Abstract:Effectively alleviating the problem of energy consumption has become a key measure in building a resource-conserving and environment-friendly society in China. How does environmental regulation affect energy consumption in China against the background of continuous adjustment and optimization of industrial structure? In order to answer this question, this paper applies the PCSE method to empirically analyze the direct and indirect effects of different environmental regulations on industrial energy consumption, using the panel data from 30 provinces and cities in China from 2006 to 2017. The results show that: 1) Environmental regulations significantly influence industrial energy consumption. Market incentive environmental regulation performs the best, followed by public supervision environmental regulation,while the impact of command-and-control environmental regulation is weaker; 2) The interaction terms between environmental regulation and industrial structure confirm the comprehensive effect of market incentive and public supervision environmental regulations on energy consumption. Environmental regulations from the government can guide the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure, thereby effectively reducing energy consumption; 3) The threshold regression model of the command-and-control environmental regulation and energy consumption verifies the nonlinear impact.The energy saving effect varies with the degree of environmental regulation. According to the research results, several policy suggestions are put forward, such as paying different attention to the process of carrying out environmental regulation, focusing on its guiding role in the optimization and adjustment of industrial structure, to provide instructive reference and guidance for effectively reducing energy consumption.

Abstract:Breaking down tax system barriers between industries is crucial for advancing tax cuts and fees to support the real economy. Using the micro-level data from the nationwide enterprise registration database (SAIC) for 2009-2015 , this study examines the impact of the business tax replaced with value added tax reform (VAT reform) on regional entrepreneurial activities. The findings indicate that the VAT reform significantly increased the level of regional entrepreneurship. Furthermore, implemented specifically in the service sector, the reform not only facilitated the establishment of production systems with specialization of production and optimized regional industrial structures, but also enabled cross-industry transmission of entrepreneurship-promoting effects through industrial input-output linkages, indirectly boosting the development in related downstream manufacturing sectors. Overall, during the VAT reform period, the government incurred an average tax reduction cost of approximately 550 000 Yuan per newly established enterprise. Additionally, every 100 000 Yuan in tax reduction costs enabled the channeling of about 10 000 Yuan into the real economy sector. This research provides a quantitative policy evaluation reference for enhancing tax policies aimed at supporting the development of the real economy in the future.

Abstract:This paper examines the identification and estimation of partially linear quantile regression models in the presence of sample selection. To address the selection bias arising in quantile regression, we model the joint distribution of the unobserved disturbances in the outcome and selection equations-using, for instance, a copula specification-to obtain consistent estimates. We set out the assumptions required for identification and, building on the generalized method of moments for quantile regression, develop estimation procedures for both the quantile parameters (or functions) and the copula parameters. We establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators. For inference, we implement a nonparametric bootstrap to compute standard errors and construct test statistics to assess the validity of the nonlinear specification. Using a control function framework, we further clarify the relationship between the endogenous linear quantile selection model and our proposed specification. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that the estimators perform well in finite samples. Finally, we apply the methodology to estimate the returns to female education, demonstrating the model’s practical relevance.

Abstract:As e-commerce applications evolve from breadth to depth, personalization has become an important direction for e-commerce service innovation. In order to accurately predict consumers’personalized demand, this paper proposes a personalized demand prediction method with a limited preference constraint by integrating information of product description texts and display images. Inspired by the hypothesis of limited attention, this paper models the limited personalized preference of consumers, and combines the image and text features to construct a Sparse Text-Image Linked Topic Model with a limited preference constraint. The model predicts the individual demands of consumers through group interest modeling, individual preference modeling, and purchase decision modeling. Experiments on the Amazon public data set show that the proposed model can effectively predict group interests and personalized preferences of consumers. The integration of text and image information improves the interpretability of personalized demand prediction.

Abstract:Talent distribution within China exhibits significant regional disparities. Local governments have implemented favorable policies to gain an edge in the increasingly heated competition for talent. These pose new challenges for exploring the law of talent flows and promoting balanced regional economic development. This study focuses on college graduates in China and builds a dynamic multi-region model of migration to quantitatively analyze the impact of different individual characteristics (such as academic degree, school rank, and major) and economic factors (including real wage, migration cost, and amenity) on their job location decisions. Using data from a leading professional social network, we find that migration frictions fall with higher academic degrees and school rankings. Graduates with science degrees encounter lower migration frictions than those with engineering or arts and social science degrees. Estimated barriers to talent inflows gradually increase from the northwest to the southeast. Counterfactual analyses imply that a permanent wage increase in any province improves the welfare of graduates across all provinces. Western provinces need to offer higher wages than coastal provinces to attract an equivalent talent flow.

Abstract:As an important part of China’s green manufacturing systems, green factory certification is a vital tool to accelerate green transformation in the industries sector. Based on national-level data on green factory certification, this study systematically examines the impact mechanism and economic consequences of green factory certificationon firms’ environmental protection investment from the perspective of peer effects. The research reveals that green factory certification exhibits significant peer effects, wherein the environmental protection investment of non-certified firms is increased by the presence of green factory certified firms within the same region and industry. The conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. Moreover, the peer effects of green factory certificationon is stronger in the sample of large-scale firms, non-state-owned firms, heavily polluting firms, and non-high-tech firms. Furthermore, the study indicates that, compared to governance-oriented environmental protection investment, the effects of green factory certification have a more pronounced promoting effect on prevention-based environmental protection investment. Finally, this study discovers new evidence that green factory certification can promote firms’green innovation performance and regional environmental performance through peer effects. This study provides empirical evidence assessing the effectiveness of green factory certification as a leading exemplar, and offers practical insights from the perspective of peer effects to encourage firms to achieve green transformation.

