Journal of China Economics

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  • The History，Problems and Governance of Enterprise Group Development
    CAO Chunfang MA Xiaoli LIU Wei
    2025, 2(14): 1-16.
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    Since the international financial crisis in 2008，the supervision of systemically important financial institutions has become an important part of the global financial supervision reform. Correspondingly，the supervision of systemically important enterprises has gradually attracted more and more attention in enterprise supervision. Enterprise groups play an important role in economy，especially in resource allocation，capital flow and market competition. However，the complex structure and internal market mechanism of enterprise groups have also brought many problems，such as resource mismatch in the internal capital market，tax transfer，pollution transfer and patent transfer. These problems not only affect the efficiency of enterprises themselves，but also have a far-reaching impact on the entire economic system.
    More and more attention has been paid to the development and supervision of systemically important enterprise groups. This paper discusses the development history，problems and governance of enterprise groups. First of all，this paper focuses on the policy and process of enterprise group development since China’s reform and opening up，focusing on the nature of the subsidiaries of China enterprise group （off-site） and the driving factors of its off-site development；This paper discusses the internal market of enterprise groups in the context of China，including the transfer of profits，taxes，debts and earnings management in the internal capital market，as well as the pollution of the new internal market and the patent transfer. Secondly，it analyzes the development process and problems of American enterprise groups’40-year rise and 20-year disappearance since 1888，and the subsequent academic research theories formed in academic circles，and focuses on comprehensively comparing the theoretical and practical differences between the development of Chinese and American
    enterprise groups. Finally，in view of the problems existing in China’s enterprise groups，this paper summarizes the research direction of China’s current enterprise group development and governance，focusing on internal governance，external supervision and the independent knowledge of China enterprise group research.
    It is found that China enterprise groups have played a very good role in the reform and development，but there are also many problems. What needs special attention is that the management of the problems in the development of enterprise groups in China cannot learn from the United States completely，but should give full play to the advantages of enterprise groups and avoid their potential risks according to the development characteristics of enterprise groups in China. The corresponding policy suggestions are as follows.
    First，internal governance：vertical and horizontal penetration of the new company law（generalization of group boundaries）. The new “Company Law” further introduces horizontal penetration on the basis of vertical penetration in the protection of creditors’ interests. This change will make it more difficult for vertically penetrated enterprise groups or horizontally penetrated generalized enterprise groups to transfer risks，such as debt transfer，which will be more effectively recovered and improve creditor protection. However，apart from debt transfer，it is actually more difficult to protect rights through vertical and horizontal penetration，which requires further measures by supervision or law.
    Second，external supervision：unify the regional supervision standards for the construction of large markets. The Regulations on Fair Competition Review in 2024 has put forward clear requirements for the review of tax incentives and financial subsidies in different regions，but it is relatively more difficult to unify standards in different regions，such as intellectual property supervision，which leaves more room for inter-regional enterprise groups to transfer their internal markets. Therefore，it is suggested to strengthen specialized cross-regional law enforcement. At present，China has set up four intellectual property courts and 27 intellectual property courts to cover more areas of supervision professionally. At present，there are still 10 provinces and some areas in the province that have not set up intellectual property courts or tribunals. Explore the joint enforcement mechanism of cross-regional intellectual property rights. Promote cross-regional linkage law enforcement supervision，explore cross-regional filing mechanism of intellectual property cases，establish cross-regional “execution connection” mechanism，and establish multi-mediation mechanism for intellectual property disputes. Strengthen the judicial guidance on the application of unified laws，especially for the shortcomings of supervision in areas with weak intellectual property protection，and realize the substantive relative balance of intellectual property supervision in different regions.
    Third，the independent intellectualization of Chinese enterprise group research. According to the needs of practice，we expect the new development of enterprise group theory will gradually transition from the United States to China and other countries. The theoretical development of Chinese-style enterprise groups requires better open communication，active participation in global enterprise group governance，joint response to global challenges，and contribution to the theory and practice of global enterprise group development.


  • The Economic Growth Effect of Digital Government Construction：Empirical Evidence from the Establishment of Provincial Government Service Integration Platforms
    ZHANG Liuqin HUANG Jingwei CHEN Ziqian
    2025, 2(14): 17-51.
