American Journal of Economics and Sociology最新文献

In the wave of the digital economy, supply chain digitalization is a visual manifestation of businesses integrating digital technology into their production and operations. It helps companies enhance operational efficiency and competitiveness, gradually becoming a key driver for corporate sustainable development. This study selects Chinese A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2021 as research samples and empirically tests the impact of supply chain digitalization on corporate environment (E), social responsibility (S), and corporate governance (G) (ESG) performance. We find that supply chain digitalization significantly promotes corporate ESG performance, which is achieved by reducing information asymmetry and easing financing constraints. The positive effect of supply chain digitalization on corporate ESG performance varies significantly among different enterprises, with more prominent effects in mature enterprises, those at both ends of the industrial chain, and those located in regions with lower degree of marketization. Further analysis reveals that supply chain digitalization brings about an innovation effect for enterprises. These findings enrich the research on supply chain digitalization and corporate ESG performance, providing valuable insights for promoting supply-side structural reforms and corporate sustainable development.

Entrepreneurial activity is crucial for economic progress and resolving societal issues. Utilizing the technology–organization–environment (TOE) theoretical framework, this study builds a systematic model to investigate the trajectories of entrepreneurial activities across 31 provinces in China from 2019 to 2021. We employ the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method. Our analyses indicate that (1) multiple factors impact both high entrepreneurial activity and non-high entrepreneurial activity; entrepreneurial activity is significantly different between advanced and catching-up regions; (2) there are two types of paths that lead to high entrepreneurial activity, namely technology driven and technology–institution driven. These paths are dynamic, gradually transitioning from technology driven and technology–institution driven to industry–resource driven; and (3) non-high entrepreneurial activity may result from poor technological infrastructure and lack of human capital. These findings elucidate the different routes through which entrepreneurial activity is generated in China and offer valuable theoretical and practical insights.

In recent years, the continuous development of China's digital inclusive finance has provided favorable conditions for improving the consumption level of domestic residents and stimulating national economic growth. Based on the theory of financial development and deepening, this paper studies the mechanism and effect of digital inclusive finance on rural residents’ consumption and economic growth. The results show that (1) the development of digital inclusive finance can directly promote economic growth. Specifically, the breadth of coverage, the depth of use and the degree of digitization of digital inclusive finance all contribute to economic growth. (2) Digital inclusive finance significantly promotes rural residents’ consumption, and rural residents’ consumption significantly promotes economic growth, that is, digital inclusive finance can indirectly promote economic growth by promoting rural residents’ consumption. (3) When digital inclusive finance is at different levels of development, rural residents’ consumption has different effects on economic growth. The higher the development level of digital inclusive finance, the better the promotion effect of rural residents’ consumption on economic growth. Therefore, we should continue to promote the development of digital inclusive finance, give full play to the inclusiveness and convenience of digital inclusive finance, and contribute to the promotion of rural residents’ consumption and economic growth.

A large portion of the American electorate holds contempt for elected representatives who skip floor votes. As a result, political challengers, and the national political media in the U.S., rarely miss a chance to inform the electorate of the shirking behavior of its representatives. New research suggests that, in 2020, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives may have developed protection, albeit temporary, to legislators who engage in shirking behavior. That protection came via passage of House Resolution 965, which authorized “remote voting by proxy” in the U.S. House of Representatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study extends the literature on proxy voting by empirically examining the factors that influenced the tendency of members of the U.S. House of Representatives to either shirk (i.e., skip) the vote on proxy voting (i.e., HR 965) or to vote in favor of the resolution (i.e., HR 965) allowing for the proxy vote. Econometric results suggest that Representatives' gender, age, legislative tenure, and past penchant for participatory shirking worked to determine parliamentary participation, and the direction of one's vote, on HR 965.

