{"title":"Asset allocation for a DC pension plan with dynamic attention","authors":"Xingchun Peng , Shiqi Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate the optimal investment and dynamic attention allocation strategies of DC pension plan. The market price of stock risk is an affine function of observable and unobservable factors. The fund manager can acquire news signal to improve the predictability of stock returns with costs. The optimal strategies are derived explicitly. Through numerical analysis, we find that if the fund manager can get access to news information with rational costs, she is inclined to increase the proportion of investment in stocks. Moreover, the minimum guarantee constraint has an inhibitory effect on the impact of dynamic information on investment strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107513"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144083748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human capital mobility and corporate management cost","authors":"Jiawei Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107597","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107597","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using data from Chinese firms spanning 2016 and 2022, this study investigates the impact of human capital mobility on corporate management costs. Results indicate that increased mobility lowers management costs by enhancing top management team dynamism and diversity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is significant in privately owned and labor-intensive firms but minimal in state-owned and nonlabor-intensive ones. The findings contribute to regional economics and corporate strategy literature, offering valuable insights for firms and policymakers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107597"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144114957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Supply chain finance and soft budget constraints: A nonlinear threshold effect perspective from China's listed companies","authors":"Rui Chen , Qiqing Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107560","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107560","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research examines how supply chain finance (SCF) affects financial distress through textual analysis, focusing on budgetary soft constraints. The study finds that listed companies engaging in SCF significantly reduce their financial distress risk. The mechanism test shows that SCF primarily eases financial distress by reducing strategic burdens and improving budgetary soft constraints rather than by addressing social burdens. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that SCF’s positive impact on budgetary soft constraints is pronounced in companies with formal contracts (state-owned enterprises), but it does not mitigate the negative effects of political connections (informal contracts). Additionally, SCF has a positive effect on firms with less efficient investment and financing activities. Findings offer empirical insights into improving corporate budgetary soft constraints, optimizing the investment and financing environment, and achieving sustainable development goals, helping enterprises make informed decisions on SCF to address financial difficulties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107560"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xilin Zhang , Guangwu Li , Ran Wu , Hongjun Zeng , Shenglin Ma
{"title":"Impact of carbon emissions, green energy, artificial intelligence and high-tech policy uncertainty on China’s financial market","authors":"Xilin Zhang , Guangwu Li , Ran Wu , Hongjun Zeng , Shenglin Ma","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107599","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107599","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the impact of policy uncertainty in carbon emissions, green energy, and high-tech sectors on China’s financial market. For this purpose, we develop four specific indices—artificial intelligence policy uncertainty (AIPU), carbon emissions policy uncertainty (CEPU), green energy policy uncertainty (GEPU), and high-tech policy uncertainty (HTPU). Using wavelet coherence analysis, we examine the dynamic relationships between these uncertainties and the Chinese stock market from a time–frequency perspective over 2000–2023. Results show that AIPU has the most pronounced long-term impact (32–64 months), CEPU exerts the strongest and most consistent influence in the medium term (12–16 months), GEPU is more prominent in the short term, and HTPU presents a fragmented, less stable pattern.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107599"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144124853","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"ETF ownership and corporate financialization","authors":"Qi Liu , Changying Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107593","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107593","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study uses Chinese listed companies from 2010 to 2023 as the research sample to analyze the relationship between the proportion of ETF ownership and corporate financialization in depth. The findings indicate that the proportion of ETF ownership has a significant negative impact on corporate financialization, and this impact exhibits notable heterogeneity among companies of different sizes and industry intensities. Furthermore, the study reveals that ETF ownership indirectly suppresses the trend of corporate financialization by improving the quality of corporate accounting information and encouraging more investor behavior. Additionally, market liquidity plays an important moderating role in the relationship between ETF ownership and corporate financialization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107593"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144137990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investment opportunities and labor mobility: Evidence from Europe","authors":"Stanley Peterburgsky","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107570","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107570","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study the relationship between country-level investment opportunities and international labor mobility in Europe. Based on a gravity model analogous to those frequently utilized in the international trade literature, we find that (1) migration is not sensitive to investment opportunities at home and (2) individuals who migrate are more likely to move to countries with higher investment opportunities. As such, country-level investment opportunities appear to cause a reallocation of human capital supply internationally. The results are largely robust to alternative proxies for investment opportunities and to delays in labor market adjustment. Our findings should be of interest to corporations seeking talent and policy makers responsible for immigration regulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107570"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Li-Chuan Chou , Yun-Chia (Anderson) Yan , Chung-Kai Huang
{"title":"The relationship between ESG rating adjustments and corporate financial performance","authors":"Li-Chuan Chou , Yun-Chia (Anderson) Yan , Chung-Kai Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107584","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107584","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shanaev and Ghimire (2022) point out that the existing ESG literature mainly focuses on the ESG rating level of each company, while ignoring the effect of company ESG rating adjustments. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examines the impact of ESG rating adjustments (upgrades or downgrades) on a company’s financial performance using a sample of Taiwanese-listed and OTC firms from 2015 to 2021. The results from our quantile regression models show that an upward improvement in the ESG rating level has an adverse impact on firms’ current profitability, especially for firms with poor financial performance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107584"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144137822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of enterprise artificial intelligence development on human capital structure","authors":"Zhe Li , Huiyu Yang , Tingting Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107600","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107600","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how artificial intelligence (AI) adoption influences low-skilled employment. Using data from Chinese A-share listed firms between 2012 and 2022, it reveals several key findings. First, AI adoption significantly reduces the number of low-skilled workers within firms. Second, digital transformation and human capital investment mediate this relationship, indicating that AI not only directly displaces low-skilled jobs but also indirectly influences employment by advancing digital capabilities and upskilling demands. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that these negative effects are more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises and non-high-tech firms. The findings offer important insights for policymakers, business leaders, and workers, underscoring the need to align technological progress with workforce development in the AI era.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107600"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144105086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cultural and tourism special bonds, fiscal revenue and expenditure ratio, and structural upgrading of the cultural and tourism industry","authors":"Zheng Qu , Jun Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107596","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107596","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study utilizes a panel dataset of China's provincial administrative regions from 2011 to 2023 to construct an econometric analysis framework, systematically examining the mechanisms among cultural and tourism special bonds, the government revenue-expenditure ratio, and the upgrading of regional cultural and tourism industry structures. The findings reveal that special bond financing for cultural and tourism has a clear positive driving effect on the industry structure upgrade, while the revenue-expenditure ratio significantly constrains this process. Additionally, it exhibits a pronounced negative moderating effect on the relationship between special bonds and industry upgrading, showing evident regional heterogeneity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107596"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Environmental information disclosure, green finance, and corporate investment efficiency","authors":"Xiao Li , Furong Mo , Xinfang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107594","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.frl.2025.107594","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Under the impetus of the \"Dual Carbon\" goals, enhancing corporate investment efficiency and fostering green low-carbon transition have become critical to achieving high-quality development. Utilizing panel data from China’s A-share listed companies 2013–2023, this study investigates the impact of environmental information disclosure on corporate investment efficiency and its underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that environmental information disclosure significantly improves corporate investment efficiency. Green finance mediates the relationship between environmental information disclosure and corporate investment efficiency. Furthermore, the positive effect of environmental information disclosure on corporate investment efficiency is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and heavily polluting industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":12167,"journal":{"name":"Finance Research Letters","volume":"82 ","pages":"Article 107594"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}