High-quality Growth Research Articles

Corporate carbon emissions management and the disclosure of key audit matters

The principle that sustainable development can foster high-quality corporate growth has gained popularity as a tool for environmental protection. Utilizing data of firms listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2020, this study investigates the impact of corporate carbon emissions management (CCEM) on the disclosure of key audit matters (KAMs). The findings indicate that CCEM can significantly elevate the adequacy of disclosure concerning KAMs. Tests on underlying mechanism underscore that accounting conservatism and audit quality serve as pivotal channels through which CCEM facilitates the disclosure of KAMs. Further analysis on economic consequences reveals that the disclosure of KAMs helps mitigate stock price crash risk while enhancing environmental, social, and governance performance. This study enriches research on factors influencing the disclosure of KAMs, concurrently providing valuable insights for advancing high-quality corporate development and facilitating communication between auditors and users of audit reports.

Impact of industrial policy on urban green innovation: empirical evidence of China’s national high-tech zones based on double machine learning

Effective industrial policies need to be implemented, particularly aligning with environmental protection goals to drive the high-quality growth of China’s economy in the new era. Setting up national high-tech zones falls under the purview of both regional and industrial policies. Using panel data from 163 prefecture-level cities in China from 2007 to 2019, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of national high-tech zones on the level of urban green innovation and its underlying mechanisms. It utilizes the national high-tech zones as a quasi-natural experiment and employs a double machine learning model. The study findings reveal that the policy for national high-tech zones greatly enhances urban green innovation. This conclusion remains consistent even after adjusting the measurement method, empirical samples, and controlling for other policy interferences. The findings from the heterogeneity analysis reveal that the impact of the national high-tech zone policy on green innovation exhibits significant regional heterogeneity, with a particularly significant effect in the central and western regions. Among cities, there is a notable push for green innovation levels in second-tier, third-tier, and fourth-tier cities. The moderating effect results indicate that, at the current stage of development, transportation infrastructure primarily exerts a negative moderating effect on how the national high-tech zone policy impacts the level of urban green innovation. This research provides robust empirical evidence for informing the optimization of the industrial policy of China and the establishment of a future ecological civilization system.

How enterprises' public welfare low-carbon behavior affects consumers’ green purchase behavior

The Chinese economy has undergone high-speed, high-quality growth, and the concept of low-carbon technology has gained popular support. Businesses and consumers must jointly endeavor to achieve low-carbon economic development. Moreover, it is important to investigate whether enterprises' low-carbon behavior is correlated with consumers' green consumption behavior. We built a theoretical model to depict the relationship between corporate public welfare low-carbon behavior, consumers' green purchase intention, and green purchase behavior. We then divided corporate public welfare low-carbon behavior into three dimensions. We proposed hypotheses, collected data through a questionnaire survey, and analyzed the data using statistical analysis software of SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0. Public welfare low-carbon behavior was significantly correlated with consumers’ green purchase intention, and public welfare low-carbon participation and public welfare low-carbon motivation were significantly correlated with green purchase intention. Finally, we proposed suggestions from three perspectives: the public welfare low-carbon mechanism, public welfare low-carbon participation, and public welfare low-carbon motivation. The results provide theoretical support for research methods related to the low-carbon growth of enterprises and green consumption, as well as guidance and decision-making support for enterprises in carrying out cause marketing.

Digital Transformation and High-Quality Development of Enterprises: Evidence from China

The swift progression of digital technology is leading to substantial shifts and evolutions within enterprises. In the evolving environment characterized by the integration of digital technologies and the physical market, it's essential to examine the effects of digitalization on the path of enterprises towards attaining superior growth quality. This study utilizes panel data from A-share listed companies in China's equipment manufacturing sector, spanning from 2013 to 2021, to perform an empirical analysis on the influence and mechanisms of digital transformation in fostering the progress of these companies towards high-quality growth. The results reveal that digital transformation plays a significant role in promoting high-quality development among equipment manufacturing enterprises, and these results remain consistent after implementing various tests to mitigate endogeneity and confirm the findings' reliability. The examination of mechanisms suggests that digital transformation significantly contributes to the advancement of equipment manufacturing companies by alleviating financial constraints, improving internal control quality, and facilitating the integration of environmentally friendly innovation technologies. Moreover, the impact of digital transformation on elevating the quality of development within equipment manufacturing companies is notably more pronounced in privately-owned firms, those located in the eastern region, and businesses classified as high-tech. This highlights how the nature of ownership, geographical location, and technological classification further amplify the benefits of digital transformation for high-quality growth in the sector. These findings offer a theoretical basis for assessing the economic implications of enterprises' digital transformation and for shaping relevant governmental policies.