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    Effective governance is an essential requirement for maximizing the advantages of the socialist market economic system. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up，China’s economy has experienced sustained and rapid growth. The government has served as the body that regulates the market，playing a crucial role in this process. From the market-oriented reform of the macroeconomic system to changes in the microenterprise framework，a series of institutional reforms implemented by the Chinese government have improved and standardized the social governance framework and market order. These reforms have safeguarded the fairness and efficiency of the market environment，promoting the healthy and orderly development of the economy. The government acts as the primary decision-maker behind regional institutional changes，and improvements in governance systems and capacity are critical for making rational policy decisions. In the context of the rapid advancement of global digitization，networking，and intelligence，the process of digital transformation within government is accelerating. The integrated government service platforms are not only a crucial tool for advancing the modernization of China’s governance system and capacity but also an essential pathway for driving the intelligent，digital，and modern development of the economy and society. It plays a significant role in promoting high-quality regional economic development.
    Based on panel data of 283 cities in China from 2009 to 2019，this paper empirically analyzes the economic growth effect of government service integration platforms using Staggered Difference-in-Differences. The results show that：ⅰ.Government service integration platforms can significantly promote the economic growth of cities，enhancing the city’s GDP and total factor productivity （TFP） by about 2.8% and 1.8 percentage points，respectively，with this positive effect expected to increase over time. ⅱ.Creating a favorable business environment，reducing institutional transaction costs，promoting the rapid flow of capital，and improving the efficiency of capital allocation are the intrinsic mechanisms through which government service integration platforms exert economic growth effects. ⅲ.The heterogeneity results indicate that government service integration platforms have stronger economic growth effects in regions with stronger market segmentation，steeper geographical slopes，higher population concentrations，and greater degrees of public data openness. ⅳ.Further analysis shows that government service integration platforms can effectively reduce the economic development gap between cities in the province，significantly improving the imbalance and insufficiency of regional development. They contribute to the achievement of coordinated regional economic development.
    Based on the above research findings，the potential policy implications of this paper are as follows：Firstly，enhance the development of integrated service platforms to accelerate the modernization of the national governance system and enhance capacity. Secondly，broaden and diversify the application scenarios of artificial intelligence technologies，and strengthen the empowering effect of integrated government service platforms. Lastly，continuously expand the openness of public government data，improve data utilization efficiency，and fully leverage data as a production factor to foster high-quality economic development.
    The main contributions of this paper are as follows. Firstly，from a research perspective，this paper leverages government service integration platforms to illuminate the digital government construction process，assessing the economic growth impact of integration platforms across two dimensions：economic “increment” and “quality.” This paper not only broadens the existing research on the economic and social welfare effects of integration platforms but also serves as a valuable addition to the literature on digital government construction. Secondly，this paper establishes that enhancing the business environment，facilitating inter-regional capital flows，and improving capital allocation efficiency are key mechanisms through which integration platforms stimulate urban economic growth，contributing to a deeper understanding of the intrinsic logical relationship between digital government construction and economic development. Thirdly，this paper innovatively analyzes the impact of integration platforms on uneven economic development among cities within a province，empirically verifying the positive role of integration government services in fostering coordinated and balanced regional economic development. This paper offers robust theoretical backing and practical guidance for advancing regional economic integration.


  • How Does Digital Infrastructure Affect Industrial Structural Transformation：Empirical Evidence from the “Broadband China” Strategy#br# Wu Maohua1 Wang Dihai2#br# #br#
    Wu Maohua Wang Dihai
    2025, 2(14): 52-82.
