Related Articles
Impact of green bonds on CO2 emissions and disaggregated level renewable electricity in China and the United States of America
Green financial products have emerged that can benefit economic actors in financing green initiatives to promote renewable energy and enable carbon neutrality. Against this backdrop, the study examines the impact of green bonds (GBs) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and renewable electricity generation (EG) in China and the USA, the leading countries in terms of GB issuance and CO2 emissions. To this end, the study conducts a disaggregated-level analysis by applying novel nonlinear quantile methods between January 2, 2019, and July 31, 2023. The results demonstrate that at higher quantiles; (i) GBs mainly have a dampening impact on CO2 emissions from the transportation sector in China and the USA; (ii) GBs have a stimulating impact on solar and wind EG in China; (iii) GBs have a diminishing impact on all types of EGs in the USA. Thus, GBs have an impact on carbon neutrality and renewable energy, which differs by quantiles, sectors, and EG sources. Accordingly, various policy implications are discussed in terms of further contributions of GBs to carbon neutrality and renewable energy in China and the USA.
The risk effects of corporate digitalization: exacerbate or mitigate?
This study elaborates on the risk effects of corporate digital transformation (CDT). Using the ratio of added value of digital assets to total intangible assets as a measure of CDT, this study overall reveals an inverse relationship between CDT and revenue volatility, even after employing a range of technical techniques to address potential endogeneity. Heterogeneity analysis highlights that the firms with small size, high capital intensity, and high agency costs benefit more from CDT. It also reveals that advancing information infrastructure, intellectual property protection, and digital taxation enhances the effectiveness of CDT. Mechanism analysis uncovers that CDT not only enhances financial advantages such as bolstering core business and mitigating non-business risks but also fosters non-financial advantages like improving corporate governance and ESG performance. Further inquiries into the side effects of CDT and the dynamics of revenue volatility indicate that CDT might compromise cash flow availability. Excessive digital investments exacerbate operating risks. Importantly, the reduction in operating risk associated with CDT does not sacrifice the potential for enhanced company performance; rather, it appears to augment the value of real options.
Why do travelers discontinue using integrated ride-hailing platforms? The role of perceived value and perceived risk
Despite integrated ride-hailing platforms have provided many benefits to travelers, there are also various potential risks. This study aims to examine travelers’ discontinuance behavioral intention toward integrated ride-hailing platforms. The research framework was established by extending the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with perceived value and perceived risk. Perceived value was classified into utilitarian, hedonic, and social values, while perceived risk was classified into privacy, performance, security, and financial risks. Additionally, the factors of switch cost and personal innovativeness were included. An empirical analysis was carried out using partial least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) based on a survey conducted in Nanjing, China. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis (MGA) was performed to examine behavioral differences across demographic variables. The findings suggest that discontinuous behavioral intention is influenced by subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and attitude. Among them, perceived behavioral control shows the strongest impact (−0.190). Perceived value, including utilitarian, hedonic, and social dimensions, negatively influences discontinuance intention, whereas the four variables of risk perception positively affect discontinuance intention. Notably, social value, performance risk, and privacy risk act higher total effects on discontinuance intention. Switch cost is negatively associated with attitude (−0.222), and positively affects discontinuance intention (0.189). Personal innovativeness has positive and stronger effects on perceived value (0.237), negative effects on perceived risk (−0.174), and negative effects on discontinuance intention. Regarding MGA results, older travelers demonstrate a stronger impact of social value on perceived value, higher-income groups exhibit greater sensitivity to security risks, and frequent travelers prioritize utilitarian value.
Co-benefit of forestation on ozone air quality and carbon storage in South China
Substantial forestation-induced greening has occurred over South China, affecting the terrestrial carbon storage and atmospheric chemistry. However, these effects have not been systematically quantified due to complex biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Here we integrate satellite observations, forestry statistics, and an improved atmospheric chemistry model to investigate the impacts of forestation on both carbon storage and ozone air quality. We find that forestation alleviates surface ozone via enhanced dry deposition and suppressed turbulence mixing, outweighing the effect of enhanced biogenic emissions. The 2005-2019 greening mitigated the growing season mean surface ozone by 1.4 ± 2.3 ppbv, alleviated vegetation exposure by 15%-41% (depending on ozone metrics) in forests over South China, and increased Chinese forest carbon storage by 1.8 (1.6-2.1) Pg C. Future forestation may enhance carbon storage by 4.3 (3.8-4.8) Pg C and mitigate surface ozone over South China by 1.4 ± 1.2 ppbv in 2050. Air quality management should consider such co-benefits as forestation becomes necessary for carbon neutrality.
US-China tech decoupling increases willingness to share personal data in China
Conflicts involving tech companies and data privacy between the US and China have evolved into a technology decoupling between the two countries. Nationalistic sentiments have been on the rise in both countries as well. This study examines how the rising geo-technological race and conflict affect people’s perception of data privacy. In particular, we examine whether reminding Chinese internet users of the US-China technological decoupling influences their willingness to share personal data. We conduct a randomized online experiment where we remind people of the US–China technology competition in artificial intelligence or the US sanctions on Chinese tech companies and examine the impact on respondents’ willingness to share personal data with private companies, the central government and local government. We find that the US-China tech decoupling treatments increase people’s willingness to share their data with private companies. Exploring the heterogeneous treatment effects by gender and education level reveals that nationalism is likely the mediating factor that explains why some people, especially, males and the college educated, are more likely to increase their willingness to share personal data when exposed to these treatments. Moreover, the US-China tech decoupling treatments directly increase people’s perception that data is a key input for Chinese company competitiveness in AI development. In sum, we find that reminding people of the US-China tech decoupling can invoke nationalistic sentiment and increase people’s willingness to share data with private companies and the government in China. The randomized control trial was pre-registered on the AEA RCT Registry (AEARCTR-0007526). The public URL of https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/7526 and the digital object identifier (DOI) is 10.1257/rct.7526-1.0.
Responses