Technological Innovation Investment Research Articles

How does digital technology administrative penalty affect big data technology innovation: evidence from China

Administrative regulation is an essential institutional arrangement for governing innovation in big data technology. Administrative penalties are one of its main methods. It is worth investigating whether administrative penalties can serve as an institutional safeguard to promote technological innovation. This study collects data on digital technology administrative penalty (DTAP) and big data technology innovation (BDTI) from 2008 to 2020 in 281 cities in China and empirically evaluates the impact and mechanism of DTAP on BDTI. The findings suggest that the normative impact of the DTAP system can foster a conducive business ecosystem for big data innovation. The incentive mechanism motivates firms to increase their long-term investment in technological innovation, while the deterrence mechanism ensures the existence of a regulated competitive market. These mechanisms play a crucial role in facilitating BDTI. Mechanism tests show that the DTAP has the potential to promote novel business models in the digital economy and accelerate progress in industrial digitalisation, which in turn promotes innovation in big data technologies. The impact of the DTAP on promoting BDTI is diverse, with a significantly greater impact in the first-tier cities. DTAP plays a more important role in fostering BDTI in places where the digital factor-driven industry is still in its early stages of development.

Impact of Urban Air Quality on Total Factor Productivity: Empirical Insights from Chinese Listed Companies

Urban air quality is inextricably linked to the operations of micro-firms. This paper employs the “Qinling-Huaihe” River demarcation as an instrumental variable to construct a regression discontinuity design (RDD) coupled with the two-stage least squares (2SLS) approach. This methodological framework is utilized to investigate the influence of urban air quality on the corporate total factor productivity (CTFP) of publicly listed manufacturing firms from 2015 to 2020. Drawing on the broken windows theory of urban decay and the general equilibrium theory, this research elucidates a significant adverse effect of urban air pollution on CTFP. We rigorously confirm the validity of the RDD by conducting covariate continuity tests and manipulating distributional variables. Furthermore, the robustness of the baseline regression outcomes is substantiated through a series of sensitivity, robustness, and endogeneity checks, employing alternative instrumental variables. The analysis extends to examining the heterogeneity across environmental attributes, regional features, and green branding. The mechanistic investigation reveals that public environmental concerns, financing constraints, and investments in technological innovation serve as mediators in the nexus between urban air pollution and CTFP. Additionally, it is observed that environmental regulation exerts a positive moderating influence, whereas female leadership has a negative impact in this context. The imperative for timely environmental governance is underscored by these findings, which offer crucial insights for policymakers seeking to refine business environment strategies and for corporations aiming to pursue sustainable growth.

Analyzing the nexus between environmental sustainability and clean energy for the USA

Environmental sustainability is a key target to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, achieving these targets needs tools to pave the way for achieving SDGs and COP28 targets. Therefore, the primary objective of the present study is to examine the significance of clean energy, research and development spending, technological innovation, income, and human capital in achieving environmental sustainability in the USA from 1990 to 2022. The study employed time series econometric methods to estimate the empirical results. The study confirmed the long-run cointegrating relationship among CO2 emissions, human capital, income, R&D, technological innovation, and clean energy. The results are statistically significant in the short run except for R&D expenditures. In the long run, the study found that income and human capital contribute to further aggravating the environment via increasing CO2 emissions. However, R&D expenditures, technological innovation, and clean energy help to promote environmental sustainability by limiting carbon emissions. The study recommends investment in technological innovation, clean energy, and increasing R&D expenditures to achieve environmental sustainability in the USA.

The carbon emission reduction effect of renewable resource utilization: From the perspective of green innovation

In the face of pressing global challenges posed by climate change, resource constraints, and environmental pollution, understanding the role of renewable resource utilization in carbon emission reduction has become paramount. This study aims to investigate this relationship, particularly within the context of the dual carbon goals, which emphasizes both carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Focusing on the national "urban mineral" demonstration bases as a case study, this research employs the directional distance function incorporating non-expected output alongside the Malmquist index to assess the dynamic changes in urban carbon dioxide emission performance. A multi-period difference-in-difference model is utilized to examine the impact of these demonstration bases on CO2 emissions. The Baseline results reveal that renewable resource utilization significantly enhances carbon emission performance. The channel analysis indicate that the establishment of national "urban mineral" demonstration bases positively influences carbon emission performance through three primary pathways: green technology agglomeration, green technology spillover, and energy structure optimization. Based on these findings, this study advocates for policies that promote renewable resource utilization and carbon emission reduction. Specifically, it highlights the need for increased investment in green technology innovation and diffusion, as well as the optimization of energy structures to mitigate carbon emissions. These findings provide valuable policy implications for governments and stakeholders seeking to reduce carbon emissions and promote sustainable development.

