Table of Content

15 July 2024, Volume 0 Issue 7

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Theoretical Economics

The Formation Logic, New Qualitative Characteristics, and Theoretical Elements of New Productive Forces

XUE Qin-yuan, SHI Dan, SHI Ke-han

2024, 0(7):  3-16. 

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The new quality productivity, as an innovative component of Xi Jinping’s economic thought in the new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, possesses rich theoretical and practical connotations. The theoretical and practical foundations of the new quality productivity stem from the understanding and practice of the laws of productivity development by the Communist Party of China. It is a new productivity theory proposed by the Chinese Communists represented by Xi Jinping based on Marx’s productivity theory, which summarizes the practical experience of the development of productivity in China and guides the high-quality development of the economy under the new development pattern. The“new quality”characteristics are manifested in the productivity development process, where the technological innovation and application are the core elements and main paths. A significant increase in total factor productivity is the central indicator, the“high quality”is the key requirement, the green development is an inherent attribute, and the coordinated development and security are the foundational guarantees. The core components of the new quality productivity include the new quality laborers that are primarily composed of innovators and creators, the new quality means of labor that primarily consist of intelligent tools, and the new quality labor objects that possess more advanced resource forms. To construct the new production relations to adapt to the development of the new quality productivity focuses should lay emphasis on several key areas. In terms of laws and regulations, it involves creating a fairer, more open, and more competitive environment for productivity development. At the level of the scientific and technological system, it requires constructing a more open, flexible, and efficient innovation system. Regarding the economic system, it is necessary to improve the market mechanisms to promote the smooth flow of advanced and high-quality production factors. In the areas of talent and social security, it emphasizes facilitating a virtuous cycle of education, talent, and social security.

Job Tasks and Income Inequality in the Context of the Changing Information and Communications Technology

LI Chao-ting, LI Xue-hui

2024, 0(7):  17-30. 

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With the rapid development of information intelligence, the job tasks according to the profession of the labor force can be divided into routine tasks and non-routine tasks based on whether the tasks are easier to code and automate. It is a new perspective to understand the changes of income inequality from the reward differences of different tasks. Based on the data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and the Occupational Information Network, this paper conducts a study of the reward differences of job tasks and the income inequality. The findings show that the denser the non-routine tasks in the occupations engaged by the labor force, the higher the returns they receive, and that the more intensive the routine tasks are, the lower the returns they receive. The phenomenon of income inequality within different types of work tasks is also not the same. In occupations with intensive non-routine tasks, the income inequality within the profession is higher; while in occupations with intensive routine tasks, the income inequality within the profession is relatively lower. In non-state-owned organizations and in the areas with advanced information technology, the higher returns of non-routine work tasks are more significant, and the problem of income inequality within the professions is severe. A counterfactual decomposition of the changes in the overall income inequality in China from 2002 to 2020 reveals that the difference in returns between non-routine and routine tasks is the main cause of overall income inequality, with an increasing effect on the overall income inequality. The structural changes in non-routine and routine tasks have little impact on the overall income inequality.

Public Economics & Administration

The Impact of Digital Economy Development on Local Government Debt Risks

DONG Hao-ran, ZHOU Quan-lin

2024, 0(7):  31-44. 

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The development of digital economy is the main driving force to promote the financial digitalization reform and build a digital government, which is of great significance to create a new growth point for local finance and improve the ability of local government debt risk management. Based on the panel data of 241 prefecture-level cities in China from 2015 to 2020, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of digital economy on local government debt risk and its mechanism of action. The findings show that the development of digital economy has significantly reduced the risk of local government debt and is an effective measure to prevent and resolve the risks of local government debt. The mechanism analysis finds out that digital economic development has indirectly reduced local government debt risks by improving fiscal decentralization and fiscal transparency. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that digital economic development in the eastern and central regions has an inhibiting effect on local government debt risks. At the same time, the internal and external environmental conditions play a positive role in this mechanism; and the digital economy development has a greater inhibiting effect on local government debt risk due to the positive moderating effect of the financial resource support and the local government governance capacity. Further analysis reveals that digital economic development has the same inhibitory effect on the hidden debt risks. Therefore, we should actively promote the development of the digital economy, strengthen the construction of local financial resources, improve the transparency of government finances, and enhance the support of financial resources and the governance capacity of local governments, so as to prevent and resolve the risks of local government debt.

