual carbon”goals and the perception of market green pressure. The above research conclusion opens the black box of the impact mechanism of the “dual carbon”goal focus on enterprise radical green innovation, and provides an important reference for the triggering of enterprise radical green innovation under the“dual carbon”goals.

Industry & Trade

Domestic Value Chain and Enterprise Technological Innovation

SHI Ben-ye, YANG Fu-jia, WANG Xiao-juan

2024, 0(1):  112-125. 

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Promoting innovation based on the domestic cycle is the key for China to achieve high-quality economic development, which is important for achieving Chinese modernization. This paper explores the driving force of enterprise technological innovation from the perspective of the domestic value chain. By making use of the data of A-share listed enterprises in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and the inter-regional input-output tables of China in 2012, 2015 and 2017, it empirically analyzes the influencing mechanism of participating in the national value chain on enterprise technological innovation and the moderating effect of digital finance on the innovation driving effect of participating in the national value chain. The findings show that participating in the upstream and downstream of the domestic value chain can generate a significant innovation driving effect, which can promote enterprise technological innovation; and the results are still robust after a series of endogenous tests and robustness tests. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the promotion effect of participating in the domestic value chain on enterprise technological innovation is more obvious in the non-state-owned enterprises, in the central and western regions, and in the high-tech industries. The mechanism test shows that the increase in national value chain participation can ease financial constraints effectively and optimize the allocation of resources among regions, industries and within the industries, thereby stimulating the innovation vitality of enterprises. In addition, the development of digital finance can amplify the innovation driving effect generated by participating in the national value chain. Therefore, it is necessary to perfect the domestic circulation system, optimize the financial service system and the allocation of resources, and promote the in-depth digital finance development, so as to achieve the innovation development of enterprises.

Corporate Innovation Effects of the Digital Service Trade Network

SONG Yue-gang, HAO Xia-zhen

2024, 0(1):  126-139. 

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Chinese enterprises are faced with the realistic dilemma of the coexistence between the rapid development of digital service trade and the“one high and two low”innovation level. Using the digital service trade network to break through the dilemma of enterprise innovation and development is an important strategic support for the transformation of China’s economic development mode in the new development stage. By including multiple heterogeneity in the theoretical framework and using social network analysis method, this paper measures the centrality, connection strength and structural hole index of Chinese enterprises in the digital service trade network; then it empirically tests the impact of the embeddedness of digital service trade network on the innovation level of Chinese enterprises. The findings show that digital service trade network embedding has a significant promoting effect on the innovation level of enterprises, but its promoting effect is significantly different due to the existence of the heterogeneity of enterprises. The embedding of digital service trade network acts on enterprise innovation through“trade scale effect”, “cost saving effect”and“technology absorption capacity effect”. The results of enterprise survival analysis show that digital service trade network embedding can help reduce the innovation termination risk rate of enterprises. Based on the above conclusions, it is proposed to actively promote the integration of enterprises into the global digital service trade network, rationally arrange the position of enterprises in the network, and turn from “passive embedding”to“active utilization”, so as to promote the high-quality development of innovation.

Modern Accounting

Can State Audit Narrow the Internal Income Gap of Enterprises: From the Perspective of Common Prosperity

ZHANG Jun-min, SHI Wei-feng, FU Shao-zheng

2024, 0(1):  140-151. 

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Achieving common prosperity for all the people is one of the important features of China’s modernization. Enterprises are the main body of initial distribution, therefore, optimizing the internal income distribution is crucial for achieving common prosperity. Taking the A-share listed companies of state-owned enterprise from 2008 to 2018 as the samples, this study examines the impact of state audit on the internal income distribution of enterprises. The findings show that state audit can improve the average salary of the central government-owned listed companies and the ordinary employees, but has no significant impact on the executive compensation. The mechanism analysis reveals that state audit can improve the operational efficiency and information transparency of the central government-owned listed companies, thereby increasing their average salary and that of the ordinary employees. Further research has found that state audit can reduce the on-the-job consumption of executives and narrow the internal income gap of enterprises. Multiple audits can enhance the promotion effect of national audits on the average salary of the central government-owned listed companies and the ordinary employees. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that in the central government-owned listed companies which are in the monopolistic industries, with independent directors at consistent performance locations, and with a higher proportion of share-holding by institutional investors, the promotion effect of state audit on the average salary of the central government-owned listed companies and the average salary of ordinary employees is more significant. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the important role of national auditing in supervising and optimizing the internal income distribution of enterprises, so as to promote common prosperity with a reasonable and orderly distribution pattern.

Enterprise ESG Performance and Low-Carbon Green Transformation: Effect Evaluation Based on the Support of Financial Policy Instrument

WANG Fang

2024, 0(1):  152-164. 

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ESG is a brand new orientation concerning how environment, society and governance can realize sustainable development in enterprises, which can exert an important impact on enterprises’ low-carbon green transformation activities. Based on the data of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2011 to 2021, this paper studies the impact of corporate ESG performance on the low-carbon green transformation. The findings show that the improvement of corporate ESG performance can effectively improve the level of low-carbon green transformation. The heterogeneity test reveals that the improved corporate ESG performance has a more prominent effect on the low-carbon green transformation of non-state-owned enterprises, heavily polluting enterprises and high-tech enterprises. The mechanism test reveals that the improved corporate ESG performance can effectively transmit positive signals, strengthen risk smoothing ability and stimulate green innovation vitality, which can provide impetus for low-carbon green transformation. Further research finds out that specialized green financial policies are an important factor influencing the low-carbon green drivers of corporate ESG performance. In the enterprises with green financial policy support, the improvement of corporate ESG performance will have a significant empowering effect on the low-carbon green transition. In view of this, it is recommended that the government should establish a clearer ESG assessment system, increase incentives for enterprises to meet ESG standards, and encourage financial institutions to launch green financial products. The enterprises should strengthen their awareness of ESG, increase investment, and strengthen the disclosure of ESG information.