Search Results (18)

Enhancing carbon emission efficiency is crucial for achieving carbon reduction and economic growth. This paper focuses on the digital–financial dual pilot policy formed by the Broadband China strategy pilot (BCP) policy and the Promoting Science and Technology to Combine with Finance pilot (TFCP) policy. Using the panel data of 284 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2022 and nighttime light data, this paper adopts the super-efficiency SBM model to calculate urban carbon emission efficiency. Based on this efficiency, this paper employs the staggered difference-in-differences model to discuss the impact of the dual pilot policy on urban carbon emission efficiency. The research results indicate that the dual pilot policy significantly improves urban carbon emission efficiency, and compared to the single pilot policy, the dual pilot policy has a greater effect on improving carbon emission efficiency. This conclusion still holds after the parallel trend test, heterogeneous treatment effects test, and other robustness tests. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that the dual pilot policy enhances urban labor, capital, and credit resource allocation efficiency and green technological innovation by generating resource allocation and collaborative innovation effects, thereby improving urban carbon emission efficiency. Further analysis reveals that implementing the TFCP policy first, followed by the BCP policy, can more effectively maximize the dual pilot policy’s positive impact on urban carbon emission efficiency. The impact of the dual pilot policy on urban carbon emission efficiency exhibits heterogeneity, depending on the resource endowment, digital infrastructure level, administrative hierarchy, economic and financial development level, and intellectual property protection intensity of cities. This paper provides valuable insights for effectively implementing the dual pilot policy and achieving a win–win outcome in carbon reduction and economic development. Full article

To balance economic development with environmental sustainability and address the challenges posed by the new wave of technological innovation, China has focused on leveraging the synergistic effects of technology and finance. This approach aims to promote urban green technology innovation (UGTI), which is critical in achieving innovation-driven, high-quality development. This study draws on two phases of China’s “Promoting the Integration of Technology and Finance Pilot” policy, implemented in 2011 and 2016. It utilizes data from 283 cities from 2007 to 2021 and employs a multiple-period difference-in-differences (DID) model to examine the effect, mechanisms, and heterogeneity of science and technology (sci-tech) finance policies on UGTI. The results indicate that (1) sci-tech finance policies significantly foster UGTI. (2) The mechanism analysis reveals that sci-tech finance policies stimulate UGTI by enhancing the agglomeration of scientific and technological talent and factor allocation. (3) The heterogeneity analysis shows that sci-tech finance policies have a considerably greater effect on UGTI in eastern and non-resource-based cities than in western and resource-based cities. Furthermore, strengthening intellectual property protection, advancing digitalization, and implementing suitable financial regulations amplify the green innovation effects of the sci-tech finance policies. Full article

As an important economic and ecological barrier in China, the Yellow River Basin faces dual challenges of an excessive environmental burden and insufficient innovation efficiency during the process of industrial relocation. This paper divides green innovation into two stages: technological R&D and commercialization, and employs a two-stage data envelopment analysis model to measure the green innovation efficiency of 64 cities in the Yellow River Basin’s urban agglomerations from 2004 to 2021. The results indicate that undertaking regional industrial relocation has a positive impact on green innovation efficiency, but while boosting the efficiency of commercialization, it negatively affects R&D efficiency, leading to an imbalance in green innovation development. Industrial relocation mainly exerts heterogeneous effects on each stage of green innovation efficiency by hindering industrial upgrading, generating dispersive effects, and creating technological spillover effects. Meanwhile, infrastructure development and intellectual property protection play a moderating role. This study provides valuable insights for promoting high-quality development and sustainable green innovation in the Yellow River Basin. Full article

This study analyzed the impact of China’s Low-carbon City Pilot (LCCP) on firm productivity using firm-level financial data from the Chinese State Administration of Tax and patent data from the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China from 2007 to 2016, with the aim of clarifying the impact and mechanism of carbon regulation on firms’ productivity from the perspective of a developing country. By employing a staggered difference-in-differences model, we solved the analytical difficulties caused by the low-carbon pilot batch. Our findings revealed that the LCCP has a positive effect on firm productivity, with a 3% increase in total factor productivity (TFP). We concluded that environmental regulations can increase firms’ productivity. We also identified the mechanism, determining that the LCCP can increase firms’ research and development expenditure and the number of patents, advancing technological development. We also demonstrated that the dispersion of TFP across LCCPs has decreased, showing that low-productivity firms exit the market and the exit mechanism is improved, while resources are allocated more efficiently and market distortions are mitigated. This study contributes to the literature on climate policies on firms’ productivity and provides policymakers with valuable insights for balancing environmental regulations and firm productivity. Full article