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    China’s economy is undergoing a transition from a high-speed growth phase to a high-quality development phase，with industrial structural transformation being a key feature of this process. In the early stages of reform and opening-up，the proportion of industrial added value to GDP was 47.7%. With the advancement of reform and industrialization，this proportion remained stable at around 45% for a long period. However，since 2011，as economic growth slowed，the proportion of industrial added value gradually declined from 46.5% to 38.6% in 2019. Meanwhile，the ratio of service sector output to industrial output in the non-agricultural sector has also undergone significant changes，rising from 0.52 in 1978 to 1.41 in 2019. Particularly since 2011，the acceleration in the growth rate of the service-toindustrial output ratio indicates that industrial structural transformation has entered an accelerated phase. Against this backdrop，Premier Li Qiang emphasized in the 2023 Government Work Report the need to vigorously promote innovation-driven development and facilitate the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures. The 2025 Government Work Report further proposed striving to increase the proportion of added value from core digital economy industries to around 10% of GDP，charting a course for high-quality economic development in the new era. However，the process of industrial structural transformation faces numerous challenges，such as Baumol’s cost disease in the service sector，which may hinder long-term economic growth. Against this backdrop，this paper takes the “Broadband China” strategy as an entry point to explore the impact of digital infrastructure on industrial structural transformation and its mechanisms，aiming to provide theoretical and empirical support for relevant policy formulation. This paper constructs a theoretical model and employs the Difference-in-Differences （DID） method to empirically examine the impact of digital infrastructure on industrial structural transformation and its mechanisms. The results show that digital infrastructure significantly slows down the pace of industrial structural transformation，specifically manifested in a decline in the growth rate of the service-to-industrial output ratio. Mechanism analysis further validates the hypothesis that the industrial sector has a higher capital output elasticity and indirectly confirms the important role of digital infrastructure in promoting labor-biased technological progress. Specifically，digital infrastructure enhances labor-biased technological progress by improving urban innovation levels，optimizing the business credit environment，and promoting market-oriented development，thereby slowing down the pace of industrial structural transformation towards the service sector. This study fills a gap in the existing literature on the relationship between digital infrastructure and industrial structural transformation，providing new theoretical insights into the critical role of the digital economy in high-quality economic development.
    Based on the findings，this paper proposes the following policy recommendations：First，there should be an acceleration in the construction of digital infrastructure，particularly in less developed regions，to narrow the digital divide and promote balanced development of the digital economy. Second，the government should increase support for technological innovation in the service sector，fostering deeper integration between the service sector and digital technologies to enhance the sector’s technological progress rate and mitigate the potential negative impact of Baumol’s cost disease on economic growth. Third，policymakers should focus on optimizing the business credit environment and market-oriented development to create favorable conditions for enterprise innovation and technological investment，thereby promoting labor-biased technological progress and driving industrial structural optimization and upgrading. Fourth，there should be an emphasis on cultivating and attracting high-skilled labor to meet the new demands of the digital economy for labor skill structures，providing talent support for high-quality economic development. This research offers a scientific basis for the government to formulate more precise and effective digital economy policies，contributing to the optimization and upgrading of industrial structures and the achievement of high-quality economic growth.
    Keywords：Digital Infrastructure；Structural Transformation；“Broadband China”；Quasinatural Experiment

  • “South-to-North Water Diversion” and Agriculture Development along the Route：Evaluation of Middle Route Project under the Regression Discontinuity Design
    LIU Yaobin, XIAO Ting, GUO Na
    2025, 2(14): 83-109.
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    The South-to-North Water Transfer Project，as a large-scale water conservancy facility to solve the problem of water shortage in northern China，has injected new vitality into the economic and social development of the regions along the route. However，since the middle route of the project was put into operation at the end of 2014，the artificial use of mountain terrain to achieve the overall goal of self-flow throughout the main canal has caused a geographical division. Due to the altitude difference on both sides of the main canal，the water extraction conditions are different，resulting in differences in agricultural production endowments. Among the three major industries，agriculture is most affected by water resources. Therefore，this paper empirically examines the changes in agricultural output capacity on both sides of the main canal after the water diversion.
    This paper accurately identified the geographical locations of each county through Geographic Information System （GIS） and matched them with the “China County Statistical Yearbook” over the years to construct a panel dataset from 2008 to 2021. Based on this，the paper employed the regression discontinuity design method to examine the impact of the opening of the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project on the agricultural development of the areas along the route. The research results show that：Firstly，the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has significantly affected the agricultural development gap between the areas on both sides of the route. Specifically，after the water diversion，the average annual growth rate of agriculture in the eastern counties was 2.2 percentage points higher than that in the western counties. This effect has been continuously accumulating over time and has been reproduced under different estimation methods，bandwidth settings，and variable definitions. Secondly，the agricultural growth performance of the eastern counties along the main canal in Hebei Province is more prominent，with its growth rate nearly twice that of Henan Province. Moreover，the construction of the Middle Route Project has not had a significant differential impact on the secondary and tertiary industries. In terms of agricultural product output，the impact of the opening of water to the Central Route Project on the differential change in the output of food and oil crops is more pronounced. In terms of the impact mechanism，the opening of the Middle Route Project mainly affects agricultural development by acting on agricultural labor and agricultural capital.
