Journal of Asian Economics最新文献

{"title":"Enterprises’ bargaining power, supervision by public opinion, and environmental regulations: Evidence from the pollutant discharge permit system of China","authors":"Jingbing Feng ,&nbsp;Shuai Shao ,&nbsp;Hao Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102134","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102134","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Enterprises face various levels of environmental regulation intensity due to the discretion of local governments, which affects the outcome of environmental regulation policy. However, few studies have specifically discussed how informal environmental regulations, represented by public opinion supervision, can correct the above phenomenon. On the basis of data on China’s pollutant discharge permits from 2017 to 2019, this paper directly characterizes environmental regulations at the micro enterprise level and uses the truncated regression method to empirically investigate the weakening effect of enterprises’ bargaining power on environmental regulations and how supervision by public opinion can correct it. The results show that the greater the bargaining power is, the lower the level of environmental regulations are. Further analysis reveals that a higher level of supervision by public opinion, i.e., higher degrees of environmental information disclosure and media concern over environmental issues, can decrease the weakening effect of enterprises’ bargaining power on environmental regulations. The effective role of public opinion relies on institutional conditions, such as superior supervision and the financial status of local governments. This study adds to the literature by providing the empirical evidence of the spatial differences in environmental regulations and the relationship between formal and informal environmental regulations at the micro level, serving as an important decision-making reference for optimizing environmental governance strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102134"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Central-local environmental policy consistency, streamlining and delegation reform, and urban entrepreneurial executive density","authors":"Yuequn Cao,&nbsp;Chaoyang Tu,&nbsp;Chenlin Cui,&nbsp;Kexin Du","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102104","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102104","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As ecological civilization advances in China, the impacts of governmental efforts to implement green development policies—and the mechanisms through which they operate—warrant closer scrutiny. This study constructs a dataset on policy consistency by measuring the cosine similarity between municipal and central government work reports, and employs a long-difference model to examine how central–local environmental policy consistency affects urban entrepreneurial executive density under the “streamlining, delegation, and regulation” reform framework. The findings show that locally tailored, context-specific adjustments in policy consistency significantly increase urban entrepreneurial executive density. The effects also differ markedly between large cities and small- to medium-sized cities, with adjustment strategies varying by city size. While such tailoring promotes regional economic growth, achieving a more rational industrial structure requires stronger alignment between central and local policies. Further analysis indicates that, when adjusting policy consistency, local governments face a trade-off between fiscal decentralization and policy implementation, implying a need to balance “spending,” “earning,” and “saving.” The reform framework creates enabling conditions for flexible policy adjustments. Moreover, these adjustments improve firms’ earnings per share and market performance, strengthening profitability and growth potential. This, in turn, attracts entrepreneurial executives to locate in particular regions, consistent with a “voting with their feet” mechanism. By introducing “urban entrepreneurial executive density” as an indicator of policy responsiveness, this paper highlights that policy consistency shapes both resource allocation efficiency and executives’ locational choices, thereby influencing regional competitiveness. The study contributes to the literature on central–local relations and offers policy-relevant implications for environmental policymaking and the development of entrepreneurial executive talent in China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102104"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The cancellation risk of China's life insurance industry and its impact on the market","authors":"Shengnan Han","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102135","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102135","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Policy cancellation remains a significant risk to life insurer solvency in digitally mediated markets. This study aimed to model and forecast lapse-driven solvency erosion using behavioral, institutional, and macroeconomic predictors structured into a unified econometric cascade. The study analysed 1559,661 policyholder records across 880 firm-quarter observations from 11 Chinese life insurers (2013–2023). Behavioural metrics (entropy, latency, notification fatigue) were derived from weekly user logs. Panel GMM, SVAR, Cox models, and regime-switching threshold regressions were implemented in Stata SE 18.0. Models were evaluated via log-likelihood, AIC/BIC, Wald tests, impulse response functions, and forecast error variance decomposition. Entropy (HR = 1.44), latency (HR = 1.27), and notification fatigue (HR = 1.52) significantly predicted lapse hazard. Lapse rates rose from 4.98 % to 8.47 % across CRI tertiles. Interaction terms (NFI × ACR, HR = 1.62) intensified risk. In GMM, CRI had a marginal solvency effect of 0.124; reserve mismatch and lapse rate had an adverse impact (–0.112, –0.087). SVAR attributed 42.1 % of solvency variance to CRI shocks; IRF peaked at quarter 4 (IRF = 0.056, p = 0.0034). A CRI threshold of 0.56 yielded a post-threshold reversal (β = –0.064, p = 0.0043). Predictive AUC = 0.772 with 84.3% TPR and 42-day median lead time. Behavioral metrics embedded in digital platforms enable early detection of solvency risk and provide intervention windows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102135"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foreign divestment and corporate ESG performance: Evidence