Information Disclosure Policy Research Articles

Development of an Algorithm for Assessing the Scope of Large Forest Fire Using VIIRS-Based Data and Machine Learning

Forest fires pose a multifaceted threat, encompassing human lives and property loss, forest resource destruction, and toxic gas release. This crucial disaster’s global occurrence and impact have risen in recent years, primarily driven by climate change. Hence, the scope and frequency of forest fires must be collected to establish disaster prevention policies and conduct relevant research projects. However, some countries do not share details, including the location of forest fires, which can make research problematic when it is necessary to know the exact location or shape of a forest fire. This non-disclosure warrants remote surveys of forest fire sites using satellites, which sidestep national information disclosure policies. Meanwhile, original data from satellites have a great advantage in terms of data acquisition in that they are independent of national information disclosure policies, making them the most effective method that can be used for environmental monitoring and disaster monitoring. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite has worldwide coverage at a daily temporal resolution and spatial resolution of 375 m. It is widely used for detecting hotspots worldwide, enabling the recognition of forest fires and affected areas. However, information collection on affected regions and durations based on raw data necessitates identifying and filtering hotspots caused by industrial activities. Therefore, this study used VIIRS hotspot data collected over long periods and the Spatio-Temporal Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (ST-DBSCAN) algorithm to develop ST-MASK, which masks said hotspots. By targeting the concentrated and fixed nature of these hotspots, ST-MASK is developed and used to distinguish forest fires from other hotspots, even in mountainous areas, and through an outlier detection algorithm, it generates identified forest fire areas, which will ultimately allow for the creation of a global forest fire watch system.

Reputation-based persuasion platforms

In this paper, we introduce a two-stage Bayesian persuasion model in which a third-party platform controls the information available to the sender about users' preferences. We aim to characterize the optimal information disclosure policy of the platform, which maximizes average user utility, under the assumption that the sender also follows its own optimal policy. We show that this problem can be reduced to a model of market segmentation, in which probabilities are mapped into valuations. We then introduce a repeated variation of the persuasion platform problem in which myopic users arrive sequentially. In this setting, the platform controls the sender's information about users and maintains a reputation for the sender, punishing it if it fails to act truthfully on a certain subset of signals. We provide a characterization of the optimal platform policy in the reputation-based setting, which is then used to simplify the optimization problem of the platform.

Optimal governance radius of environmental information disclosure policy: Evidence from China

s: Urban pollution governance requires the joint participation of government, society, and enterprises, with the environmental information disclosure policy serving as a novel tool to promote multi-stakeholder engagement. This study aims to delve into the impact of the environmental information disclosure policy on regional environmental quality by using data from Chinese cities. Through analysis, the study gets the following conclusions. Firstly, the environmental information disclosure policy not only effectively reduces urban environmental pollution but also exhibits an apparent spatial spillover effect. The impact of this policy on air pollution in neighboring cities shows an inverted U-shaped pattern of first rising and then falling, with the optimal radius of this external effect estimated at 250km. Secondly, the results of the mechanism test indicate that government regulatory efforts and clean industry alternatives are essential channels for curbing urban environmental pollution. Lastly, the heterogeneity test shows that the inhibitory effect of the environmental information disclosure policy on environmental pollution is more pronounced in civilized cities, cities in the “two control zones”, sulfur dioxide control zones, and cities with high Pollution Information Transparency Index scores.

The Impact of Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Enterprise Risk-Taking: Facilitative or Constraining?

Using Chinese A-share listed companies from 2006 to 2013 as the research sample, this paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of the mandatory CSR disclosure policy on Chinese firms’ risk-taking by combining the difference-in-differences (DID) approach. This study finds that the implementation of the policy increases firms’ operating costs and leads to an increase in their financing constraints, which ultimately creates a disincentive for firms to take risks. Second, we also find that, relative to firms that do not disclose CSR reports, the sales revenues, R&D investment and investment levels of firms subject to CSR disclosure are significantly reduced, which may be the result of firms’ tendency to operate conservatively. In addition, heterogeneity analyses suggest that the dampening effect of mandatory CSR disclosure policies on risk-taking is stronger for firms with higher financing costs and for non-state-owned firms. This study further explores the mechanism of the impact of mandatory CSR disclosure on firms’ risk-taking, which will help the government to formulate and improve the information disclosure policy regarding driving the transformation of corporate development in the future.