Comparative Study on the Digital Economy Development Based on TOPSIS Comprehensive Evaluation: A Case Study of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River

Promoting the digital economy in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River can not only boost the development of e-commerce, energy science and technology and other industries, but also pave the theoretical way for the digital economy development in various regions, so as to further provide an important practical basis for achieving high-quality economic growth. In this paper, seven provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are taken as the research objects. Meanwhile, the development and different trends of the digital economy in each region are quantitatively analyzed and compared to propose suggestions for better development of the digital economy in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. On this basis, this paper first constructs the evaluation and measurement model of the digital economy development, and then gives the weights to the relevant indices through the analytic hierarchy process. After that, the regions in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are scored and compared via the TOPSIS comprehensive evaluation, which identifies that the mobile phone penetration, the number of Internet broadband access ports and the telecom business income are vital indices to accelerate the digital economy development. Finally, this paper argues that governments should increase investment in digital infrastructure construction and promote the deep integration of digital technology and industry.

The Spatiotemporal Impact of Digital Economy on High-Quality Agricultural Development: Evidence from China

China’s high-quality economic development is strongly supported by the high-quality development of agriculture, and the digital economy has emerged as a key driver for promoting shared prosperity and high-quality economic development. Against this backdrop, investigating the connection between high-quality agricultural development and the digital economy holds significant importance. This study utilized the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model to evaluate comprehensive evaluation indicators of the two according to panel data from 30 provinces in China between 2011 and 2021. Subsequently, GIS spatial analysis and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) were employed to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution features and spatial correlations. Finally, the spatiotemporal geographically weighted regression (GTWR) model was constructed to examine the spatiotemporal impact of the digital economy on the advancement of high-quality agricultural growth. The results indicate that: (1) from 2011 to 2021, China’s high-quality agricultural development and digital economy both demonstrated a general increasing trend. In terms of spatial distribution, there were significant spatial variations, with a general trend of “Southeast is higher, whereas the Northwest is lower”. The regions with significant value were primarily clustered in the coastal areas in the east and several provincial capitals. (2) Both of the two exhibited significant global spatial self-correlation, and there were also significant spatiotemporal clustering effects in high-quality agricultural growth, gradually forming a high-value cluster centered around Shanghai and a low-value cluster centered around western provinces. (3) The digital economy positively influences the enhancement of high-quality agricultural development, demonstrating notable spatial and temporal heterogeneity. In contrast to the southeastern areas, the influence is more pronounced in the northern and central-western areas.

Reducing heat exposure from personal cooling strategies to green city construction in China's tropical city

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, the risk of summer heat exposure for urban dwellers has increased. The use of air conditioners (ACs) has become the most common personal cooling strategy, but further increasing fossil fuel consumption. As sustainable and affordable cooling strategies, urban parks can reduce heat exposure and substitute a part of air conditioners use. This study evaluates the heat exposure reduction from personal cooling to urban parks based on satellite images, questionnaire surveys, and network analysis in Liuzhou, one tropical city in China. We found that residents with lower income had a higher risk of heat exposure. Among the respondents, 85 % of residents chose to use ACs to alleviate high temperatures in summer, and 81.8 % among them were willing to access park cooling area (PCA) to cool off instead of using ACs. About one third parks could serve as potential alternatives (with temperatures <28 °C) to air conditioning, reducing carbon emissions by 175.93 tons per day during the hot summer and offsetting 2.5 % of urban fossil fuel carbon emissions. The design of parks should give more consideration to elder people and provide a good cooling platform for various social income groups. Future planning should also focus on accessibility to enable residents to fully utilize the parks. Building parks within 34.10 ha would provide a more efficient use of land. This research guides sustainable, high-quality growth in industrial cities and might contribute to promotion of low-carbon cities and social equity.

High-quality germanium growth on (111)-faceted V-groove silicon by molecular beam epitaxy

High-quality and low-defect-density germanium (Ge) buffer layers on silicon (Si) substrates have long been developed for group IV and III–V devices by suppressing defect propagation during epitaxial growth. This is a crucial step for the development of highly efficient photonic devices on Si substrates. Patterned silicon substrates have increasingly been employed for their ability to restrict and hinder the motion of defects. In this work, we demonstrate the effectiveness of an optimised two-step growth recipe structure on a (111)-faceted V-groove silicon substrate with a 350 nm flat ridge. This strategy successfully reduces the threading dislocation (TD) density while growing a 1 μm Ge buffer layer via molecular beam epitaxy. As a result, a high-quality buffer is produced with a low TD density on the order of 107 cm−2 and a surface roughness below 1 nm.