Can the Development of Digital Economy Reduce the Dependence of Local Governments on Land Finance?

ZHU Qian-long, ZOU Xu, SHI Xiao-ping

2024, 0(7):  45-58. 

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By leveraging the development of digital economy to reduce the dependence of local governments on land finance, it is not only an inevitable choice to enhance the sustainability of local finance, but also a necessary path to promote high-quality economic development. Based on the panel data from 277 prefecture level cities in China from 2011 to 2021, this study empirically explores the impact of digital economy development on the dependence of local governments on land finance and its mechanism. The findings show that the development of the digital economy can significantly reduce the dependence of local governments on land finance, but this impact exhibits heterogeneity due to the geographical location and resource endowment of the cities. The mechanism analysis indicates that the financial pressure plays an intermediate role in the process of digital economy development affecting local government’s land financial dependence, and that the economic growth pressure exerts a negative moderating effect. The threshold effect test reveals that there is a threshold effect of the impact of digital economic development on the dependence of local governments on land finance. When the level of digital economic development or the level of the construction of digital infrastructure cross the threshold value, its impact on the dependence of local governments’ land finance will be significantly strengthened. Therefore, it is suggested to accelerate the construction of digital infrastructure to lay the foundation for digital economic development reducing the land financial dependence of the local governments, continuously unleash the potential of data elements to transform the economic development model and solve the financial dilemma of local governments, and improve the local performance evaluation mechanism to continuously regulate the land transfer behaviors of local governments through institutional innovation.

Modern Finance

Finance Serving the Development of New Quality Productivity: Historical Experience and Inspirations for China

HE Qing, HU Tong, LIANG Bai-lin

2024, 0(7):  59-70. 

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The new quality productivity is an advanced form of productivity that meets the needs of high-quality development, and giving full play to the functions of finance is a major requirement for the development of new quality productivity. The historical experiences of the three industrial revolutions show that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between finance, economic growth and productivity progress. On the one hand, finance can provide high-quality services to promote economic growth. Economic growth forms the driving force for productivity progress at the demand side; in return, productivity progress may bring improvements in economic quality and quantity at the supply side. On the other hand, finance can provide fund support for productivity progress through banks and capital markets, while productivity progress in turn can provide good returns for finance. At the same time, finance is a double-edged sword. Multiple financial crises in history have caused damage to productivity, indicating that strengthening financial regulation is a guarantee for promoting a virtuous cycle of finance, economic growth, and productivity progress. Therefore, the development of the new quality productivity in financial services not only needs to improve the quality and efficiency of financial services for the real economy, but also needs to improve financial regulation and maintain the bottom line of preventing systemic financial risks. To be specific, firstly, we need to build a financial system that places equal emphasis on banks and capital markets to provide high-quality financial services for the development of the new quality productivity. Secondly, we must improve the capital entry and exit mechanism and form a virtuous cycle of financial capital investment and the development of the new quality productivity. Finally, the“five major financial articles”must be completed to serve the advancement of the new quality productivity and implement the new development concepts.

Fire Sale, Systemic Risk and Banking System Stability

ZHAO Ye-xiang, ZHOU Ai-min

2024, 0(7):  71-87. 

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Clarifying the contagious path of systemic risks and the influencing factors on the banking system stability under the fire sale is of great significance for maintaining national financial security. Based on regulatory constraints and individual rationality, this paper establishes a Multi-Distribution Fire-Sale model (MD-FS) to unify external shocks, fire sale, systemic risks, and system stability into the same theoretical framework. It also investigates the micro generation mechanism of systemic risks and the factors influencing system stability in China’s banking industry with the data of the balance sheet of China’s banking industry from 2007 to 2021. The findings show that, firstly, the sensitivity of China’s banking industry to the fire sale is significantly different under heterogeneous external shocks. Among them, the response to the fire sale under small shocks is rapid, while the response to the fire sale under large shocks is slow. Secondly, the generation mechanism of the banking systemic risks exhibits consistency under heterogeneous shocks. The external shocks are the trigger for the fire sale, while the direct fire-sale losses and the fire-sale contagion losses are the main components of the systemic risks. Thirdly, financial upward clustering, financial downward clustering, and bank capital have a significant impact on the stability of the banking system, and their interaction determines the stability of the banking system. Therefore, the regulatory authorities need to further establish a dynamic pressure system, encourage differentiated banking operations, enhance capital retention, and reasonably guide the fire-sale expectation of banks, thereby enhancing the stability of the banking system and maintaining national financial security.