Information consumption (IC) has emerged as a critical driver of the digital transformation of enterprises (DTE) and sustainable corporate development, garnering significant attention in recent years. Nevertheless, research focused on the role of IC as a driving factor of the DTE remains relatively scarce. The information consumption pilot policy (ICPP), a key initiative aiming to foster the consumption of information products and services, plays an essential role in refining consumption systems and mechanisms, enhancing demand-side management, and facilitating the DTE. Using data from Chinese A-share listed companies, this study leverages the ICPP as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a difference-in-differences (DID) model to evaluate the effects and underlying mechanisms of IC on the DTE, with the objective of elucidating how IC drives the DTE. The findings indicate that IC significantly accelerates the DTE, a conclusion that remains robust across multiple validation tests. Further investigation reveals that IC has a stronger impact on digital transformation in non-state-owned enterprises, capital-intensive enterprises, technology-intensive enterprises, and growth-stage enterprises than in state-owned enterprises, labor-intensive enterprises, and enterprises in the maturity or decline stage. Similarly, IC demonstrates a more substantial influence on digital transformation in enterprises situated in southern cities, large-scale cities, and non-resource-dependent cities than in enterprises located in northern cities, small-scale cities, and resource-dependent cities. Mechanism analyses suggest that IC primarily drives the DTE through pathways such as technological innovation, the expansion of household consumption, and the advancement of financial digitization. Additionally, intellectual property protection is found to significantly enhance the impact of IC on the DTE. By investigating the drivers of the DTE from the perspective of digital consumption, this study not only provides a theoretical foundation for the advancement of China’s digital economy but also offers practical guidance and insights for fostering the DTE on a global scale. Full article

This paper explores the development of digital and green collaboration, empirically examining both the linear and nonlinear impacts of the convergence of digital and green technologies on regional total factor productivity (TFP). Using data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2010 to 2022, the study constructs a panel threshold model with business environment and intellectual property protection as threshold variables to investigate their roles in mediating the effects of digital–green technology convergence on regional TFP. The key findings are as follows: (1) The linear analysis reveals that the convergence of digital and green technologies significantly enhances regional TFP. (2) The nonlinear analysis demonstrates a nonlinear relationship between the convergence of these technologies and regional TFP. (3) The threshold effect test identifies a single-threshold effect for the business environment, showing that once the threshold is surpassed, the positive influence of the convergence of digital and green technologies on TFP increases. Additionally, a double-threshold effect is found with intellectual property protection; as intellectual property protection surpasses the first and second thresholds, the positive impact initially strengthens but then weakens. (4) A heterogeneity analysis shows that the convergence of digital and green technologies significantly contributes to TFP in the eastern regions, while the effects in central and western regions are not significant. Full article

Big data is a pivotal factor in propelling the digital economy forward and emerges as a novel driver in realizing the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. This study focuses on a quasi-natural experiment, namely national big data comprehensive pilot zones (NBD-CPZs), and employs a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model to identify the influence of big data on carbon emissions. The findings of this study are as follows. Overall, big data significantly reduces carbon emissions within the pilot zones. Mechanism analysis shows that big data reduces urban carbon emissions by promoting green innovation, optimizing energy structure, mitigating capital mismatch and improving public awareness of environmental protection. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the carbon reduction effect of big data are more pronounced in cities with high levels of digital economy, non-resource-based cities, cities with strong intellectual property rights protection and the Guizhou Province. Spatial effect analysis indicates that within a radius of 400–500 km, the NBD-CPZ increases urban carbon emissions, signifying a significant siphoning effect; within a radius of 500–900 km, the NBD-CPZ reduces urban carbon emissions, signifying a significant spillover effect, and beyond a distance of 900 km, the spatial effect of the NBD-CPZ is not significant. Based on the above conclusions, this study puts forward several policy recommendations to effectively exert the carbon emission reduction effect of big data. Full article