Investigation on the effect of chemical mechanical polishing sapphire substrate on chemical vapor deposition growth of two-dimensional MoS2

Two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (2D MoS2), with atomic-level thickness, whose crystal crystallinity and size are easily influenced by the surface morphology of the substrate during growth. This work systematically investigates the impact of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) sapphire substrate on chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of 2D MoS2. A green and highly efficient CMP method for the sapphire substrate is first proposed, whose maximum material removal rate (MRR) of 4.27 µm/h with surface roughness (Ra) of 0.10 nm (AFM, scanning area of 5 × 5 μm2) can be attained. The size and thickness statistics of 2D MoS2 domains grown on different substrates indicate that the CMP sapphire substrate in this work can promote the size and monolayer uniformity of 2D MoS2 during CVD growth. Meanwhile, Raman and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of monolayer MoS2 grown on different substrates also indicates the monolayer MoS2 grown on the CMP sapphire substrate in this work has superior crystalline quality and optical properties. The above findings have provided new insights into the mechanisms underlying 2D MoS2 growth on surfaces in various states and are expected to accelerate the development of large size large-size and high-quality growth of two-dimensional material for further device applications.

Analysis of the impact factors of industrial structure upgrading on green total factor productivity from the perspective of spatial spillover effects

Green development has already been a vital part of China's high-quality economic progress in the future, and accelerating the restructuring and improvement of the industrial structure plays a crucial roll in promoting a regional green economy. In this article, based on the data of 278 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, the SBM directional distance function and Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index are used to gauge regional green total factor productivity (GTFP). The spatial Durbin model is also introduced to investigate the spatial spillover mechanism of GTFP and its influencing factors under the optimized and upgraded industrial structure. The study indicates that the optimization of the industrial structure have an important effect in promoting the growth of GTFP. Specifically, industrial structure integration has a greater bearing on the increase in GTFP, while there is a difference in the effectiveness of industrial structural advancement and rationalization of GTFP. Economic growth level inhibits the enhancement of GTFP, and urbanization level and industrial agglomeration have a significant negative impact on the enhancement of GTFP in the spatial dimension. On a different hand, foreign investment degree and government intervention level have a significant positive affect on regional GTFP. In addition, this study fills the research gap of the regional industrial structure upgrading influence on GTFP, which has great theory and practice value for promoting China's high quality growth of green economy.

Research on Business Environment Issues in Guangdong Qianhai Free Trade Zone

At a time when China's economy is entering a new normal and realizing high-quality medium-speed growth, it is inextricably linked to the forty-two years of reform and opening up. As a pioneer of reform and opening up, Guangdong Province has been at the forefront of domestic economic development, demonstrating courage and practice in response to the changes of the times. As China's relationship with the world economy grows closer, changes in the international economy have prompted the deepening of regional economic integration and international trade. The application of free trade in international trade has been increasing, and FTAs have been widely practiced globally. As the world's second largest economic complex, China is still in the developing stage of free trade zone reform and practice compared with other developed countries. Wang Linghao (2019) pointed out that China's value and status in the global economy is increasing, and the development of free trade zones can help to enhance China's position in the global industrial chain. He emphasized that the influence of free trade can be enhanced through the development of free trade zones and the influence of the "Belt and Road" policy. Wang Under the guiding ideology of deepening reform and opening up of FTZs, China has promoted the experimentation and construction of Guangdong Qianhai FTZ and Hainan FTZ. Although the specific research on the business environment of Guangdong Qianhai FTZ has not yet formed a scale, it can be seen from the development research of other domestic FTZs that the business environment has an important impact on the construction of free trade zones. Therefore, this paper will deeply analyze the current situation and relevant initiatives of the business environment in Guangdong Qianhai FTZ from various aspects.

Temporal and Spatial Evolution and Factors Influencing Tourist Resorts in China

Tourist resorts play a crucial role in providing people with diverse and high-quality leisure and vacation options. The development of tourist resorts is integral to the high-quality growth of the national tourism industry. This study utilizes a combination of the nearest neighbour index, kernel density analysis, and geographic concentration index to examine the spatial and temporal distribution of 758 national and provincial tourist resorts in China. The analysis reveals several key findings: (1) the years 1992 and 2015 were pivotal for the development of China’s tourist resorts, with significant government attention and steady growth in the number of national tourism resorts from 2015 to 2023. (2) The distribution of China’s tourist resorts shows an overall uneven distribution at a national level but a more balanced distribution locally. The southeast region exhibits a high and even distribution density, while the northwest region has a lower density and quantity of resorts. (3) Some specific areas have emerged such as the junction of Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces as the first core gathering areas and the junction of Shanxi, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces as the secondary core areas. These core areas have gradually weakened and spread to other regions, leading to changes in the distribution patterns of tourist resorts. (4) The distribution of China’s tourist resorts is influenced by various factors, including economic development, resource endowment, source market, and government support. Government support is a key factor in accelerating the development of tourism resorts. These findings shed light on the complex dynamics shaping the distribution of tourist resorts in China.

