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Transport infrastructure connectivity (TIC) has strong endogeneity issues, making it difficult to directly assess its impact on local conflict resolution. This study presents new evidence of the effects of TIC on conflict resolution by conducting a natural experiment and applying machine learning methods to overcome the endogeneity issue. Based on global conflict data from 2010 to 2017, the empirical results show the following: (1) TIC can significantly improve countries’ global ranking for conflict resolution; in particular, the marginal benefit of developed countries is greater than that of developing countries. (2) The mechanism behind this effect is the promotion of trade facilitation, a more balanced employment ratio across genders, and improved income levels through TIC, which further enhances the conflict governance capacity of countries. In light of the findings, policy-makers should consider the opportunity to combine TIC with greater security for the realization of economic and social benefits, taking into account the significant opportunities for developing countries and the importance of balance across genders and income levels.

This paper establishes DID and PSM-DID models to examine the effect of extreme weather on enterprise productivity, using empirical evidence from natural experiments of torrential rainstorm in Zhengzhou of China. Based on analysis of empirical results, we find that extreme weather has a negative impact on enterprise productivity, psychological capital plays a regulatory role in this influence, and decrements of enterprise productivity with high psychological capital is smaller than enterprises with low psychological capital. The results of this study provide empirical data support to understand the negative effect of extreme weather upon enterprise productivity and the positive role of employee psychological capital.

Green technology innovation is a crucial step in China's transition towards a green economy and has received substantial financial support through green finance. However, China's efficacy in using green finance to serve enterprise green technology innovation is still at an exploratory stage. This study takes the 2017 policy of the Chinese government on \"Green Finance Reform and Innovation Pilot Zones\" as a quasi-natural experiment and constructs a difference-in-difference model to examine the impact of green finance on enterprise green technology innovation. The research results reveal that green financial policies significantly promote green technology innovation and have an incentive effect on the application of green invention patents and green utility model patents, with this conclusion being robust. This is particularly true for large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and non-heavy polluting enterprises. Compared to large-scale enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and non-heavy-polluting enterprises are more inclined to apply for green invention patents. Inspection of influence mechanisms suggests that green finance policies alleviate financing constraints and signaling effect to improve enterprises’ green innovation, whereas external market supervision is ineffective. Based on empirical results, relevant policy suggestions are proposed to help green finance better serve enterprises’ green innovation.

Carbon risk has aroused widespread concern in society. With the implementation of carbon policy and the development of carbon market, the research on the impact of carbon risk on corporate financial behavior has become an important academic frontier issue. We examine the impact of carbon risk on firms' real earnings management before and after the Paris climate change agreement, signed by China in 2016. A difference-in-differences model is deployed by using a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies. We find that high-carbon-intensive firms engage in significant upward real earnings management compared to low-carbon-intensive firms to offset the negative impact of carbon risk by conveying the message of good corporate development to investors after signing the Paris Agreement. The above research findings still hold after the robustness tests. Further heterogeneity analyses show that the impact of carbon risk on firms' real earnings management is greater in the sample of non-state-owned firms. The above impact is more significant in firms with weaker corporate governance, implying that strong corporate governance constrains managers from engaging in real earnings management. Therefore, policymakers and regulators should pay attention to the 'strategic response' to earnings management of carbon-intensive firms, taking into account the nature of property rights, corporate governance to reasonably improve the policy design and regulatory direction.

Based on a balanced panel dataset of 272 prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2022, this paper systematically investigates the impact of the carbon emissions trading system on green total factor productivity and its underlying mechanisms from an integrated perspective of overall, dynamic, and spatial dimensions. The findings reveal that (1) the carbon emissions trading system significantly enhances regional total factor productivity, primarily by optimizing resource allocation efficiency and strengthening regional competitiveness. (2) From a dynamic perspective, the policy effect exhibited a U-shaped relationship: from 2013 to 2018, green total factor productivity was suppressed due to underdeveloped market mechanisms and the policy environment; after 2018, with market maturation and policy stabilization, the policy effects improved significantly. (3) Spatial effect analysis indicates that the emissions trading system positively influences pilot regions but generates a siphon effect on nonpilot regions, leading to regional performance divergence, although the overall impact remains positive. (4) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the policy has more pronounced effects in regions with higher carbon intensity, stricter environmental regulations, better infrastructure, and richer resource endowments, reflecting significant regional disparities in policy effectiveness. This study provides empirical evidence and theoretical insights to optimize carbon trading policies and achieve regional green development.

