Browsing by Author "Chi J"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    How does digital finance impact birth rates: Evidence from China
    (Elsevier B V on behalf of the Economic Society of Australia (Queensland) Inc, 2025-06) Chen J; Chi J; Smith D; Yuen M
    Digital finance (DF), the integration of tradition financial services and new information technology, has been shown to have various impacts in social behaviour. However, how DF affects people's fertility behaviour is still under investigation and worth exploring from the point of view of long-term economic growth. By employing a DF index, publicly available city-level birth rates in 287 Chinese cities, we find DF has a negative influence on birth rates. This finding is supported by endogeneity and several robustness tests. Mechanism tests show DF increases investment opportunities and therefore reduces the need of having children for support in old age. DF increases consumption and possibly individualism and also increases women's economic independence and their opportunity cost of having children, leading to lower birth rates. Given the development of DF is an inevitable trend, we further find that out of the three components of DF index measures, the coverage of DF significantly decreases birth rates, while the higher level of DF development, depth and digitalization, have much less negative impact on birth rates. Finally, this negative impact can be moderated when governments make policy efforts to increase educational and medical resources and provide protection of religion. This paper provides a novel perspective on the influence of DF on social behaviour through DF's direct impact on investments, consumption and income.
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    In the heat of the moment, secrets will out: Oil price uncertainty and firm green innovation disclosure
    (Elsevier Inc, 2025-03) Huang K; Chi J; Liao J; Yuen MK
    This study investigates the relationship between oil price uncertainty and corporate green innovation disclosure behaviour. Drawing on a textual analysis of annual reports and social responsibility reports of Chinese listed companies, we construct a measure for the intensity of corporate green innovation disclosure. We find a significantly positive relationship between oil price volatility and the level of green innovation disclosure. This relationship remains robust after conducting robustness tests and addressing potential endogeneity. Further analysis reveals that this positive association is moderated by several firm-level factors, including environmental performance, legitimacy demands, and political connections. Additionally, the positive relationship is more pronounced in firms subject to higher regional environmental regulation intensity and market-based green initiatives. Our findings contribute new evidence to corporate sustainable development, demonstrating that energy uncertainty significantly influences information transparency in green innovation disclosure.
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    The economic impact of capital expenditures: Environmental regulatory delay as a source of competitive advantage?
    (1/01/2013) Wirth C; Chi J; Young M
    This study tests the proposal that by undertaking voluntary capital expenditures that are subject to lengthy environmental regulatory delays, listed companies can gain a competitive advantage. The stock market is found to react positively to new capital expenditure announcements when projects are expected to experience long delays in obtaining environmental regulatory approval. Two sources of potential competitive advantage are firm learning and first mover advantages. Lengthy delays in regulatory processes and high compliance costs incurred for environmentally-sensitive projects may allow firms opportunities to develop specialised capabilities and/or to deter industry competitors and new entrants, resulting in greater expected project NPVs. The findings also underscore the importance of non-financial environmental information to investors in their assessment of firm value. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.