Impacts of government ESG policies on corporate green innovation

This paper takes the A-share listed companies from 2014 to 2022 as the research object to explore the impact of China's standardized ESG information disclosure policy on corporate green innovation. The study found that in 2018, the Chinese government's ESG information disclosure policy significantly improved the quality and quantity of corporate green patent innovation. This paper believes that this policy has produced a significant ESG practice strengthening effect, research and development expenditure confirmation effect, and expanded financing channel effect, that is, after the policy implementation, the corporate ESG score and environmental score have increased, the capitalization ratio of R&D expenditure has increased, and external financing constraints have weakened. Our research provides empirical evidence for promoting corporate green transformation through government-standardized ESG information disclosure.

Can Mandatory Disclosure of CSR Information Drive the Transformation of Firms towards High-Quality Development?

Can Mandatory Disclosure of CSR Information Drive the Transformation of Firms towards High-Quality Development?

Optimal information disclosure in a production-inventory queueing system

This study considers a production-inventory queueing system, where customers decide whether to wait for the item or leave without a purchase if a stockout occurs. The system manager determines the joint pricing and inventory control policy. In addition, the system manager can choose whether or not to provide information about the system state to arriving customers. Our strategic production-inventory queueing system includes the observable, unobservable, and almost unobservable systems, which are obtained by appropriately choosing the information disclosure policy by the system manager. In this study, we find the optimal information disclosure policy, as well as the optimal price and the optimal inventory control policy for the profit maximization and social welfare maximization. Under the optimal policy, the system manager should disclose the system state if and only if the queue length exceeds a certain threshold.

Mengurai Potensi Media Sosial dalam Memperkuat Implementasi Kebijakan Keterbukaan Informasi Publik

This research aims to explore the potential of social media in supporting the implementation of public information disclosure policies. This study employs a qualitative approach with a case study method. Data is collected through in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders, participant observation, and social media content analysis. The collected data is analyzed using thematic analysis techniques to identify patterns, themes, and insights relevant to the research objectives. Results This research reveals that social media has significant potential in strengthening the implementation of public information disclosure policies. Social media can facilitate wide dissemination of information, enhance public participation, and promote government transparency and accountability. However, challenges such as digital literacy, regulations, and adequate policies must be addressed to fully utilize the potential of social media.

Environmental Policy Overlays and Urban Pollution and Carbon Reduction—Evidence from China

The in-depth promotion of environmental pollution prevention and control is a must for China to move towards green development, and the effectiveness of urban environmental pollution control largely depends on the selection of these environmental policies and the synergistic application of these policies. This paper empirically tests three environmental policies’ mixed and synergistic effects using Chinese urban data from 2000 to 2017. This study found that (1) the three environmental policies significantly curb urban environmental pollution and show synergistic effects. (2) The three types of environmental policies can have a superimposing effect by strengthening financial inputs and increasing environmental concern, as well as a complementary effect by improving the efficiency of environmental protection enforcement and the institutional environment. The synergy between the central environmental protection inspection policy and the environmental information disclosure policy is more of a superposition effect than a complementary effect due to the similarity of the policy objectives. (3) The synergistic effect of environmental policies is affected by factors such as the age of the principal officials and financial pressure. The younger the age of the principal officials and the cities with less financial pressure are more capable of utilizing the synergistic effect of environmental policies to form a situation where the market, the government, the public, and the enterprises work together to govern the city. This paper provides new ideas for exploring the synergies and mechanisms of environmental policies and theoretical references for the design, implementation, and effects of environmental policy portfolios in the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

Contagion management through information disclosure

We analyze information disclosure as a policy instrument for contagion management in decentralized environments. A benevolent planner (e.g., the government) tests a fraction of the population to learn the infection rate. Individuals meet randomly and exert vigilance effort. Efforts factor in a passage function to reduce the probability of contagion. We analyze the information disclosure policy that maximizes society's expected welfare. When efforts are substitutes, we provide necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for full disclosure to be optimal. When efforts are complements, equilibrium effort jumps from no-effort to full-effort as a function of contagion exposure risk. Consequently, a disclosure policy pooling intermediate infection rates—which are associated to high exposure risks—is optimal.