The impact of the free trade zones construction on green technological innovation efficiency ——evidence from 288 cities in Chinese

We measure the green technology innovation efficiency of 288 cities in China from static and dynamic dimensions using the super−SBM model and Malmquist−Luenberger index, and employ "Difference in Difference" (DID) model to evaluate the impact of FTZs construction on green technology innovation efficiency using panel data from 288 prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2020. The findings show: (1) The FTZs significantly improve green technology innovation efficiency. The decomposition indexes promote the green technology innovation efficiency more from the dynamic productivity dimension (GTFP) functioning on technological advancement. (2) The FTZs can boost the efficiency of green technology innovation through industrial agglomeration, digital economy, and government financial support; (3) The effect of FTZs on the efficiency of green technology innovation differs based on the size and location of the city. Green technology innovation will reach maximum potential when promoting FTZ policy in less developed central, western, and interior regions. This study addresses whether FTZ policies can genuinely support regional green innovation and policy insights to expand opening up and enhance high-quality economic growth.

Smart Cities and Global Value Chain Upgrading: Evidence from China

China has been on a new journey pursuing high-quality development, an important element of which is global value chain (GVC) upgrading. The smart city pilot policy, which aims at reshaping the urban development model in China, is carried out and regarded conducive to achieving high-quality development. Nevertheless, regarding whether and how smart cities could promote GVC upgrading, research is scant. We adopted the approach of time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) and used a dataset that encompassed 174 prefecture-level cities between 2005 and 2017 to investigate the impact of China’s smart city pilot policy on the GVC upgrading of cities. The findings indicate that, firstly, GVC upgrading is significantly enhanced by building smart cities in China. Secondly, this favorable influence on GVC upgrading is mainly through channels of informatization, innovation, and industrial structure adjustment. Thirdly, the influence is more pronounced in eastern cities and cities with better conditions in terms of human capital, fiscal capacity, and information infrastructure. This research provides evidence and policy implications for China to move forward with the smart city establishment in a bid to upgrade GVCs and achieve high-quality growth.

Can digital financial development promote corporate green technology innovation?

In an era where digital technology spearheads high-quality economic growth, its fusion with traditional financial services has revolutionized the supply, process, and efficiency of these services. This integration provides precise and effective touchpoints for financial services in the real economy. This study, using data from all A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen, empirically examines how digital finance boosts green technological innovation in enterprises and explores the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that digital finance significantly enhances green innovation by optimizing financial resource allocation and easing firms' financing constraints. The impact of digital finance is more pronounced in enterprises with broader reach, deeper application, higher pollution levels, and those outside the high-tech sector. Further analysis distinguishes the types of green innovation, noting that digital finance more effectively supports inventive innovation in non-polluting and non-high-tech firms, while significantly aiding practical innovation in heavily polluting companies. Additionally, the study finds that the beneficial impact of digital finance on green innovation also boosts overall corporate productivity.

Dynamic role of clean energy and sustainable economic growth in coastal region: Novel observations from China

China's coastal region is the major geographical unit for the future development of China's industrial sector. The transformation of basic structure to high-class development in China's coastal places is a significant tool for promoting the changes related to quality, power and efficiency in regional economic development. In the 21st century, environmental and energy issues have increased worldwide, and challenges related to environmental pollution, energy crises, and ecological imbalances have emerged. To climate change and energy utilization, the sustainable progress of clean energy is the new route of future energy development. Based on China's non-polluting energy growth process in the last ten years, this article explores China's clean/green energy policies and economic growth development plans. Clean energy utilization is crucial for sustainable development in the context of high-quality economic growth and climate change. However, the monetary evolution and carbon emission are not investigated whole from the clean energy aspects. Using Wind energy sources as the acceptable variable, this paper employs threshold regression and impulse functions to assess the energy consumption and economic growth on carbon emission in 30 Chinese provinces over the 2000 to 2020 period. The Deep Belief Network (DBN) model predicts wind energy utilization and efficiency. The results show that economic development and carbon emissions are connected. Further, growth influences promote the offset of carbon emissions. Green innovation alters the nexus of carbon emissions, and China's economy reduces carbon usage. It provides the decision-making policies for clean energy development.