    The policy recommendations contained herein have distinct guiding significance：Firstly，the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has promoted the agricultural development along the route. At the same time，it is necessary to be vigilant about the nonequilibrium development of industries. Specifically，the agricultural growth rate in the eastern plain area along the canal is significantly higher than that in the western area. Therefore，a scientific and reasonable water resource allocation plan should be established. Secondly，the further north the location，the more prominent the promoting effect of the opening of the Middle Route Project on the agricultural development of the eastern plain area along the canal，while also exacerbating the non-equilibrium development of agriculture. In this case，water resource allocation should be planned more scientifically and rigorously to promote the rational utilization and sustainable development of water resources. At the same time，for the western areas with insufficient agricultural development endowments，they can optimize the industrial structure to reverse their disadvantages in agricultural development and promote economic growth through industrial structure upgrading.
    Finally，the construction method of the Middle Route Project，which utilizes terrain for gravity flow to reduce water delivery costs，has important demonstration significance. However，this may lead to non-equilibrium development between the areas on both sides of the canal. Therefore，while promoting water conservancy infrastructure construction，the government should make comprehensive plans，especially for regions with relatively disadvantaged development conditions. Relevant departments should make early layouts，increase investment in supporting facilities，ensure water supply，and prevent the non-equilibrium development. This research aims to provide a reference for the pre-assessment of related engineering projects，serve the goal of common prosperity in the era，and contribute to regional coordinated development.


  • The Impact of Fiscal and Financial Coordination on Farmer Entrepreneurship
    WANG Xiuhua CHEN Qianda
    2025, 2(14): 110-133.
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    Supporting rural entrepreneurship is a useful measure to implement the strategy of giving priority to employment under the background of comprehensively promoting rural revitalization. Based on CFPS data，this paper empirically analyzes the impact of fiscal and financial collaboration on farmer entrepreneurship at the micro household level and its mechanism by using Probit model. The empirical study found that fiscal and financial cooperation can significantly improve the probability of farmers’ entrepreneurship. Mechanism analysis shows that fiscal and financial coordination can stimulate farmers’entrepreneurial decision-making by enhancing their social capital and improving their human capital investment level. Further analysis shows that financial synergy has a stronger effect on promoting entrepreneurship in rural families with higher happiness of life，relatively weak regional economic strength and relatively high natural population growth rate. This paper provides some experience and policy enlightenment for how to effectively play the effect of fiscal and financial cooperation to promote farmers’ entrepreneurship and improve the fiscal and financial policy system to support agriculture.
    The possible marginal contributions of this paper mainly include the following aspects：First，this paper makes up for the relative deficiencies in the research field of the impact and mechanism evaluation of fiscal and financial synergy on farmers’ entrepreneurship at the micro household level. At present，there are few historical literatures to explore whether the entrepreneurial possibility of farmer families with the collaborative support of fiscal and financial resources will be improved. This paper uses the micro-data of China Household Tracking Survey （CFPS） conducted nationwide to empirically test the effect of fiscal and financial coordination on farmers’ entrepreneurship through enhancing farmers’ social capital and improving their human capital investment，which provides new micro-evidence for evaluating the effectiveness of fiscal and financial coordination in supporting agricultural economy and promoting farmers’ entrepreneurship. Second，the research of this paper extends the boundary of related research literature on the impact of financing constraints easing on entrepreneurship，and also enriches the relevant research on the marginal factors affecting farmers’ entrepreneurship. This paper is helpful to deepen the overall understanding of the stimulus effect and transmission path of financing constraint easing on entrepreneurship from the perspective of fiscal and financial synergy. Simultaneously injecting fiscal and financial resources into rural households to synergistically support the “two-pronged approach” to alleviate their external financing constraints may have a significant positive impact on farmers’ entrepreneurship. Considering that China is currently vigorously promoting the rural revitalization strategy，There is great potential for cross-sector cooperation between finance and finance to help farmers start businesses and get rich. The research conclusions of this paper can provide some experience inspiration.