Environmental protection tax collection, financing constraints, and corporate green technology innovation

The article empirically examines the relationship between environmental protection tax levy and enterprises’ green technology innovation and the moderating effect of financing constraints between the two with a sample of heavy polluters listed in A-share companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2015 to 2021. It is found that the levy of environmental protection tax significantly promotes the green technology innovation investment of heavily polluting enterprises. It is further found that enterprise financing constraints have a negative moderating effect in the process of environmental protection tax stimulating enterprise innovation input. The article proposes to continue to strengthen the reform of environmental protection tax to form a collection model with both incentives and constraints and at the same time, to improve the financing efficiency of enterprises through green digital finance to alleviate the impact of financing constraints on enterprise technological innovation.

Interactions Among Energy Consumption per GDP, Technological Innovation Input and Energy Consumption Structure in China During the 14th Five-Year Plan Period

In the context of China's 14th Five-Year Plan, this paper examines the complex interactions between energy utilization efficiency, technological advancement, and energy-consuming structure. The Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model, impulse response functions, and variance decomposition are used to thoroughly analyze time series data extending from 1999 to 2022 to reveal the dynamic relationships and effect mechanisms among these variables. The results show that the multidimensional adjustment of energy use has been driven in large part by technological innovation. In the short term, the improvement in energy utilization efficiency is predominantly propelled by its inherent inertia, while technological innovation gradually becomes the primary driving force. The positive impact of technological innovation input enhances energy utilization efficiency, while improved energy utilization efficiency stimulates later-stage technological innovation investment. Furthermore, a shift towards reduced GDP energy intensity is essential, focusing on controlling fossil fuel usage while advancing non-fossil energy sources. It underscores the significance of optimizing traditional fossil fuel utilization and gradually transitioning to clean energy sources for sustained and efficient energy-consuming patterns.

Technological Innovation Investment Channels of Industry–University–Research Alliance Enterprises and Non-Alliance Enterprises Based on Evolutionary Game

According to their resource ownership and resource acquisition channels, this paper constructs an evolutionary game model of enterprises’ technological innovation investment channels considering managers’ expectations. This results in the strategy of non-alliance firms along the first channel having a significant impact on the evolutionary equilibrium. For non-alliance enterprises, the difference in the amount of investment in the R&D stage has the same impact on the probability of such enterprises following the first channel. The number of active managers, group capacity, the difference in managers’ expectations, and the difference in the amount of technological innovation investment in the R&D stage have significant differences in the possibility of choosing the first channel between the two types of enterprises. The research conclusions can provide valuable references for enterprises to make technological innovation decisions.

Dose the increasing burden of social endowment affect sustainable development of economy?

The rapid increase in the number of older people under the background of population aging has gradually changed the disease spectrum of society, making aging diseases more prevalent, and increasing the demand for health care services, medical and health services, and health insurance among older people, ultimately leading to increasing household and social spending on old age. This study is conducted to assess the impact of those spending burden on the sustainable development of economy and find out some practical and effective solutions. This paper constructs a theoretical model to illustrate the relationship between the old-age dependency ratio and the marginal product of capital (MPK), and then establishes a two-way fixed effect model based on transnational panel data of 81 countries from 1981 to 2017 to verify this relationship empirically. This paper finds that, after controlling a series of variables, an increased burden of old-age dependency leads to a decline in the MPK, a key macroeconomic variable and also a sustainable development criteria, but in which health care, health security systems, and technological innovation play a key and moderating role. The conclusion is also valid after tackling the problem of endogeneity with different methods, like two-stage least squares (TSLS) and the generalized methods of moments (GMM). Overall, before population aging, countries that are old-but-not-rich should encourage more supply-side investments in public health system or technological innovation, and adjust retirement system, or gradually encourage childbearing to strive for time and space for later sustainable development of public health system and economy.

