Bulletin of Economic Research最新文献

This study analyzes the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the coupling of enterprise resilience and digital economy in Jiangsu Province, China, using the modified Ellison–Glaeser index, coupling coordination degree, and the Tobit regression model. The internal mechanism of coupling is discussed from the aspects of human capital, research and development (R&D) investment, industrial cooperation, economic foundation, foreign capital support, and structural rationalization. The study found that enterprise resilience and the complementarity of the digital economy reflect a gradual collaborative and orderly upgrading process in Jiangsu Province. The spatial linkage pattern is significant, showing an imbalanced and polarized pattern of the synergy being low in the north and high in the south. With respect to the industry sector, the coupling between the enterprise resilience of the tertiary industry and the digital economy is more significant compared to other industries. Furthermore, the absolute difference of the coupling has increased between cities, the interaction between systems has not yet reached the ideal state of cooperation, and a benign interactive model has not yet formed. R&D investment, industrial collaboration, economic foundation, and industrial structure rationalization play a significant role in coupling, while human capital, foreign investment, and industrial structure rationalization show a lag in coupling progress.

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of the United Kingdom entering and exiting firms in determining the long-lasting drop in aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) following the Global Financial Crisis. This is done in an evidential way using a multilateral model that divides real-value output by both a direct and a quantity index. Using micro-level data sourced from Companies House in the United Kingdom, our results extend the literature in showing that the main factor driving the aggregate TFP decline is the within effect, which is the productivity decline in surviving firms. However, the entry and exit effects also significantly contribute to the long-lasting drop in aggregate TFP. We find, exiting firms tend to have higher than average TFP. Furthermore, newly entering firms tend to have lower than average TFP. And, newly entering firms fail to increase their TFP levels over time, thereby depressing the within effect. We suggest that optimal policy decisions require evidence-based analyses of how best to foster economic growth and firm productivity. Otherwise, governments risk repeating similar mistakes in allocating scarce resources to failing or zombie firms, while allowing high-performing enterprises to leave the market.

Recently, Chinese administrative authorities have introduced administrative penalties, specifically targeting violations of adopting digital technology innovations and applications (termed administrative penalties toward digital technology companies, APDTs). These penalties have significantly heightened operational pressure on Chinese enterprises. This study explores the impact of APDTs on the agency costs between owners and managers. Through a combination of theoretical analysis and empirical testing utilizing Chinese city data and samples of listed companies from 2008 to 2020, we investigate the intricate mechanisms underlying this impact. The findings reveal that, first, APDTs exacerbate the agency conflict between owners and managers, resulting in increased agency costs. Second, the operational mechanism involves the elevation of firms’ debt capital and the reduction of their equity capital, consequently intensifying the agency costs between owners and managers. Lastly, the impact of APDTs on agency costs displays heterogeneity, diminishing as firms’ investment opportunities increase.

Our research examines the effects of audit committee (AC) mechanisms through the viewpoint of corporate economic efficiency by analyzing 12,561 US firm-year observations from 2002 to 2016. Our research suggests that certain AC characteristics, such as AC independence and the tenure of AC members, may impair firm efficiency because these two AC characteristics will increase monitoring strength and limit management decision-making. Conversely, our regression results highlight that increasing gender diversity, particularly the inclusion of female AC members, can positively impact firm efficiency. Further, through the mechanism analyses, the results indicate that female directors on an AC can improve efficiency by increasing research and development (R&D) investments and financial leverage. However, senior AC members tend to make conservative decisions that can result in a reduction in the firm's leverage and, in turn, harm corporate efficiency.

We examine the impact of natural disasters (NDs) on customer capital and bank risk. Using a large panel dataset from 4066 banks in the Eurozone over the period 2000–2021, we find that NDs negatively affect customer capital through a deterioration of the guarantees provided. This leads to an increase in bank risk characterized by a decline in the quality of banks' assets and a rise in non-performing loans. Furthermore, these results vary according to the type of NDs and bank-specific characteristics (i.e., capitalization, dependence on deposits, and size). This article, therefore, provides evidence of the mechanism connecting natural disasters directly and indirectly to financial stability. This article sheds further light on banks' exposure to climate change risks.