    The research conclusions of this paper have the following implications for the promotion of fiscal and financial cooperation to support agriculture. First of all，we should innovate the forms of fiscal and financial coordination and strengthen the application of agriculturesupporting policies with the logic of fiscal and financial coordination. This paper focuses on the micro-effects of fiscal subsidies and financial credit on peasant families at the same time. In practice，fiscal and financial cooperation has rich combination forms and innovation space，which can be manifested in the establishment of cross-departmental communication mechanism between financial departments and financial departments，and can also be reflected in the incentives and constraints of fiscal policies on financial entities. Strengthen the synergistic integration of financial resources and financial resources，“set the stage” for the production and management system of farmers’ families in the form of financial support from government departments，and inject financial resources with the characteristics of agricultureoriented and market-oriented mechanisms，so that financial and financial synergies form a synergy，and the same direction of financial and financial resources is also conducive to greater play to the integration of factors. The synergy of fiscal and financial resources also helps to lead financial capital to play a leverage role and deepen the level of rural capital supporting to achieve more ideal policy goals. Secondly，strengthen fiscal and financial coordination，and enrich the cooperation path of “proactive government” and “efficient market”. Fiscal and financial resource coordination can be based on improving the efficiency of capital，labor and resource allocation. In the future，we will further explore the cooperation path of “proactive government” and “efficient market”，innovate the means of fiscal and financial coordination and other areas of coordination，enrich the available toolbox of fiscal and financial coordination at the micro level，and guide different types of policy tools such as fiscal and tax subsidies，credit assessment，discount interest awards and subsidies，to help achieve multi-level policy goals and cover multiple fields. Finally，the government departments for the target group based on the precise material policies，according to local conditions. In the practice of supporting agriculture，the regional differences of endowments and factors should be fully considered，and the practical demands of groups relatively lacking in endowments and factors should be paid attention to，so that the coordination of financial and financial resources can not only stimulate the endogenous power of relatively vulnerable farmer groups to produce the effect of “delivering coal in the snow”，but also mobilize the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of farmers with higher quality level to exert the effect of “icing on the top”，and help realize the goal of common prosperity.
  • Specialization and Technological Innovation under the Double Cycle System
    LIU Ruixiang, JIANG Sijia, LI Jie
    2025, 2(14): 134-158.
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    Innovation is the wellspring of motivation for driving the sustainable development of the economy. Since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy，our country has fully utilized the comparative advantage of relatively low labor costs，actively participated in international division of labor，and achieved remarkable development accomplishments that have drawn worldwide attention. However，as China enters a new stage of development，both its own endowment structure and the international environment it faces have undergone tremendous changes. Against the backdrop of an external environment fraught with uncertainties，giving full play to the advantages of China’s extremely large market size and the potential of domestic demand，and accelerating the establishment of a new development pattern featuring a domestic economic cycle as the mainstay and a mutually reinforcing relationship between domestic and international economic cycles has become an important measure for China’s high-quality development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. The issue this article intends to focus on is whether the shift from an international economic cycle to an economic dual cycle with a domestic economic cycle as the mainstay will be conducive to the enhancement of China’s technological innovation capabilities.
    Under the domestic and international double cycle system，it has important theoretical significance and practical value to analyze the influence of participating in domestic and international division of labor on technological innovation. Based on the data of prefecturelevel cities in China from 2003 to 2019，this paper explores the impact of regional participation in international division of labor and domestic division of labor on technological innovation，and draws the following conclusions：First，the improvement of the level of international division of labor participation of various regions in our country has obviously hindered the technological innovation of the region. On the contrary，participation in the improvement of domestic analysis level has significantly improved the technological innovation capacity of the region；Secondly，the higher the labor productivity of a region，the more difficult it is to be locked in the low-end position of the global value chain division of labor，and the easier it is to climb to both ends of the “smile curve”. In addition，the promotion effect of participating in the domestic division of labor on the improvement of scientific and technological innovation ability is more obvious. Finally，participation in international division of labor and domestic division of labor has an impact on scientific and technological innovation ability mainly through two channels：human capital accumulation and scientific and technological activities. The conclusion of this paper provides the necessary policy basis and theoretical support for China’s implementation of innovation-driven development strategy under the background of international and domestic double cycles.