Development and application of a maturity model for Industrial Agile Working

In recent years, several companies approached agile working strategies to increase the resilience of their business. Agile work started spreading also to the manufacturing sector, thanks to the adoption of technologies that increasingly allow remote control of production systems. Nevertheless, agile working in the industry, namely Industrial Agile Working (IAW), requires organisational transformations and investments in technological innovations to guarantee its successful implementation. The first objective of this paper is to define the most relevant dimensions that affect the applicability of agile working practices in industrial contexts. The second objective is to develop an Industrial Agile Working Maturity Model (IAWMM) to measure the maturity of a company in adopting IAW practices. Starting from a set of dimensions identified through scientificic literature analysis, the IAWMM was tested by involving several companies in the manufacturing sector. The refined IAWMM was finally applied to a small sample of companies. The results report a good readiness of the companies concerning the knowledge and application of the key enabling technologies but still a low willingness concerning organisational change and flexible workforce management models. However, the IAW appears to be a promising strategy to promote a better workforce wellbeing and companies’ efficiency and resilience.

Exploración del comercio global: una revisión integral del comercio internacional y el comercio exterior

The cross-border exchange of goods, services, capital, and knowledge has emerged as a crucial driver of economic prosperity. Consequently, the objective of this work is to provide an overview of research trends in foreign and international trade, identifying thematic gaps and outlining areas for future research. To achieve this, a scientometric analysis and a systematic review of literature on the production of Scopus were carried out in the last five years. The findings revealed significant growth in current production, in which information was predominantly in English. Similarly, policy formulation requires a comprehensive approach, with a balance between free markets and protectionism, and an encouragement of participation in trade agreements and free trade agreements that drive multilateral and bilateral integration. Additionally, investments in infrastructure, logistics, and technological innovation, along with an understanding of socioeconomic, cultural, health, and environmental factors, allow for the improvement of connectivity and efficiency in international trade. Nonetheless, considering the environmental impact of trade, trends that aim to strike a balance between trade and environmental conservation, as well as addressing socioeconomic inequality, have emerged.

CEO discretion and enterprise digital transformation

Digital transformation is a new development opportunity available to enterprises in the digital economy and represents a comprehensive application of digital technology in production, operation, and management. This study examined the impact of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) discretion on enterprise digital transformation using data from 2007 to 2022 of A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges in China. The results suggest that CEO discretion enhances digital transformation performance, and the degree of CEO self-confidence plays a moderating role. The greater the degree of CEO self-confidence, the stronger the impact on digital transformation. Sex, age, educational background, and experience in finance affect discretionary powers of CEOs and its effect on digital transformation. The mechanism test revealed that corporate financialisation and technological innovation investment can play a mediating role. Additional analysis revealed that the facilitative effect of CEO discretion on digital transformation is stronger for non-state and large firms. This study enriched and expanded the behavioural theory in finance and related research on the factors influencing corporate digital transformation and provided empirical evidence on how firms can follow the digital development trends and accelerate the process of corporate digital transformation.

Will resource tax reform raise green total factor productivity levels in cities? Evidence from 114 resource-based cities in China

One of the new development concept is to enhance Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP). Based on examining the theoretical basis of how resource tax reform affects GTFP, a natural experiment was used to empirically assess how the reform of resource taxes affects the GTFP. Our findings reveal a significant increase in GTFP following resource tax reform. The main contribution of this article lies in constructing a multi-time point difference-in-differences model, which enables clarification of the impact of resource tax reform on GTFP from the perspective of various resource taxes. Then we deduce that resource tax reform enhance GTFP levels by encouraging the transformation of resource-based cities into modern industrialized cities and reducing dependence on resource sectors. However, it is worth noting that resource tax reform may slow down economic growth and investment in scientific and technological innovation in cities heavily reliant on natural resources. In addition, resource tax reform promotes technological advancement through industrial upgrading, albeit with an adverse effect on technical efficiency. This observation implies that resource tax reform should be harmonized with all aspects of urban development. This research offers valuable policy insights on how to develop scientific and reasonable resource tax policies to improve economic development and environmental protection in an environmentally responsible manner.

Relationship between the evaluation of agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity and the influencing factors of green agriculture.