The green and low-carbon transformation of land use (GLTLU) is a pressing global issue that requires urgent attention. The digital economy has emerged as a new driver for the GLTLU. However, current research mainly focuses on the measurement and environmental effects of the digital economy, with less exploration of how the digital economy influences the spatial effects and regulatory mechanisms of GLTLU, particularly regarding the differential impacts and specific mechanisms at the regional level. This study uses panel data from 283 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, employing the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and the panel threshold model to examine the spatial and regulatory mechanisms of the digital economy’s impact on GLTLU. The findings reveal that digital economy promotes GLTLU not only within cities but also in surrounding regions. Robustness analyses support this conclusion. Notably, the digital economy’s positive impact on GLTLU in surrounding areas is confined to the central region of China. In contrast, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration experiences a significant negative impact on GLTLU in nearby regions due to the digital economy. The study also identifies that the positive spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on GLTLU reaches its peak at a distance of 450 km. Additionally, the digital economy’s ability to promote GLTLU is contingent upon financial agglomeration levels exceeding 9.1728. Moreover, the local government’s emphasis on the digital economy and intellectual property protection enhances the digital economy’s impact on GLTLU. The promotion effect is maximized when these factors surpass the thresholds of 27.8054 and 3.5189, respectively. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of how the digital economy influences sustainable land development, highlighting the critical role of regional factors and regulatory mechanisms in amplifying the digital economy’s positive effects on GLTLU. Full article

The “County-to-City Upgrading” policy represents a typical tool for central and local governments to promote the urbanization process through administrative empowerment. Do local governments’ policies promote innovation-driven high-quality and sustainable development? Under the context of the high-quality development of China’s economy, this paper examines the quantitative impact of the local governments’ “County-to-City Upgrading” policy on enterprises’ innovation. Using a staggered-DID model and the data from the Chinese Patent Database and the Industrial Enterprise Database from 2000 to 2013, the baseline results indicate that the policy not only increases the quantity of innovation but also improves the quality of innovation. The key findings of the research are the following: (1) The policy primarily promotes innovation activities among local enterprises through the cost reduction effect and resource accumulation effect. (2) The policy has a more significant impact on boosting innovation in the eastern regions as well as areas with stronger intellectual property protection. (3) The policy not only can advance technological and practical innovation but can also help enterprises overcome the problem of technological containment. (4) The policy has a prominent impact on green and low-carbon patents, which implies that it has become a significant drive pushing forward local green and sustainable development. Full article

Green innovation is a new driving force to promote green and low-carbon development. Whether an energy transition strategy can induce green innovation is an important question that has not been clearly answered. With the help of panel data from 281 cities in China during 2007–2021, this study considers China’s new energy exemplary city policy as a quasi-natural experiment and conducts a difference-in-differences model to explore the effects and mechanisms of energy transition strategy on urban green innovation. The results show that a new energy exemplary city effectively induces urban green innovation, with mediating mechanisms of increasing government financial support, promoting human capital agglomeration, and improving energy efficiency. The moderating mechanisms test reveals that environmental regulation and intellectual property protection play a positive moderating role in the promotion of green innovation through the new energy exemplary city policy. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the new energy exemplary city policy has a stronger effect on promoting green innovation in eastern regions and non-resource-based cities. Our findings not only enrich our understanding of the relationship between energy transition strategy and green innovation but also provide a reference for policymakers to promote energy transition and green innovation. Full article

Green innovations such as renewable energy technologies and cleaner process modifications are important technical routes and critical directions for reducing carbon emissions from industrial production processes. This study examines the impact of intellectual property protection on green technology innovation, constructing a progressive difference-in-differences model using 849 listed manufacturing firms panel data from 2007 to 2019 and taking the Chinese Intellectual Property Rights model cities as a quasi-natural experiment. Our study finds that the pilot policy significantly enhances corporate green innovation. When considering heterogeneity, the policy treatment effect is more remarkable for large firms, state-owned enterprises, and industries where technology can be easily imitated. Moreover, the mediating effect shows that the policy promotes green innovation by encouraging firms’ research and development cooperation and increasing human capital levels. This study proposes that policymakers should reinforce intellectual property protection, encourage companies to be better and bigger, and emphasize the intermediary function of open innovation and human capital in green technology innovation. Full article