from China","authors":"Chunxiao Si,&nbsp;Ying Xue","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102143","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102143","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Foreign divestment has attracted increasing attention in the context of shifting global investment dynamics, yet its implications for corporate sustainability remain under-explored. This study investigates how foreign equity withdrawals affect firms’ ESG performance, using panel data on Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2022 and a staggered difference-in-differences approach. The results show that foreign divestment significantly weakens firms’ overall ESG performance, with particularly pronounced declines in the social and governance dimensions. In contrast, environmental scores tend to improve following divestment. Further investigation suggests that this environmental improvement is primarily driven by increased transparency in environmental disclosures rather than enhancements in green innovation. Foreign divestment undermines firms’ social performance by reducing their technological capacity and supply chain efficiency, although firms may respond by modestly increasing charitable donations as a reputational strategy to mitigate market concerns. Governance outcomes deteriorate as divestment leads to reduced institutional ownership and heightened governance risks. Heterogeneity analyses show that labor-intensive firms and those located in eastern China are more negatively affected, while state-owned enterprises demonstrate greater resilience, supported by stronger financing capabilities and stricter regulatory oversight.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102143"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Postponing retirement under age discrimination and grandparenting","authors":"Leqing Huang","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102111","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.102111","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To tackle the population aging and improve the sustainability of the pension system, the Chinese government proposes to postpone the statutory retirement age gradually. However, when implementing this policy in China, age discrimination in the job market and grandchild care culture are two potential concerns. Therefore, this paper builds a multi-period OLG model with these two crucial factors to provide a quantitative evaluation of the potential policy impacts on population growth, labor supply, and pension funds. The framework allows for endogenous fertility and age-specific grandparenting. Taking an increase in childcare costs as an exogenous input, the model can well predict declining fertility both in level and trend. The results of the counterfactual analysis suggest that postponing retirement alleviates the pressure on the pension system over the next 50 years by reducing the number of retirees and increasing the size of the labor force. However, importantly, a five-year retirement delay could reduce fertility by more than twenty percent, which will affect the size of the labor force decades later and put additional long-run demographic pressure on the pension system. Regarding the intensive margin, postponing retirement will bring an extra flow of labor supply from old workers, while maintaining a comparatively high level of the participation among young generations due to the fertility adjustments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102111"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145904027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones and urban entrepreneurial activity: Causal evidence from double-debiased machine learning","authors":"Kai Sun ,&nbsp;Xin Zhong ,&nbsp;Ding Xiong ,&nbsp;Zheng Han","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102131","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102131","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using the establishment of Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zones as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper employs double-debiased machine learning methods to systematically examine the impact of cross-border e-commerce on urban entrepreneurial activity and its mechanisms. The results show that cross-border e-commerce significantly enhances entrepreneurial activity. Mechanism analyses reveal that cross-border e-commerce influences urban entrepreneurial activity through three channels: first, by restructuring supply-chain systems, specifically by promoting supply-chain diversification and expanding supply-chain finance, thereby reducing operational frictions and alleviating liquidity constraints for entrepreneurs; second, it promotes digital financial inclusion, optimizes the institutional environment, and alleviates financing constraints faced by entrepreneurs; third, it forms economic, industrial, and talent agglomeration effects, optimizes the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and significantly improves factor allocation efficiency. Heterogeneity analyses further indicate that policy effects are strongest in manufacturing, wholesale and retail sectors but weaker in upstream enabling industries such as Information Technology services, logistics, finance, and scientific research. Moreover, private enterprises and self-employed businesses respond most positively, and inland cities experience significantly larger gains than coastal cities. These findings highlight the role of cross-border e-commerce as a policy instrument for fostering entrepreneurship, supporting structural transformation, and promoting more balanced regional development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102131"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146078878","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global monetary policy spillovers and cross-border credit in a small open economy: Evidence from Fiji","authors":"Ameen Omar Shareef ,&nbsp;K.P. Prabheesh ,&nbsp;Disusu Delana ,&nbsp;Jacinta Hesaie","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102124","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102124","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study analyses the impact of global monetary policy on Fiji’s macroeconomic dynamics by focusing on cross border flows, exchange rate, output and interest rate. We used the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) model and quarterly data from 2003 to 2024 to identify the spillover channels of international