The “Double-Edged Sword” effect of air quality information disclosure policy—Empirical evidence based on the digital transformation of Chinese listed companies

Enterprises' digital transformation (DT) has become crucial to enhancing competitiveness and fostering economic development. However, alongside economic progress, the issue of air pollution on a global scale has garnered widespread attention from governments and the public alike. In addressing the air pollution challenges amidst economic development, the Chinese government enacted the Air Quality Information Disclosure Policy (AQIDP) in 2012. While this policy is generally seen as an effective measure to improve the environment, its impact on microeconomic factors, particularly the digital transformation of enterprises, remains unclear. This paper employs a difference-in-differences model to study the effect of AQIDP on DT using a sample of 3347 Chinese-listed companies from 2012 to 2021. We find that AQIDP significantly inhibits DT, a result that holds even after a series of robustness tests. Our mechanism tests reveal that AQIDP weakens DT by increasing economic policy uncertainty in companies, reducing human capital, and exacerbating the crowding-out effect of environmental protection investments. Heterogeneity analysis shows that AQIDP exerts a more significant inhibitory effect on DT in cities with stricter environmental regulations, more backward industries, and companies with non-high-pollution, high-tech characteristics and non-state-owned. Further analysis reveals that although AQIDP significantly restrains DT, it leads to positive environmental effects, such as promoting pollution reduction and carbon emission reduction in companies. Based on these findings, this paper proposes policy recommendations to improve the digital transformation of companies.

Persuading Skeptics and Fans in the Presence of Additional Information

We consider the information design problem of a demand-maximizing firm launching a product of unknown quality to a market consisting of customers who have heterogeneous prior beliefs about quality. The firm publicly discloses information about quality to all customers. These customers can subsequently opt to acquire additional information about the product at a cost from sources beyond the firm’s control. Our study is motivated by the common practice of firms conducting public pilot tests or soliciting reviews from opinion leaders before launching a new product to inform potential customers about its quality. To analyze this problem, we construct a game-theoretic model of Bayesian persuasion between the firm and its customers. We characterize the firm’s optimal information policy and show that it can range from fully disclosing quality to exaggerating or downplaying quality to not disclosing quality at all depending on market characteristics. We delineate the impact of market heterogeneity and access to additional information on the optimal information disclosure policy of the firm. Our analysis provides managerial guidance for firms in designing information provision strategies and operationalizing them for different market characteristics.

The impact of EID policy and trade on the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises from the perspective of financial constraints

Accompanying China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the rapid development of the Chinese economy has led to increasingly serious environmental issues. However, the inherent mechanisms underlying the impact of Environmental Information Disclosure (EID) policy and trade on the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises remain unclear in the context of the era's requirement for a resource-conserving and environmentally-friendly society. The pollution problem in the papermaking industry has received attention worldwide, and how to balance the environmental and development issues of papermaking enterprises is an urgent issue that needs to be solved in the academic community. This study explores the impact mechanisms of EID policy and trade on the environmental effects of enterprises from the perspective of financial constraints. Utilizing the PSM-DID model, the study investigates the moderating effects of financial constraints on the EID policy and import-export trade. The findings reveal that both external and internal financial constraints have negative, detrimental effects on the environmental effects of the EID policy and trade. These constraints impede research and development investment and technological upgrades, hinder productivity improvement, and hamper the realization of “regulatory and trade innovation effects”. This study enriches our understanding of the mechanisms by which trade affects the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises and further identifies the impacts of Chinese EID policy and trade on pollution emissions by enterprises, providing a theoretical basis and practical foundation for the government in formulating financial, environmental, and trade policies.

Information Quality of Regional Government’s Websites in Central Java Province

As stated in the Public Information Disclosure Act, Government Public Relations bears a dual responsibility, managing both the main website of the regional government and the PPID (Information and Documentation Management Official) websites. This research analyzes the content of the PPID websites of 29 districts and 6 cities in Central Java Province. This research used a website assessment instrument consisting of 84 questions. This instrument is a modification of the Industrial Website Evaluation Model which focuses on information quality and information disclosure policies in Indonesia. The research results indicate that the implementation of the public information disclosure policy has not yet fully aligned with government public relations ethics. Several aspects still require improvement. Government Public Relations needs to focus on empathy in managing the PPID website and needs to acknowledge the behavior of the public who tend to access the main website belonging to each institution, not the PPID website. Therefore, government public relations needs to distinguish between the content of the main website and the PPID website. However, commitment is required in managing the PPID website to ensure that people are motivated to access information and can do so effectively.

Implementation of Public Information Disclosure Policy in Realizing Good Corporate Governance

The Indonesian Aviation Navigation Service Organizing Agency, operating as a State-Owned Enterprise, is obligated to uphold the tenets of Good Corporate Governance per the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Regulation Number 01 of 2011. This commitment extends to the implementation of policies outlined in Law Number 14 of 2008, specifically addressing the Openness of Public Information. A nuanced analysis, rooted in George Edward's implementation theory, delves into the complexities of how the Information and Documentation Management Officer at AirNav Indonesia navigates the communication dynamics, resource allocation, organizational disposition, and bureaucratic structure inherent in executing public information disclosure policies. Employing qualitative methods and triangulation techniques, this study unravels the intricate interplay of these components, illustrating that effective implementation transcends procedural adherence to embody a comprehensive orchestration of transparency, accountability, responsibility, independence, and fairness within the context of public information disclosure. The Information and Documentation Management Officer emerges as a pivotal figure, strategically aligning these elements to achieve a robust realization of the principles of good corporate governance.