Colleges and universities play a crucial role in fostering innovation, making it essential to explore effective strategies for promoting innovation at the institutional policy level. This paper focuses on the establishment of intellectual property model cities as a starting point and conducts an empirical analysis using innovation data from 234 cities and 942 colleges and universities between 2007 and 2017. By constructing a multi-temporal double-difference model, this study reveals that the establishment of intellectual property model cities effectively fosters innovation in colleges and universities. Further analysis demonstrates that this promotional effect is particularly significant in the western region, key cities, and key colleges and universities, as well as in the fields of invention and utility model patents. These conclusions withstand a series of robustness tests, confirming their validity. This study reveals that the national intellectual property pilot city policy has a significant influence on university innovation. It achieves this by encouraging investment in research and development and enhancing collaboration in innovation. The findings of this study provide important policy suggestions for maximizing the innovation potential of the intellectual property model city policy. This, in turn, can contribute to economic transformation, upgrading, and the promotion of innovation development in China. Full article

Green innovation is considered an important way to promote low-carbon society formation and the sustainable development of environmental engineering. However, few quantitative studies have focused on the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR) on firm green innovation (FGI). This paper constructs a quasi-natural experiment based on the IPR pilot city policy in China. We empirically investigated the influence of IPR policy on FGI using a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) model and Chinese listed company data from 2007 to 2020. The findings of this research are as follows: (1) IPR policy significantly promotes FGI, and its effectiveness is confirmed by a variety of robustness tests. (2) The IPR policy supports both green product and green process innovation, with a stronger effect on green product innovation. (3) The IPR policy encourages green independent R&D but has little influence on green joint R&D. (4) The IPR policy promotes FGI with a high knowledge intensity, state-owned enterprises, and firms in key city groups. (5) The IPR policy supports FGI primarily via two institutional channels: increasing R&D investment and easing financing constraints. This paper broadens the study of green innovation city policy and FGI development, offering new perspectives for achieving social and environmental sustainability. Full article

Does intellectual property (IP) strategy improve the total factor productivity of enterprises (TFP)? This paper uses 21,930 enterprise-year observations of China’s A-share listed enterprises from 2010–2020, adopts a multi-period difference-in-differences model, and constructs a quasi-natural experiment on the impacts of intellectual property model cities (IPMC) on TFP. The findings are as follows: (1) IPMC significantly improves TFP. (2) It has lag effects and long-term effects. (3) The promotion effect is stronger for state-owned enterprises and enterprises implementing organizational political strategies. (4) The close government-business relationship and clean government-business relationship play positive regulating roles in IPMC on TFP. (5) IPMC promotes TFP by increasing urban fiscal expenditure on science and technology and enterprise technological innovation. This study enriches the theory and evidence of policy effect assessment for IPMC at the enterprise level, and provides policy inspiration for the promotion of IPMC and TFP, to help China achieve high-quality economic development. Full article

Achieving sustainable development goals is a challenge for countries. The core way is to enhance the green total factor productivity. While the literature has examined the various external institutional factors, there is a lack of research on the impact of intellectual property protection (IPP), which is an important external institution. This study adopts the differences-in-differences (DID) model and propensity scores matching (PSM) using the Chinese intellectual property model city policy (IPMP), as a quasi-natural experiment, and Chinese cities’ panel data from 2005 to 2019 to investigate the effect of IPP on sustainable development. The findings demonstrate that: (1) The IPMP significantly increases urban GTFP. (2) Mediation mechanism analyses show that the IPMP can support urban GTFP by fostering technological advancement, boosting human capital, luring foreign direct investment, and modernizing industrial structure. (3) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the Chinese central region, the eastern region, and the region with more fiscal transparency are where the IPMP has the greatest promotion effect on GTFP. Lastly, this study provides several recommendations for the improvement of sustainability in China. Full article