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Table of Contents
The Journal of World Economy 2024, No.5
2024-07-01 15:40:00
The Journal of World Economy 2024, No.5

Digital-Substantive Integration and Optimization of Export Product Strategies for Firms: Based on the Perspective of Flexible Production
Jiang Wei, Ni Shicheng, Peng Miao
  Abstract
  This paper constructs a model of multi-product heterogeneous firms that includes digital firms and investigates the theoretical mechanism of digital firms that empowers multi-product firms to optimise their export product strategies from a flexible production perspective. Using Chinese firm-level data from between 2000 and 2016, it develops an econometric model to examine the effect and mechanism of digital proximity on the export product scope and skewness of Chinese manufacturing firms. The results of the study indicate that increasing digital proximity not only helps to expand the export product scope, but also significantly improves their export skewness, which enhances intra-firm resource allocation and enriches their export product scope, thus achieving the joint improvement of Chinese firms' export product strategies in terms of efficiency and diversity. The analysis of the mechanism also reveals that digital proximity not only directly improves the flexible production capacity of manufacturing firms through the flexible production effect, but also indirectly increases the degree of market competition, ultimately driving the optimisation of export product strategies for manufacturing firms.
  Key words
  digital-substantive integration / export product strategies / intra-firm resource allocation / flexible production / market competition

Achieving a Sustainable Balance: Strategies for Environmental Protection and Economic Development in Key National Ecological Function Zones
Xie Tingting
  Abstract
  In China, it has become a social consensus that “natural waters” and “lush mountains” are invaluable assets, but few studies have examined their internal mechanism and conditions of realisation. This paper constructs a simple theoretical model, takes the national policy of key ecological function areas as a quasi-natural experiment and, using the difference-in-differences (DID) method, empirically examines its impact on regional economic development and environmental protection. Research reveals that national policy in key ecological function areas significantly promotes per capita GDP and vegetation coverage index in counties. The mechanism analysis shows that the improvement in the spatial utilisation efficiency, the transformation of the industrial structure and the central transfer payment are important paths to promote synergy between environmental protection and economic development in counties of the national key ecological function areas. The effect of this policy is heterogeneous and mainly determined by the combination of the opportunity cost of ecological environmental protection, the transformation cost of the economic development mode, and the compensatory effect of the central transfer payment. In short, the conclusion of this paper will help counties to find the intersection between environmental protection and economic development and explore the road to green and high-quality development.
  Key words
  natural waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets / national key ecological function areas / green and high-quality development

Economic Benefits of the Pilot Watershed Ecological Compensation Project
Xia Yong, Zhong Maochu, Kou Dongxue
  Abstract
  Based on the fact that China's Pilot Watershed Ecological Compensation (PWEC) project has been gradually implemented in stages and batches, this paper manually matches data from 148 water quality monitoring points from border sections with county-level economic data between 2007 and 2018. It then discusses the impact and mechanism of the PWEC project on economic benefits obtained in compensated areas through the use of a multi-phase difference-in-differences (DID) method. The results of the research reveal that the PWEC project helps residents of compensated areas increase their incomes and promote local common prosperity by increasing the number of jobs and improving the diversification of the employment structure. However, the effects of the PWEC project exhibit different characteristics due to policy selection bias. They manifest through a unidirectional eco-compensation (UEC) that “benefits the rural residents but not the urban residents”, a bidirectional eco-compensation (BEC) that “benefits the urban residents more than the rural residents”, and a vertical eco-compensation (VEC) that “benefits the urban residents but not the rural residents”. In the policy change process, the transformative effect of VEC into UEC has been deteriorating from its initial effect of “benefiting the urban residents but not the rural residents” to an effect of “benefiting neither the rural residents nor the urban residents”. However, the policy change mode of transformation from VEC into BEC and from UEC into BEC has been shifting from their existing effects to “benefiting the urban residents more than the rural residents”.
  Key words
  bidirectional eco-compensation / common prosperity / policy change process / multi-phase difference-in-differences (DID) method

Innovating in Line with National Priorities: Evidence from Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy
Gao Yu, Li Xiang, Li Junqing
  Abstract
  Guiding the direction of technological innovation to focus on key areas with significant strategic value and promote future economic development is crucial to launch a new round of rapid growth for China. This paper builds a theoretical model illustrating the potential mechanism of innovation distortion under competitive equilibrium, and explores the role of mission-oriented innovation policy in correcting innovation inefficiency and guiding the direction of innovation. The results reveal that externalities in consumption, R&D time and patent competition can cause the direction of innovation under competitive equilibrium to deviate from the social optimum, while mission-oriented innovation policy can steer technological innovation towards the social optimum by promoting R&D cooperation and increasing the expected return of innovation. However, the effectiveness of the policy is constrained by the availability of knowledge and technology. This paper verifies these findings empirically by using a public health event shock as a natural experiment with the detailed technology categories data. Extended analysis shows that the policy has the greatest impact on research organisations, followed by firms, and the policy can play a role in changing the allocation of firm's R&D resources. This study provides useful insights for China to improve its innovation policy system and promote the development and breakthrough of core technologies in key areas.
  Key words
  direction of innovation / innovation policy / externality / R&D resource allocation