China has limited arable land area, and its output value is increased with enhanced agricultural inputs such as machinery, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides. However, this mode is accompanied by an increase in agricultural carbon emissions. With the aim to further examine the driving effect of scientific and technological innovation on economic growth and green agriculture, this study uses the Solow growth model coupled with the Cobb-Douglas production function and vector autoregressive models. Then, the agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity in Guangdong Province during 2006-2020 is evaluated by using the contribution rate of agricultural scientific and technological progress (ASTP) as the assessment index. In addition, the carbon footprints of green agricultural indexes such as machinery, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides are measured to analyze the relationship between green agriculture and agricultural scientific and technological innovation capacity. Results demonstrate the gradual increase in the contribution rate of ASTP in Guangdong Province. During the 11th, 12th, and 13th Five-Year Plan periods, the rates were 65.09%, 65.94%, and 70.40%, respectively, indicating that the agricultural scientific and technological innovation ability constantly improved. Among the indexes of green agriculture, the carbon footprints of machinery have a significant impact on agricultural scientific and technological innovation, which is quickly transformed into machinery. Such innovation requires the driving force of science and technology itself, which have relatively significant and rapid effects. On the basis of the results, corresponding policy suggestions are proposed: increasing investments in scientific and technological innovation in the agricultural field, vigorously developing new energy-saving and emission reduction products and processes for fertilizers, and increasing the research and promotion of agricultural machinery. The proposed method provides good prospects for the development of agricultural production towards mechanization, intelligence, efficiency, and greenness.

A Study of How Technological Innovation Affects China's Economic Development

Technological innovation is a crucial element and driving force behind the advancement of economic development. The two-way fixed effects model is used in this research to investigate how technological innovation influences economic development. The research period spans from 2011 to 2020 and includes 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous areas in China. The data used are from Chinas National Bureau of Statistics (NBSC). The empirical analysis led to the following conclusions: Economic development and technological innovation have a significant positive association; the higher the number of patents granted in a citys technological innovation output, the better the regional economic development. Technological innovation significantly and positively affects economic development in both the Eastern and Western areas. However, in terms of economic growth and technical innovation in China, the western area lags behind the eastern region. The government should increase financial investment and policy support in technology innovation and strengthen financial and tax support for new science and technology industries.

Land–Water–Energy Coupling System and Low-Carbon Policy Simulation: A Case Study of Nanjing, China

Global climate change produces large amounts of CO2, and carbon emission reduction has become a global hot topic. As a key city in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Nanjing plays a significant representative role in the process of achieving the “double carbon” goals. In this paper, a land–water–energy coupling system was established and urban carbon emissions were estimated. Through the SD model, the future urban carbon emissions were predicted under the adjustment of different land, water and energy consumption scenarios. We studied the relationship between urban carbon emissions and the land–water–energy coupling system, and whether Nanjing can achieve carbon neutralization in 2060 under conditions of natural development. The results show that urban carbon emissions in Nanjing have reached a peak in 2018, but low carbon measures are still needed for Nanjing to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality by 2060. Specific measures include increasing investment in technological innovation, expansion of the application scope of clean energy, reasonably planning land use structure, water conservation and wastewater utilization and the application of advanced carbon utilization technology. The results in this paper can serve as a reference for other cities and provide guidance for future urban planning and decision making.

R&D Investment, Executive Incentive, and Financial Performance in GEM: Based on Three-Stage Least Squares Method

China’s GEM (Growth Enterprise Market, also named as ChiNext stock market) enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in the start-up stage, which have high-speed growth. This work uses three-stage least squares (3SLS) based on combines system equation to study the impact of technological innovation investment, executive incentive, and enterprise financial performance. The results show that in China’s GEM enterprises, R&D in the current period positively affects financial performance in 1% significance level. R&D of the lag period has a significant negative impact on the financial performance of the current period. Conversely, the financial performance of the current period has a significant negative impact on R&D. While both salary incentive and equity incentive will improve financial performance, executives seem to value short-term interests MORE. Executive equity incentive has a significant negative moderating effect ownership due to ownership structure in GEM is needed to strengthen the control right. This work proposes a new research horizon in GEM in China, and can help the GEM design an effective management mechanism to improve the financial performance of the enterprise.