  • Bank Clustering Competitive Behavior and the Speed of Leverage Adjustment：An Information Hypothesis Perspective
    OUYANG Hongbing, LIU Xiaojun, ZHAO Yue, HUANG Kang
    2025, 2(14): 159-189.
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    Under the current strategic goal of high-quality economic development in China，preventing and defusing financial risks and optimizing the capital structure of enterprises have become policy priorities. Against this policy backdrop，the issue of enterprise leverage adjustment has become particularly important. As the main channel for external financing of enterprises，the increasingly intense competitive behavior of commercial banks has a particularly crucial impact on the speed of enterprise leverage adjustment. By deeply exploring the role of bank competition in the dynamic trade-off process，this study aims to reveal the allocation mechanism of bank credit resources under conditions of information asymmetry and policy changes. It also provides theoretical basis and practical guidance for the optimal allocation of financial resources，efficient leverage adjustment of enterprises，and policy formulation.
    This study utilizes relatively exogenous information on commercial bank branches. Starting from the perspective of the geographical clustering distribution characteristics of branches，combined with the competitive behavior characteristics of commercial bank branches，a more economically meaningful commercial bank competition index is constructed. The competition level faced by enterprises is depicted from the perspective of the geographical clustering distribution of commercial bank branches. The impact of this competition on the speed of enterprise leverage adjustment and its mechanism are empirically tested. The study finds that intensified competition among commercial banks leads to a slower adjustment speed of leverage for listed companies，and this effect is particularly significant for companies with insufficient financing. Although the deleveraging policy helps enterprises approach the optimal leverage level more quickly，it also indirectly slows down the leverage adjustment speed by intensifying competition among commercial banks. This indicates that the deleveraging policy further amplifies this negative impact through the path of commercial bank competition. Further tests reveal that intensified competition among commercial banks worsens the external financing constraints of enterprises，thereby increasing the cost of leverage adjustment and slowing down the adjustment speed. Bank competition not only increases the financing of overleveraged enterprises but also reduces the actual leverage level of under-leveraged enterprises，thereby hindering their approach to the optimal leverage level. Moreover，the implementation of the deleveraging policy has also exacerbated this negative impact to a certain extent. Additionally，we find that the information cost of enterprises is also an important factor affecting the speed of leverage adjustment. The results of heterogeneity analysis show that the signaling role of commercial credit weakens in an environment of intense bank competition，thereby increasing information costs. However，the positive information in the annual report text sentiment and upward earnings adjustment can alleviate the negative impact of bank competition on the speed of leverage adjustment. A higher degree of marketization corresponds to the “winner’s curse” stage of bank competition，which increases the information acquisition cost of enterprises and hinders their approach to the optimal leverage level. Moreover，in the context of intensified bank competition，the leverage adjustment speed of private enterprises is more severely affected. This study reveals the complex relationship between bank competition，the speed of enterprise leverage adjustment，and information costs.
    In the current context of intensified bank competition，the problem of information asymmetry between banks and enterprises remains a core bottleneck restricting the efficiency of China’s credit market. Based on the research conclusions of this study，policy recommendations are proposed from four levels：banks，enterprises，regulatory authorities，and policies. This study not only provides new empirical evidence on the credit behavior between banks and enterprises and its impact on leverage adjustment under the background of intensified bank competition，but also offers important policy references for optimizing the allocation efficiency of financial resources in China’s market and improving the quality of bank-enterprise credit.


  • Can Flexible Employment Promote Common Prosperity
    ZHANG Yi LIANG Yongfu
    2025, 2(14): 190-214.
