Journal of Asian Economics最新文献

{"title":"How artificial intelligence applications affect the total factor productivity of the service industry: Firm-level evidence from China","authors":"Xiaojun Wu, Yi Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101893","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101893","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>The 21st century has witnessed the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, bringing forth a new technological revolution worldwide. Artificial intelligence (AI), as cutting-edge general-purpose technology within the information technology (ICT) sector, is increasingly gaining influence and integrating much more closely with various industries. With the service economy becoming a critical component of national economies, the rapid development of AI presents new opportunities for enhancing the total factor productivity (TFP) of the service industry. In light of the convergence between the \"service economy\" and the \"digital economy\", this paper aims to assess the level of AI application in the service industry using firm-level data and explore the specific mechanisms through which AI impacts the TFP of the service industry from both theoretical and empirical perspectives.</div></div><div><h3>Approach</h3><div>Firstly, this paper conducts the theoretical modeling with the CES-type production function to analyze the empowering effect and structural effect of AI on service firms. Next, using the data of China A-share listed service companies between 2010 and 2020 as a sample, the study constructs an index to measure the level of AI application of service firms by textual analysis and calculates TFP of service firms. Empirically, the paper investigates the impact of AI application on TFP of service firms and examines its heterogeneous characteristics using a two-way fixed-effects model. In addition, this work explores the mediating role of R&D investment and human capital in contributing to TFP.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>The results show a positive relationship between the level of AI application in service firms and their TFP. Significantly, the impact of AI application on TFP promotion varies across different industries, firm sizes, and ownership. Heterogeneity tests reveal that modern service firms, small and medium-sized firms, and state-owned firms can achieve more significant TFP gains from AI implementation. Furthermore, the empirical model successfully passed both the endogeneity and the robustness tests. Mechanism analysis further shows that AI drives TFP improvements by boosting R&D investment and optimizing human capital allocation within service firms.</div></div><div><h3>Value</h3><div>The paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the relationship between AI application and TFP in the service industry. The findings hold significant implications for policymakers and service firms, guiding their decisions on promoting the widespread adoption of AI in the service industry. Theoretically, this work systematically summarizes the mechanism through which AI influences the TFP of service firms. Empirically, it constructs an indicator of AI application levels in service firms using machine learning-based textual analysis, refining the measurement of AI application at the microlevel","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 101893"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143377514","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":"Does ease of doing business promote renewable energy development? Evidence from 162 economies","authors":"Tianjian Yang ,&nbsp;Peng Qian ,&nbsp;Tianyi Lei","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101889","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101889","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Clean energy development is a dual necessity for environmental security and sustainable economic development. Based on cross-country panel data from 162 countries and regions, the impact and heterogeneity of ease of doing business on renewable energy development is explored empirically. It is found that improved ease of doing business significantly contributes to the development of renewable energy, and the promotion effect is mainly found in countries with energy autarky countries and emerging market economies. The mechanism analysis shows that ease of doing business promotes the development of renewable energy by enhancing macroeconomic development. Further analysis reveals that the marginal effect of ease of doing business is magnified by the increase in carbon emissions. The findings in this paper provides evidence of market economy incentives for clean energy development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 101889"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143369860","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":"Enterprise digital transformation and investment efficiency: Empirical evidence from listed enterprises in China","authors":"Panting Guo ,&nbsp;Jiefeng Bi ,&nbsp;Mengnan Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101892","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2025.101892","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we examine the effect of digital transformation on investment efficiency using data from Chinese-listed enterprises from 2007 to 2021. We find that digital transformation significantly enhances investment efficiency by reducing information asymmetry between insiders and outsiders of enterprises and this effect is significant only for private enterprises. Through the application of unconditional quantile regression, we observe that the beneficial impact of digital transformation on investment efficiency tends to diminish as the efficiency improves, especially for private enterprises. Mechanism analysis suggests that digital transformation alleviates information asymmetry through two main channels: regulating earnings management to address underinvestment and mitigating excessive leverage to curb overinvestment. Ownership-based heterogeneity analysis confirms that these mechanisms at play vary across enterprise types, with significant effects observed exclusively in private enterprises. Our findings suggest that