Business Administration

Registration System Reform, Supply Chain Relations, and IPO Pricing Efficiency

WANG Sheng-nian, ZHANG Nan

2024, 0(7):  88-103. 

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The important goal of comprehensively implementing the registration system reform is to improve the pricing efficiency of the capital market. Taking A-share IPO companies from 2010 to 2022 as research samples, this study explores the impact of supply chain relationships on IPO pricing efficiency and its mechanism. The empirical results indicate that supply chain concentration has reduced the efficiency of IPO pricing, which is manifested as the risk effect of supply chain relationships on IPO companies, while the registration system reform has effectively alleviated the negative relationship between the two. The mechanism test reveals that supply chain concentration can reduce IPO pricing efficiency by affecting the business prospects and information environment of IPO companies. Further research has found that the industry reputation of suppliers/customers and their geographical proximity can alleviate the negative relationship between the two. The low reputation underwriters and their participation in follow-up investment have intensified the negative relationship between the two. The intensification of supply chain concentration has led to an oversupply of IPO funds, suppressing the first day IPO burst. Therefore, the regulatory authorities should improve the supporting system for the registration system reform, strengthen the auditing inquiry of enterprises with higher supply chain concentration, improve IPO pricing efficiency, and ensure that the market plays a key role in resource allocation.

How Flexible Human Resource Management Drives Employee Self-Leadership: From the Perspective of Dynamic Status

GAO Feng, LUO Wen-hao, WANG Man-yi

2024, 0(7):  104-115. 

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In today’s increasingly complex and volatile business environment, employee self-leadership plays an important role in the survival and development of an organization. However, how to promote employee self-leadership through effective management practices still needs to be further explored. Based on the dynamic status theory, this paper analyzes the affecting mechanism of flexible human resource management on employee self-leadership, especially the mediating role of the status seeking motivation of the employees between the two and the moderating role of universal concept of leadership. The analysis of the data of 439 longitudinal employee questionnaire at three different time points shows that flexible human resource management is positively correlated with employee self leadership, and that status pursuit motivation plays a mediating role in the relationship between the two. When the general concept of leadership among employees is lower, flexible human resource management has a stronger positive relationship to affect employee self-leadership through status seeking motivation. Based on the above conclusion, in the new environment of human-machine coexistence, managers should attach importance to establishing flexible human resource management, pay attention to the cognitive characteristics and motivational factors of employees, and transmit signals of variable status to employees, thereby stimulating their status pursuit motivation and self-leadership behaviors.

Industry & Trade

The Application of Industrial Robots and the Service-Oriented Transformation of Enterprises

CHEN Hong-zhang, LI Shao-kai, TANG Xiao-jun

2024, 0(7):  116-131. 

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Service-oriented transformation is the only way for Chinese manufacturing enterprises to achieve high-quality development. This paper uses input-output tables and product word frequency retrieval to measure the level of enterprise input servicing and output servicing. Based on the data of Chinese industrial enterprises and Chinese import and export customs from 2000 to 2013, it examines the impact of industrial robot application on enterprise service-oriented transformation. The findings show that the application of industrial robots has significantly improved the level of enterprise input servicing and output servicing. After dealing with endogeneity issues and conducting robustness tests, the conclusion still holds. The mechanism testing reveals that the application of robots improves the input servicing level of enterprises mainly through cost reduction effects, and this effect on output servicing is not significant. The application of robots can promote both the level of input servicing and output servicing of enterprises through the human capital structure optimization effect and the value chain climbing effect. The heterogeneity testing results reveal that the promotion effect of industrial robot applications on enterprise service-oriented transformation is more evident in export-oriented enterprises and enterprises that purchase robots multiple times. Further study reveals that the service-oriented transformation caused by the application of industrial robots has significantly improved enterprise performance. In the future, the government needs to promote the popularization and application of industrial robots, so as to realize the deep integration between the manufacturing industry and the service industries, and empower Chinese manufacturing enterprises to climb high on the value chain.