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    Under the economic downturn，flexible employment has quickly become a “reservoir” to absorb the labor force and a “relief valve” to ease unemployment. According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics，the overall scale of flexible employment in China reaches about 200 million in 2020. College graduates become the main force of flexible employment based on the “China Flexible Employment Development Report （2022）”，the proportion of enterprises using flexible employment reached 61% in 2021. Flexible employment becomes the mainstream employment form. Therefore，from the perspective of income distribution，can flexible employment reduce the income inequality among different occupations，narrow the income gap and promote common prosperity？
    Based on the panel data of the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey in 2014 and 2016，this paper examines the impact of flexible employment on income inequality and its mechanism by using the analysis method of the RIF （Recentered Influence Function） grouped treatment effect model. The results show that flexible employment can reduce the overall income inequality and promote common prosperity. The analysis by urban and rural areas indicates that flexible employment mainly narrows the overall income gap by reducing income inequality in rural areas and the income gap between urban and rural areas. After decomposing the influencing factors of income inequality among flexible employees，it is found that the reduced income gap of flexible employment in rural areas can be partly explained by the differences in workers’human capital characteristics，while the income inequality caused by flexible employment in urban areas cannot be explained by market factors. The results of the heterogeneity analysis show that flexible employment has a greater impact on low - and middle - income groups，men，and high - skilled workers in rural areas. After a series of robustness tests on the definition of flexible employment，the division of urban and rural areas，and the measurement indicators of inequality，the above conclusions remain robust. The mechanism analysis shows that the alleviation of income inequality in rural areas is because flexible employment，as a form of employment with higher income than agriculture，enables low - skilled workers engaged in agriculture to significantly increase their income after switching to flexible employment，thus reducing the income inequality within rural areas. However，the income of flexible employment is not higher than that of other non-agricultural employment.
    According to the research conclusions of this paper，the following policy implications can be drawn：First，flexible employment plays a role in reducing overall income inequality，mainly reducing the inequality within rural areas and the income gap between urban and rural areas. Flexible employment improves inequality through three mechanisms：First，occupational conversion. The income of flexible employment is significantly higher than that of agriculture，and low - skilled workers can achieve an income leap through occupational conversion. Second，human capital screening. High-skilled individuals are more likely to enter the flexible employment market，and their income premium narrows the internal gap in rural areas. Third，social network diffusion. Successful experiences drive the income increase of surrounding groups through the demonstration effect. In urban areas，flexible employment is squeezed by the institutional segmentation of the labor market and market exclusion，and flexible employees are mostly concentrated in low-skilled industries. This urban-rural difference highlights the complexity of policy design. Therefore，rural areas need to strengthen the inclusiveness of flexible employment，and urban areas need to break down the institutional barriers for flexible employees to integrate into the city. Future policies should establish an urban-rural coordination mechanism. For example，through household registration reform，promote the flow of high-skilled workers from rural areas to urban formal sectors，and at the same time，accelerate the pace of covering flexible employment groups in the urban social security system.
    Second，flexible employment can be an important path for inclusive income growth in rural areas. It helps workers with employment difficulties in rural areas increase their income and reduce income inequality. Although flexible employment does not have an absolute income advantage compared with other non-agricultural employment，for rural areas lacking nonagricultural employment opportunities，its low-threshold feature makes it an employment option for farmers with limited resources，with a relative income advantage，and it becomes an important choice for rural residents to get out of poverty and increase their income. It is recommended to construct a rural policy system of “platform empowerment-skill improvement”：First，deepen the integration of the platform economy and rural industries. The government can set up special funds for the development of the rural platform economy to support the construction of rural e-commerce platforms，encourage platform enterprises to cooperate with rural cooperatives and farmers，expand the sales channels of agricultural products，and create flexible employment positions such as agricultural product packaging，online customer service，and logistics distribution for rural labor force. Second，establish a hierarchical and classified skill training mechanism. Carry out platform-employment skill training for rural labor force，and cooperate with professional training institutions to enhance the ability of rural residents to participate in flexible employment. By creating more flexible employment positions，help the disadvantaged employment groups in the labor market transfer from agriculture，and overall increase the income level of rural areas and reduce the urban-rural income gap.
    Finally，compared with formal employees，urban flexible employees are obviously at a disadvantage in terms of social security and labor rights protection. To solve this dilemma，it is necessary to construct a policy system of institutional reform-market regulation-social security：First，break down the segmentation of the labor market. The government should further deepen the reform of the household registration system，reduce the institutional barriers to entering the labor market in urban areas，relax the urban household registration conditions，and allow those who have been engaged in flexible employment in the city for a certain number of years and paid social insurance to register for household registration. Second，promote the decoupling of the household registration system from public services，establish a connection mechanism between residence permits and household registration，and achieve equal access to public services such as employment，education，and medical care for flexible employees and local registered residents. Third，innovate the social security model，explore the social security payment mechanism for new employment forms，and include flexible employment in the coverage of work-related injury insurance and endowment insurance. By eliminating institutional barriers and improving the market environment，gradually realize the transition of flexible employees from marginal groups to formal employment，and finally form an inclusive growth pattern.