A DPSIR Framework to Evaluate and Predict the Development of Prefabricated Buildings: A Case Study

Prefabricated building construction is an important method of enhancing construction productivity and promoting sustainable development in the construction industry. Evaluating and predicting the development performance of prefabricated buildings will contribute to identifying and implementing the most effective responses to promote prefabricated building technologies. Based on the Drives–Pressures–States–Impacts–Responses (DPSIR) framework, 14 evaluation indexes are determined to evaluate the development level of prefabricated buildings. The entropy weight method was used to determine the weight of the evaluation index, and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method with improved grey correlation was applied to comprehensively evaluate the trend of the index. The grey model (GM(1,1)) was developed to predict the development trend of prefabricated buildings. The development of prefabricated buildings in Shandong province, China, is employed as a case to apply the developed method and investigate development experiences. The results demonstrate that the case has achieved significant progress and has great potential in promoting the use of prefabricated buildings. The development recommendations include developing a policy and regulation system, strengthening a prefabricated building talent pool, and enhancing the investment in technological innovation. This study innovatively formulated the evaluation and prediction system based on the DPSIR, TOPSIS and GM(1,1) models, which could be used for evaluating development performance between social and environmental factors among various cause-effect relationships.

Research on Regional Carbon Emission Reduction in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration Based on System Dynamics: Key Factors and Policy Analysis

Urban agglomerations are regions where the economy and population are highly concentrated, which are also spatial units with more concentrated carbon emissions. A detailed decomposition of driving factors based on changes in carbon emissions of urban agglomerations can provide a reference for better carbon reduction policies. In this paper, we establish an evaluation framework of carbon emission drivers of urban agglomeration from the perspective of CO2 generation and removal using a system dynamics method. The key influencing factors and optimal emission reduction measures of carbon emissions in urban agglomerations are explored. The results are as follows: (1) The industrial structure is the key influencing factor of carbon emissions; (2) compared with no implementation of any policies, the total carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity of integrated policies all significantly decrease, with a decrease of 43.68% and 53.32%, respectively in 2035; (3) energy structure adjustment has a significant effect in reducing carbon emissions and carbon emission intensity; (4) the role of increasing investment in technological innovation in ensuring achievement of “carbon peak” should not be ignored. It is found that integrated policies often exhibit a better emission reduction effect, but this effect is not a simple summation of the effects of each single policy.

All losses are not alike: Real versus accounting-driven reported losses

AbstractWe examine the value relevance of accounting-driven losses that result from the immediate expensing of firms’ internally generated intangible investments versus losses occurring irrespective of intangible investments. Contrary to the long-held view that losses are less relevant than profits for valuation, we find that once the accounting bias of intangibles-expensing is undone, earnings of firms reporting intangibles-driven losses are as informative as earnings of profitable firms. Furthermore, contrary to the view that persistent losses decrease earnings relevance, our evidence shows no decrease in the relevance of earnings for firms reporting persistent intangibles-driven losses. We also find that firms reporting intangibles-driven losses subsequently outperform other loss firms and even profitable firms in value creation from investments in technological innovation and human capital. Our evidence further shows that firms reporting intangibles-driven losses have stronger future performance than other firms. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate the fundamental differences between losses driven by the immediate expensing of internally generated intangible investments and losses reflecting genuine business performance shortfalls. Standard accounting performance measures, however, do not properly reflect these operational differences and their implications.

Innovation policy and ecological welfare performance: evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of China.

The National Innovative City Pilot Policy (NICPP) is a policy implemented by the Chinese government to create an environment conducive to innovation, optimize industrial structure, promote economic development, and stimulate green innovation. The impact of this policy on ecological welfare performance is a question worth exploring. Based on panel data from 285 cities from 2007 to 2021, this paper uses the multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model, propensity score matching method, and spatial DID model to study the impact of NICPP on ecological welfare performance and spatial spillover effects. The results show that (1) NICPP can significantly improve ecological welfare performance. (2) The mechanism analysis found that NICPP mainly improves ecological welfare performance through technological innovation investment, industrial structure upgrading, and increasing government attention. (3) The heterogeneity analysis found that NICPP has a more substantial driving effect on the ecological welfare development of cities in the eastern and western regions, cities with higher administrative levels, and cities with lower secondary industry agglomeration. (4) Further research has found that NICPP not only promotes the development of local ecological welfare but also has a positive spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of neighboring regions. This paper enriches the research on the effects of NICPP and provides policy references for the sustainable development of cities.