Abstract:Due to the risky nature of the movie market, production companies increasingly rely on sequel movies to generate box office revenues. Existing research has examined various driving factors behind the success of sequel movies. However, researchers have paid limited attention to the impact of the content and variation in reviews of the parent movies on the box office success of sequel movies.This paper conducts an empirical analysis based on data from 150 sequel movies released in China from 2014 to 2018. Using machine learning-based text analysis methods, we measure the diversity of reviews for the parent movies and find a significant positive effect of review diversity on the box office performance of sequel movies. Additionally, we verify the role of information richness as the underlying mechanism. Specifically, the more reviews a parent movie receives, the stronger the positive impact of review diversity on the box office performance of its sequel movies. The number of media reports and the duration of sequel movies in theaters negatively moderate the main effect. This study extends the research on the movie market and provides a new perspective for firms to consider word-of-mouth factors for marketing sequel movies, thus offering important managerial implications.

Abstract:This paper considers a supply chain in which one manufacturer can encroach by selling directly and one retailer can encroach by developing a store brand, and investigates the impact of the manufacturer’s cost-reduction investment on bilateral encroachment. The bilateral encroachment game models both without investment and with manufacturer’s investment are established, and the equilibrium encroachment strategies of firms are obtained. The results show that under a certain condition, the manufacturer’s investment can prevent the occurrence of bilateral encroachment. On the one hand, the investment increases the retailer’s revenue from selling the manufacturer’s products in the traditional channel; on the other hand, it also enhances the competitiveness of the manufacturer’s products. Moreover, the higher the consumers’ valuation of the store brand, the more intense the competition between two brands. Therefore, when consumers highly value the store brand, it is more advantageous for the retailer to give up the store brand and focus on reselling the manufacturer’s products that have both product and cost advantages. Additionally, the manufacturer does not need to open direct channel to deal with the retailer’s encroachment under this situation.

Abstract:This paper studies an assembly system consisting of multiple upstream complementary suppliers and a single downstream assembler, where quality improvements in the components made by the suppliers have positive externalities. Specifically, the demand of final products can be enhanced by improving the quality of components. The complementary component suppliers can freely form coalitions to determine their wholesale pricing and quality-improvement efforts. Based on the concept of Nash stability, this paper characterizes the stable coalition structure of suppliers and the equilibrium decisions of the assembly system, and further discusses the influence of positive externalities of supplier quality improvement on the system. The results show that a grand coalition forms when the overall quality improvement efficiency of suppliers is high; otherwise, the suppliers act independently. In addition, due to the positive externalities of supplier quality improvement, suppliers with low quality-improvement efficiency can benefit from free riding. Compared to suppliers with higher quality-improvement efficiency, they make less effort in quality improvement but obtain higher profits. Finally, the free-riding behavior of suppliers is illustrated through numerical examples.

Abstract:In the era of mixed transportation systems, where service-oriented autonomous vehicles (AV) coexist with human-driven regular vehicles (HV), urban transportation network flows will consist of “decentralized” decisions made by commuters who choose the HV mode, and “centralized” decisions made by AV mobility service operators who assign routes to travelers opting for their AV mobility services. This paper presents a hybrid behavior equilibrium model that integrates the combined decision-making processes of elastic demand, traveler service/mode selection, and route allocation/choice, which enriched the theories of mixed networks equilibrium in mixed traffic environment. Two numerical examples are used to verify the effectiveness of the model, revealing that the optimal supply mode for the AV service market is a joint effort between the government and private enterprises. More importantly, this market structure can simultaneously achieve optimal efficiency in the transportation system and minimal perceived unfairness for travelers. This study provides valuable insights into important management questions such as what role the government should play in the AV service market.

Abstract:The intensification of global climate change in recent years has attracted widespread attention.By introducing climate change attention into the consumption-based capital asset pricing model, this paper theoretically analyzes how investors’climate change attention affects the expected returns of individual stocks. It then empirically tests the model’s hypothesis and mechanisms in China’s A-share market by constructing climate change attention indicators based on Baidu Information and Baidu Index related to the keywords of climate change.The results show that: First, the Beta of climate change attention has a negative effect on the future excess returns for individual stocks; this effect is time-varying and more pronounced during periods of high climate change attention. Second, the negative effects are more significant for the stocks issued by enterprises with better environmental performance. Third, investors’risk hedging demand is an important mechanism through which climate change attention affects stock excess returns. This effect is mainly driven by changes in investors’expectations of corporate cash flows, ESG preferences, and institutional shareholding ratios.

Abstract:Against the background of a major public health emergency, this paper examines the impact of this event on stock market risk in China from the perspective of the public’s risk perception bias. This paper measures the public’s risk perception bias through the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model and text analysis and examines the impact mechanism of risk perception bias on stock market risk at both the market and industry levels. The empirical results show that risk perception bias significantly exacerbates stock market risk at both the market and industry levels, and that the effect is particularly significant during the period with high event risk. Meanwhile, this paper finds that investor attention plays an important mediating role in the relationship between risk perception bias and stock market risk, while its mediating effect is significant only during the period with high event risk. Finally, the impact of risk perception bias on stock market risk, as well as the mediating role of investor attention, vary across different sectors. These findings suggest that the public’s subjective perception of event risk deviates from the objective event risk, and the resulting irrational investment exacerbates the instability of the financial market during major public health emergencies.