  • Can the Pilot Program of Investment Service Centers Curb the Behavior of Enterprises Whitewashing Environmental Information？
    LIAO Kaixian, CHEN Diexin
    2025, 2(14): 215-246.
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    Enterprises，as the core of economic activities，are the main energy consumers and polluters，so enhancing the transparency of corporate environmental information has become an important part of the construction of ecological civilization system. Truthful and complete environmental information disclosure is not only a necessary condition for assessing the environmental performance of enterprises，but also a fundamental work for fighting the battle against pollution and promoting the modernization of ecological and environmental governance. In recent years，China has gradually improved its environmental information disclosure system，but it has not yet formed a unified environmental information disclosure framework that restricts the scope of disclosure of environmental matters and the form of textual descriptions，which gives enterprises greater discretion in disclosing environmental information. At present，some scholars have pointed out the existence of pseudo-social responsibility behavior of enterprises，which is specifically manifested in the publication of Corporate Social Responsibility （CSR） reports to whitewash operational issues. Research shows that the worse the performance of enterprises，the higher the degree of impression management of their CSR reports，and such CSR reports not only fail to improve the transparency of information，but also exacerbate the differences in the ratings of rating agencies on CSR due to excessive disclosure of social responsibility information. However，there is still a relative lack of research from the perspective of small and medium-sized investor protection.
    In order to strengthen the protection of the interests of small and medium-sized shareholders，the relevant authorities，drawing on the advanced experience of developed western capital markets，have innovatively adopted a number of measures，including the independent director system，aimed at safeguarding the interests of small and medium-sized shareholders，and in 2014，the China Securities Regulatory Commission （CSRC） further established the Small and Medium-sized Investor Service Centre （ISC），which is aimed at enhancing the participation and influence of small and medium-sized shareholders in corporate governance. Currently，studies on the ISC mainly focus on assessing the specific regulatory effectiveness of its establishment on the protection of small and medium-sized investors’ interests. In addition，some studies have also examined the potential impact of the exercise of shareholders’ rights by ISC through shareholding on the enhancement of financial transparency and surplus management of listed companies. However，as an institutional innovation，the far-reaching impact of ISC on corporate environmental information disclosure，which is a focus area for both investors and regulators，needs to be analyzed and explored in greater detail and depth. To this end，this paper constructs a quasi-natural experiment against the background of the pilot of the ISC launched by the CSRC in 2016，elucidates the theoretical mechanism of regulatory minority shareholders’ influence on corporate environmental information whitewashing behaviors based on the data of China’s A-share listed companies from 2013-2017，and conducts an empirical study from the perspective of empirical analysis. Compared with the existing studies，the possible marginal contributions of this paper are as follows：firstly，it expands the research dimension of the economic effects of investment service centers by cutting from the perspective of corporate environmental information disclosure. The established literature mostly focuses on the positive effects of investment service centers on the protection of small and medium-sized investors’ interests，but lacks attention to the disclosure behavior of listed companies. This paper examines the impact of the pilot investment service center on listed companies from the perspective of environmental information disclosure quality and actual environmental protection behaviors，and reveals the micro-mechanism of regulatory minority shareholders’ suppression of corporate environmental information whitewashing. Secondly，this paper constructs a theoretical model，introduces the factors of investment service center pilot，corporate environmental information whitewashing and ESG rating，and explores the mechanism of the impact of the pilot construction of the investment service center on the implementation of environmental information whitewashing by enterprises through model derivation and empirical testing，which expands the interactive relationship between investors and regulators，and enriches the research on the factors influencing the environmental information whitewashing by enterprises at the regulatory level. Third，this study provides multiple insights into environmental governance practices under the “dual-carbon” goal，which not only helps to understand the role of the pilot ISC in supervising corporate environmental information disclosure and improving corporate environmental performance，but also reduces the incentives for corporate environmental information manipulation，strengthens the capacity of the capital market in identifying green enterprises，and guides the flow of ESG funds to low-carbon transition areas，thus helping to synergize the “dual-carbon” goal with high-quality development，which is an important reference value for the construction of a beautiful China in which human beings and nature coexist harmoniously and for realizing the Chinese dream of the great revival of the Chinese nation.