As global sustainability imperatives increase, understanding how green finance policies and technological innovation influence corporate environmental performance has become a relevant issue. This study examines the impact of green finance on corporate environmental practices, particularly focusing on how innovation enhances sustainable energy transitions. A difference-in-differences (DID) approach was employed. This research compares corporate environmental performance before and after the implementation of green finance policies across treated and control groups. This method allows for isolating the effect of green finance by controlling for temporal and individual factors, providing robust insights into policy efficacy. Our findings indicate a statistically significant improvement in environmental performance, particularly among larger, state-owned enterprises in China’s eastern regions. The findings also underscore the moderating role of innovation in optimizing green finance outcomes. Finally, important implications for policymakers aiming to drive corporate sustainability are offered.

The electric power industry is the pillar of the national economy but also the largest carbon emission sector in China, facing great pressure to reduce emissions. Existing research often lacks the analysis of the carbon market on electricity carbon emission reduction. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces (cities) in China from 2003 to 2020, we combine the multi-period difference-in-differences model with the spatial Durbin model to explore the effectiveness of the pilot carbon market policy on electricity carbon emission reduction, the mechanism of its role, and its spatial spillover effect. The results show that: (1) The carbon market policy in the electric power industry can effectively play the carbon emission reduction effect, but its spatial spillover effect exists in the carbon emission transfer phenomenon to weaken the overall emission reduction effect. (2) The pilot carbon market policy mainly promotes carbon emission reduction in the power industry by strengthening government intervention and reducing power energy consumption, and the role of R&D innovation intensity has not yet been substantially realized. (3) The impact of pilot carbon market policies on electricity carbon emission reduction varies according to the degree of emphasis on environmental governance and regional features. The conclusion provides feasible suggestions for policymakers to strengthen the mechanism design of the carbon market in the power industry, which is of great significance for realizing the goal of “double carbon.”

This study discusses the impact of climate investment and financing policies (CIFP) on corporate carbon emissions and its mechanism. The study finds that the CIFP can effectively promote corporate carbon emission reduction and have passed a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis shows that the CIFP mainly reduce corporate carbon emissions by alleviating the financing constraints faced by enterprises, and market competition has a negative moderating effect on the above emission reduction effects. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the CIFP have heterogeneity in carbon emissions of enterprises. The results reveal the interaction between policy, financing and corporate behavior, and provide a reference for optimizing the design of the CIFP and promoting enterprises to achieve green transformation in different market structures.

Achieving synergistic governance of air pollution treatment and greenhouse gas emission reduction is the way for the Chinese government to achieve green transformational development. Against this background, this paper takes the implementation of the carbon emissions trading system (ETS) as the breakthrough point, using the time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) model to explore the synergistic emission reduction effect of ETS on air pollution and carbon emissions and its mechanism. The results indicate that the implementation of ETS not only significantly reduces CO2 emissions but also synergistically achieves the reduction of air pollutants, and the synergistic emission reduction effect is mainly achieved through the synergistic reduction of SO2. Moreover, the emission reduction effect of ETS has economic and regional heterogeneity. On the one hand, the ETS has a more prominent carbon reduction effect in less developed provinces and cities and has a significant synergistic emission reduction effect on SO2 and PM2.5; on the other hand, the carbon emission reduction effect of ETS is more potent in Beijing, Hubei, and Shanghai, followed by Tianjin and Chongqing, and the weakest in Guangdong. In addition, through the analysis of the mediating effect, this paper finds that reducing energy consumption, optimizing the energy structure, and improving energy efficiency are effective ways for ETS to achieve synergistic emission reduction. This study provides valuable policy enlightenment for promoting the synergistic governance of pollution and carbon reduction.

This study analyzes the impact of capital regulation-induced mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on the cost efficiency of Nepali commercial banks. This research question is worthy of attention as the regulatory policy of quadrupling paid-up capital within an acute deadline of two years is a case unique to Nepal. Using stochastic frontier analysis on a monthly panel data set (2013 to 2023), we estimate the time-varying efficiency scores and subsequently assess the impact of M&As through the difference-in-differences method. The results show that post-merger efficiency declined for banks merged between 2015 and 2017, with robustness checks confirming the consistency of this finding. The two-year deadline to meet the quadrupled paid-up capital requirement forced rushed Mergers and Acquisitions, impeding efficiency. Interestingly, the same banks that merged again after 2017/18 saw improved efficiency, suggesting strategic planning and timing matter for observing gains in operating efficiency. These insights contribute to both academic debates and policy considerations on financial sector reforms in frontier economies. Our findings offer a cautionary note for regulators that excessive stringency may lead to unintended negative consequences.