New ambient air quality standards, human capital flow, and economic growth: Evidence from an environmental information disclosure policy in China

The significance of environmental quality for the movement of human capital and economic development is growing. This study utilizes the difference-in-difference (DID) approach to analyze the effects of the implementation of new ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) on economic development and investigate its underlying mechanism. The research indicates that the NAAQS promotes urban economic growth, and this impact tends to progressively intensify over time. According to the analysis of the mechanism, the NAAQS had a significant impact on the city's human capital, which in turn contributed to economic growth. The analysis of heterogeneity indicates that the NAAQS promotes economic growth primarily in the eastern region, in large and medium-sized cities, and in cities where the government pays more attention to environmental protection. This study offers a new explanation for how environmental information disclosure (EID) promotes economic growth and provides policy enlightenment for local governments on how to increase talent inflow.

The effect of information disclosure on low-carbon innovation

Using policies to stimulate low-carbon innovations is vital for a more sustainable and low-carbon economy. While the importance of information disclosure policies, considered as a third-wave regulation, has been increasingly recognized by governments, research exploring its effect on low-carbon innovation, especially in developing countries, remains limited. Using patent data from the IncoPat database as a proxy for innovation, this study examines the impact of the Environmental Information Disclosure Decree (EID) on low-carbon innovation in China. The results show that the EID policy encourages low-carbon innovation and that this effect strengthens over time. Specifically, the EID policy induces more low-carbon innovations by alleviating information asymmetry, as evidenced by improved efficiency in governments' traditional environmental regulation, enhanced firms' involvement, and increased public participation. Further heterogeneity analyses conclude that the effect of EID on low-carbon innovation varies depending on the firm types and city attributes.

Optimal disclosure in all-pay auctions with interdependent valuations

We study all-pay auctions with one-sided private information and interdependent valuations. To sharpen the competition and maximize revenue, the auction organizer can design an information disclosure policy through Bayesian persuasion about the bidder with private information. We characterize optimal disclosure and find that optimal disclosure exhibits almost full disclosure, where the uninformed bidder can always narrow the informed bidder's private information down to at most two types. We also illustrate our characterization in a simple binary-type setting and investigate issues such as comparative statics, welfare, and efficiency.

Do disclosure of ESG information policies inhibit the value of heavily polluting Enterprises?—Evidence from China

Green governance and high-quality green development are crucial to the growth of enterprises; therefore, this paper examines how environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) disclosure policies affect the value of heavily polluting companies. The study's data is from the new version of the Governance Guidelines for Public Companies promulgated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2018. Thus, the data of China's public companies from 2011 to 2021 is used for the study's analysis. The methods applied for our estimation analysis are the differences-in-differences (DID) and the mediation effect model. The findings depict that ESG information disclosure policies can significantly inhibit the corporate value of heavily polluting enterprises (HPE). Enterprise technological innovation plays a mediating effect in this mechanism; that is, after introducing the policy, it effectively alleviates the information asymmetry and promotes enterprise technological innovation, but it also damages the enterprise value. Further analysis shows that the inhibition effect of ESG information disclosure policy on the value of HPE is heterogeneous, and for non-state-owned enterprises, ESG information disclosure policies have a stronger inhibitory effect. Also, there is little difference between the central and western regions and the eastern region in terms of the inhibitory effect of ESG disclosure policies on the value of HPE. The conclusion of this paper is conducive to improving the information disclosure policy of listed companies and promoting the green development of enterprises.

Herding dynamics and multidimensional uncertainty in equity crowdfunding: The impacts of information sources

This study investigates the temporal dynamics of herding behavior in equity crowdfunding, and especially when herding momentum is likely to occur during a funding campaign under the influence of different information disclosures. Our results are consistent with the multidimensional uncertainty theory in which herding does not occur in the first stage of funding campaigns but arises in the later stages. We further show that information from investors’ discussions may be noisier than information disclosure from project founders, and thus is more likely to bring on uncertainty and accentuate herding. Our findings highlight the importance of information resource management, in which different information sources may require different information disclosure policies.