monetary policy. Our findings suggest that Fiji’s macroeconomic variables are strongly influenced by global monetary policy proxied by US monetary policy. Specifically, an increase in the Federal Fund Rate is associated with a decline in cross-border claims and simultaneous rise in cross-border liabilities of Fiji. The impacts are primarily operated through the exchange rate channel, where exchange rate management leads to fluctuations in cross-border flows. These results highlight Fiji's vulnerability to external shocks and its policy trade-offs in a globally integrated environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102124"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145980352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Market liberalization and consumption inequality: Quasi-experimental evidence from China’s negative list reform","authors":"Xin Zeng ,&nbsp;Yu Su ,&nbsp;Shiyun Zhong ,&nbsp;Bin Xu ,&nbsp;Shaoyong Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102145","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Consumption inequality is a central challenge for achieving inclusive growth in developing countries. Although existing studies have examined income distribution, credit constraints, and demographic factors, the role of market institutions, particularly entry regulations, in shaping consumption inequality remains underexplored. This study uses China’s Market Access Negative List (NLMA) reform as a quasi-natural experiment, providing a concrete case for analyzing the effects of institutional market liberalization. Using five waves (2012–2020) of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and a staggered difference-in-differences design, we find that the NLMA significantly reduces household consumption inequality by 2.7 %, which corresponds to approximately 5.2 % of the sample mean. Mechanism analyses indicate that the reform operates through two channels: on the supply side, it curbs local protectionism and market segmentation, enhancing resource allocation and consumer choice; on the demand side, it narrows income inequality by stimulating employment and entrepreneurship, thereby boosting the purchasing power of low-income households. Heterogeneity analyses reveal more substantial effects for households with lower education, higher dependency ratios, greater digital access, and stronger private-sector linkages. The reduction in inequality is largely attributable to developmental consumption (e.g., education and culture) rather than subsistence expenditures. Our findings underscore the critical role of institutional reforms in fostering inclusive consumption and offer new insights into the distributional effects of market liberalization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102145"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multidimensional Risks and the cleaner production-oriented trade transformation in the China–ASEAN","authors":"Yuhan Liu ,&nbsp;Xiangzheng Deng ,&nbsp;JI Hong Min ,&nbsp;Jing Wang ,&nbsp;Yijie Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102128","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102128","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The transformation toward cleaner production-oriented trade (CPOTT) is increasingly influenced by macro-level uncertainties, however, the mechanisms linking risk exposure to green trade upgrading remain unclear. This study examines how political, economic, social, and technological risks affect CPOTT in the China–ASEAN region, and how these effects are conditioned by policy coordination and technological adaptation. Using panel data for eleven countries from 2002 to 2022, we combine fixed-effects regressions and Cox proportional hazards models to identify both static and time-dependent dynamics. The results show that political, economic, and technological risks accelerate CPOTT, indicating a risk-induced adaptation mechanism in which external volatility prompts institutional reform and comparative advantage reallocation. Social risk, however, constrains transformation by weakening absorptive capacity. Policy coordination stabilizes expectations but weakens risk-induced reform incentives, while technological adaptation strengthens resilience only when embedded within institutional frameworks. These findings demonstrate that the effects of risk on green trade are conditional and context-dependent. This study contributes to a risk–resilience–transformation perspective and highlights that sustainable trade upgrading requires institutional architectures that preserve reform incentives under uncertainty and strengthen cross-border innovation spillovers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102128"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421554","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How does internet use promote off-farm employment of rural laborers in China","authors":"Ping Xue ,&nbsp;Wei Jia","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102139","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2026.102139","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Boosting off-farm employment is an active strategy for developing countries to achieve economic growth and reduce income inequality. The internet has become an effective information tool for agricultural production and off-farm employment. This study uses the conditional mixed regression method and data gathered from ten Chinese provinces in 2021 and 2022. It investigates whether internet use promotes rural household laborers’ off-farm employment quantity and quality. The results show that internet use significantly enhances the off-farm employment quantity and quality among rural households. Specifically, compared with rural households that do not use the internet, those that use the internet increase the likelihood of the decision to participate and the intensity of participation in off-farm employment of rural households by 17.5 and 11.6 %age points, respectively. Furthermore, off-farm employment days and wages increase by 23.9% and 7.7%, respectively. It positively affects off-farm employment through an agricultural mechanization mechanism. Additionally, the effects are more pronounced among rural households that have more off-farm employment days, receive lower off-farm employment wages, are large-scale, and without dependency burden.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"103 ","pages":"Article 102139"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147421557","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}