The Transformation of Outsourcing Strategies in the United States and China’s Response Strategies

LIU Ya-zhen, LIU Dan-lu

2024, 0(7):  132-139. 

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The current outsourcing strategy in the United States has been transformed into the following three forms:“onshoring”,“nearshoring”, and“friendshoring”. This means that the motivation for outsourcing has also undergone a significant change in the US, shifting from a focus on efficiency in the past to balancing safety and efficiency, and placing so-called safety first in competition with China. The confidence of the transformation of outsourcing strategy in the United States lies in its possession of the largest domestic unified market in the world. At present, the United States is using this absolute market advantage to attempt to comprehensively deconstruct the global value chain that China has already embedded over the past years. The fundamental long-term solution for China to crack the transformation of the United States outsourcing strategy lies in shaping a strong domestic unified market. In the short term, such specific measures can be taken: by optimizing the investment and business environment, making every effort to reduce transaction costs to attract and retain more foreign-invested enterprises; by encouraging Chinese enterprises to accelerate their “going out” and join forces to go global, with the United States, Mexico and Canada as the investment target area, strengthening the connection with the industrial chain led by United States; by adopting a higher level of openness to affect the allies of the United States and different interest groups within the United States, and reshaping a new pattern of China’s international economic cycle; etc.

Modern Accounting

Releasing Short Selling Regulation and Corporate R&D Manipulation: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on Margin Trading System

LI Xue-feng, CAI Xin-yi

2024, 0(7):  140-151. 

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In 2010, the China Securities Regulatory Commission introduced the short selling mechanism into the capital market. So, will the short selling mechanism affect the R&D manipulation behavior of enterprises? Taking A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2007 to 2022 as the research objects, this paper makes use of a multi period DID model to examine the impact of short selling mechanism on corporate R&D manipulation behavior. The findings show that the short selling mechanism can effectively suppress the R&D manipulation behavior of enterprises. The mechanism analysis reveals that short selling mechanisms can improve the governance levels of companies and reduce the degree of information asymmetry between internal and external factors, thus the short selling mechanism can inhibit the R&D manipulation behaviors of enterprises. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the inhibitory effect of short selling mechanism on corporate R&D manipulation is more significant in highly competitive industries, regions with lower levels of rule of law, enterprises with greater financing constraints, and enterprises with higher internal quality control. The economic consequence analysis reveals that the short selling mechanism has suppressed the R&D manipulation behavior of enterprises, thus the short selling mechanism can improve the innovation ability of enterprises. To this end, it is necessary to further improve laws and regulations and enhance the governance of corporate R&D manipulation behaviors.

Can the Construction of the Social Credit System Promote the Specialization of Enterprises

LI Shi-yu

2024, 0(7):  152-164. 

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A sound social credit system is the institutional foundation for enterprises to achieve higher-level division of labor and cooperation, and accelerate the construction of a unified national market. Based on the policy of creating demonstration cities for the construction of China’s social credit system, this paper examines the impact of social credit system construction on the level of professional division of labor in enterprises. The findings show that the construction of a social credit system can improve the level of professional division of labor in enterprises. The mechanism testing reveals that the construction of a social credit system can reduce the searching cost and contracting costs of enterprises, as well as the losses caused by the default of trading partners. Therefore, the construction of a social credit system can improve the professional division of labor of enterprises. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that in the enterprises with lower social trust and higher asset specificity, the construction of social credit system has a more significant effect on improving the level of professional division of labor in enterprises. When the degree of information asymmetry between upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain is high, the construction of social credit system has a more significant effect on improving the level of professional division of labor of enterprises. The economic consequences analysis indicates that the construction of the social credit system can improve the level of specialization and division of labor in enterprises, thus improving the innovation capability and production efficiency of the enterprises. Therefore, the Chinese government should further improve the social credit system and establish a credit information sharing network covering all the credit subjects.