With the development of Internet technology and modern supply chains, cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) has become one of the most important forms of international trade. The impact of this new mode of trade on economic growth and income disparity is worthy of further examination. This study treats the CBEC pilot zone policy as a quasi-natural experiment, using the difference-in-differences approach to examine its impact on the urban–rural income gap. The findings showed that: (1) This policy significantly widened the urban–rural income gap; (2) innovation, entrepreneurship, and export are important paths toward expanding the impact of the CBEC pilot policy on the income gap, but the digital environment suppresses these expanding paths; and (3) the impact of this policy on the income gap shows distinct regional heterogeneity. This study provides several recommendations on how to promote balanced incomes.

This paper provides insights into the apparent seesaw between the generation of theoretical and empirical economics research over time. A dynamic model considers the incentives of researchers to focus on empirical versus theoretical papers. It yields the main characteristics of the path-changing of economics research, from theoretical-intensive to empirical-focused. The model has two equilibria, one with a higher proportion of theoretical papers and another with a higher proportion of empirical papers. Curiously, the equilibrium with greater theoretical papers is stable, while the one with more empirical papers is a saddle point. This suggests that the current trend of increasing empirical research is unlikely to last.

In Morgantown, West Virginia, curbside recycling is available to residents who reside within the city limits. However, residents in Monongalia County who reside outside the Morgantown city limits are expected to bring their recyclables to a drop-off site which discourages people from recycling in general. Moreover, there exists a disparity between residents within and outside the Morgantown city limits in terms of rights to have access to curbside recycling. This study presents the economic value of curbside recycling at the County level. Furthermore, the paper presents a framework and empirical analysis that separate the value of the improved program as a club good and the value of the program as a public good, using a survey data from Morgantown and Monongalia County in collaboration with a local waste and recycling service provider.

Discounted present value (DPV) calculations have appeared in textbooks as well as numerous peer-reviewed journal articles. Such articles address a wide variety of topics/issues, ranging from migration to educational pursuit to investment in new plant and equipment to the NFL draft. Recognizing the remarkably versatile and useful tools that the DPV concepts are to valuation and intelligent decision-making, some years ago, the Harvard Business Review published a discussion by Gallo of the derivation and uses of DPVs (and NPVs). This note extends and corrects the analysis in Gallo so as to make it more accurate and useful to the reader.

The study proposes methods for deterring earnings manipulation in Chinese commercial banks, recognizing it as an ongoing problem with the potential to destabilize investors and financial markets. The increasing integration of the global financial system has heightened the importance of addressing this issue, given the systemic risk posed by large individual financial institutions. Utilizing the Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis method (fsQCA) on 139 Chinese commercial banks in 2021, the paper explores factors influencing banks' earnings manipulation behavior. The study reveals several key findings: (1) Factors associated with reducing the likelihood of earnings manipulation in commercial banks are diverse and multifaceted. (2) Multiple paths exist to achieve earnings manipulation, categorized into Resource-guided, Corporate Governance, Resource and Supervisory Mechanism, Supervisory Mechanism, and Corporate Governance as the main mechanism. Among these, the Supervisory Mechanism exhibits the highest consistency. (3) Hiring “Big Four” accounting firms as auditors emerges as a significant deterrent against earnings manipulation in commercial banks. (4) Banks with powerful major shareholders affiliated with the government or ample resources are effective in deterring earnings manipulation. These two factors are complementary, while a bank's growth prospects and industrial competition serve as substitute factors.

This study examines the impact and its mechanisms of green finance on economic growth by using the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone (GFRIPZ) as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2019, we employ a difference-in-differences (DID) model and find that the GFRIPZ's construction has a positive effect on economic growth, resulting in real GDP growth of 2.2% in the pilot zones. Mechanism analysis shows that the GFRIPZ policy promotes economic growth by stimulating green technological innovation and increasing green fiscal expenditures. Further, the moderating effect result reveals that the more powerful the environmental regulation, the better the economic growth effect of the GFRIPZ policy. Additionally, heterogeneity analysis indicates that the GFRIPZ policy can contribute more in accelerating economic growth in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Xinjiang. Our findings provide the latest empirical evidence that green finance promotes economic growth, as well as cross-references for policymakers to scientifically execute green monetary policies and effectively balance green development and economic growth.