Regional economic forecast using Elman neural networks with wavelet function.

Recently, the economy in Guangdong province has ranked first in the country, maintaining a good growth momentum. The prediction of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Guangdong province is an important issue. Through predicting the GDP, it is possible to analyze whether the economy in Guangdong province can maintain high-quality growth. Hence, to accurately forecast the economy in Guangdong, this paper proposed an Elman neural network combining with wavelet function. The wavelet function not only stimulates the forecast ability of Elman neural network, but also improves the convergence speed of Elman neural network. Experimental results indicate that our model has good forecast ability of regional economy, and the forecast accuracy reach 0.971. In terms of forecast precision and errors, our model defeats the competitors. Moreover, our model gains advanced forecast results to both individual economic indicator and multiple economic indicators. This means that our model is independently of specific scenarios in regional economic forecast. We also find that the investment in education has a major positive impact on regional economic development in Guangdong province, and the both surges positive correlation. Experimental results also show that our model does not exhibit exponential training time with the augmenting of data volume. Consequently, we propose that our model is suitable for the prediction of large-scale datasets. Additionally, we demonstrate that using wavelet function gains more profits than using complex network architectures in forecast accuracy and training cost. Moreover, using wavelet function can simplify the designs of complexity network architectures, reducing the training parameter of neural networks.

The impact of directors' foreign experience on corporate carbon emissions: A mediating perspective based on corporate green innovation

Peak carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality are essential for China's sustainable, high-quality growth. Based on a sample of A-share manufacturing companies in China from 2010 to 2021, this paper investigates the relationship between directors' foreign experiences (Dfe), corporate green innovation and corporate carbon emissions. The study finds that, companies with executives who have foreign experiences can significantly reduce corporate carbon emissions. Corporate green innovation plays a mediating role in the process of the influence of directors' foreign experiences on corporate carbon emissions. Heterogeneity analysis finds that the reduction of corporate carbon emissions caused by Dfe is more significant in state-owned enterprises.

Control of a Semi-closed Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting-based on Two Different LED with NB-IoT

Plant factory artificial light (PFAL) is an effective technique for producing large amounts of crops per area and high-quality plant growth. This work aims to construct a semi-closed PFAL growth system based on NB-IoT using two types of LED arrays: phosphor-converted LED (pc-LED) and RB-LED. Next, while examining the features of the artificial light spectrum, compare the Curry leaf kale and Chinese kale in seedlings under various LED light sources. An NB-IoT module with the MAGELLAN platform monitored and controlled the temperature, humidity, and illumination of the semi-closed PFAL growing system. The results indicate that cos lettuce cultivated with PCLEDs is likely more photosynthesis-capable than cos lettuce grown with RBLEDs. Compared to RB-LED, the average fresh weight of the cos lettuce from PC-LED was significantly higher. The data gathered from the cloud system under the MAGELLAN platform during the 7-day trial, the control of lighting and watering in the semi-closed PFAL system, and the measurement results of environmental factors were all accurately completed. Organic veggies could be grown in a home or school using the semi-PFAL growing technique.

A study on the dynamic impact of carbon emission trading on green and high-quality development.

As a pivotal element in market mechanisms, carbon trading is increasingly recognized as crucial for achieving China's Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals. This study introduces a comprehensive dynamic model, integrating carbon trading, emissions, economic growth, and green technology innovation, to offer a holistic understanding of the interplay between these domains. Utilizing principles from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, the model is adept at simulating various scenarios and assessing the effectiveness of government policies in stabilizing these complex systems. In-depth analysis provided by this research sheds light on the nuanced impact of carbon trading policies on sustainable development. Key findings highlight (1) Carbon trading's essential role as a catalyst in propelling sustainable and high-quality growth. (2) A strong positive relationship is observed between the sophistication of the carbon trading mechanism and its effectiveness in stimulating green technology innovation and fostering high-quality green development. Notably, carbon trading's influence on green technology innovation markedly enhances the efficacy of carbon emission reduction strategies. (3) Government regulations are instrumental in augmenting carbon prices, thus incentivizing increased corporate participation in emission reduction and enhancing the overall impact of carbon emission reduction. Nevertheless, the study identifies a critical threshold in regulatory intensity, beyond which there is a risk of system destabilization ( ). These findings underscore the imperative for developing an integrated national carbon emission trading market, prioritizing sustainable growth strategies and diligently pursuing China's environmental objectives.