Resource Allocation in Higher Education under Merit-Based Support and Technological Innovation in Universities
Qi Yingfei, Wang Yuyuan, Li Yuanfei
  Abstract
  Based on the micro-data of colleges and universities, we evaluate the impact of China's merit-based support strategy in higher education on technological innovation in these institutions using a difference-in-differences approach. The findings reveal that merit-based support strategy fosters an enhancement in both quantity and quality of patents at key universities, thereby augmenting originality and universality in technological innovation. The reallocation of educational resources plays a crucial role as a mechanism to support and promote technological innovation at these key universities by improving research conditions and enhancing researcher efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the influence of preferential support strategy is relatively weak among universities with similar local technical structures; however, financial funding for R&D can strengthen its impact on the proportion of invention patents at key universities. We provide empirical evidence and policy implications regarding how China's priority development policy in higher education reallocates educational resources and influences technological innovation in universities.
  Key words
  merit-based support / resource allocation in higher education / innovation in universities

Spillover Effects of Capital Markets on Firm Entry and Exit
Lu Yao, Wu Jiahe
  Abstract
  This paper theoretically analyzes the spillover effects of firm listings on regional industries. The listing of firms conveys information, reduces uncertainty for new entrants, and encourages new ventures to enter the market. Increased market competition accelerates the exit of some existing firms. Using the information of China's industrial and commercial registered enterprises and A-share listed companies, an empirical analysis finds that: the first firm listing in a regional industry increases the number of new registrations and deregistrations within the same industry in the area, and firms with lower innovation intensity are more vulnerable to the negative impact of listings, leading to their exit from the market. The positive impact of the first firm listing is stronger when the stock price contains more information, there are more analysts paying attention, and more research reports, indicating an information transmission mechanism. Additionally, this promotion effect is greater in regions with higher market development levels and better-developed information infrastructure, as well as in industries with higher information transparency. This paper helps to reveal the important role of the capital market in the development and transformation of the industrial sector.
  Key words
  industry dynamics / capital market / spillover effects / industrial externalities / information channel

Punish One to Warn Others:The Deterrence Effects of Credit Rating Agency Regulation
Wu Yuhui, Zhang Teng, Tang Haobo, Zhang Rongjie
  Abstract
  In the context of an incomplete market restraint, administrative supervision plays an important role in regulating the behavior of credit rating agencies (CRAs). In 2018, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) jointly announced that Dagong Global Credit Rating Co., Ltd. had been suspended from its credit rating business for one year. We examine whether and how the other CRAs respond to such an event. We find that this strict regulation disciplines the other CRAs to issue more downgrades and improve their credit rating quality. Further evidence shows that the effects of this regulation are concentrated in the short and medium term. Moreover, the other CRAs reduce their rating volatility and the probability of Type I errors after such regulation, and investors trust more on credit ratings when issuing new bonds. Our results suggest that CRAs respond by improving their credit rating quality when their market power is threatened by the possibility of further regulatory intervention.
  Key words
  credit rating agency / bond market / regulation / rating quality

Formal Social Networks and Interprovincial Labour Mobility: A Perspective Based on Cross-Regional Chambers of Commerce
Yu Yixiang, Guo Mengmeng
  Abstract
  Drawing on data from cross-regional chambers of commerce and the 2011‒2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), this paper investigates the influence of provincial-level cross-regional chambers of commerce on interprovincial labour mobility. The results of the study indicate that cross-regional chambers of commerce significantly facilitate interprovincial labour mobility and that they primarily act by reducing mobility costs, breaking resource monopolies, enhancing social acceptance levels and compensating for the deficiencies of formal institutions. Moreover, cross-regional chambers of commerce exert a greater impact on vulnerable groups within the labour market, helping the migrant population to find employment and become entrepreneurs, while exhibiting heterogeneous effects on the migrant population across different industries. This study provides comprehensive evidence and policy references to break down barriers to labour market mobility and improve employment promotion mechanisms.
  Key words
  cross-regional chambers of commerce / social network / interprovincial labour mobility