policy-makers and investors should leverage digital technology to reduce information asymmetry and improve efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"97 ","pages":"Article 101892"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143311211","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":"Executives’ institutional reform experience, IP protection and R&D investment: Evidence from China's reform and opening up","authors":"Jieji Lai ,&nbsp;Bin Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101865","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101865","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Times create heroes, and heroes shape the times. When transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy(reform and opening up), what traits are developed during the early adult lives of senior executives, and how do these traits influence corporate innovation behavior? This paper examines the impact of executives' experiences with institutional reform on their innovation behavior, utilizing a sample of Non-SOE listed companies from 2009 to 2019. The results indicate that executives who encountered institutional reform during their early adult years significantly influence corporate R&amp;D investment. Furthermore, the level of intellectual property protection positively moderates this relationship. These conclusions remain robust after addressing endogeneity concerns and conducting robustness tests. Additional analyses reveal that the effect is more pronounced in corporations facing intense competition, lower economic policy uncertainty, and those within high-tech industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101865"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144391","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":"Time use among urban women in China at different income levels","authors":"Fenglian Du ,&nbsp;Yunxia Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101866","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101866","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper analyzes data from the 2017 Chinese Time Use Survey to explore changes in women’s time allocation among households. The findings reveal a stratification phenomenon in the time allocation of Chinese women, with women in households of varying income levels exhibiting different labor division characteristics. In low-income households, women spend on average 1.296 h less per day on paid work compared to men, but 2.439 h more on unpaid work, and 1.116 h less on leisure, indicating a tendency towards a traditional division of labor. In middle-income households, the gender gap in paid work time has significantly narrowed, yet women still spend on average 1.824 h more per day on unpaid work and 0.888 h less on leisure, bearing a more severe double burden of work and family responsibilities. In high-income households, the time allocation between genders is largely equal. As household income rises, the comparative advantage of spouses in household labor division becomes less influential. In middle-income families, women with greater bargaining power than their spouses spend more time on paid work. Gender equality awareness effectively promotes more equal time use between husbands and wives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101866"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145731","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":"Welfare and productivity of the Chinese regional economy under forced technology transfer in the post-intervention period of the Green Credit Policy","authors":"Eric Yan ,&nbsp;Luke Okafor ,&nbsp;Chi-Chur Chao","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101847","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101847","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Our study explores the interplay between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and foreign enterprises under China’s Green Credit Policy. Using matrix completion method, we estimate welfare and productivity impacts, revealing differing trends in coastal and inland provinces. Forced technology transfer in coastal areas drives out foreign capital, while inland regions may experience production expansion. Despite this, our findings indicate an overall negative effect on productivity and welfare. This suggests that promoting the Green Credit Policy under nationalism may inadvertently impede China’s economic progress.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101847"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144388","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 Belt and Road Initiative and China's diversifying food imports: A perspective on the \"Five-pronged approach\"","authors":"Jing Zhu,&nbsp;Xingyu Liu,&nbsp;Lijuan Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101849","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101849","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The diversification of imported food varieties is essential for ensuring China's food security. Since the inception of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), there has been a significant increase in agricultural trade cooperation between China and participating countries, facilitated by the \"Five-pronged approach\" (FPA). However, existing research regarding the BRI's impact on imports has not yet fully addressed the complexities inherent in agricultural trade, such as stringent logistics, customs regulations, inspection and quarantine procedures, and the varying trade costs associated with different agricultural commodities. This underscores a research gap in understanding the BRI's effectiveness in promoting diversified food imports, particularly across distinct food categories. Utilizing the Difference-in-Differences model, this research evaluates the BRI's contribution to China's diversified food imports and the heterogeneity of food types. The empirical findings suggest the initiative significantly promotes diversification in China's food imports, notably in the case of vegetable products, while the expansion of animal product imports continues to require sustained support from the FPA. The mechanism analysis indicates the FPA effectively reduces both direct and implicit trade costs, thereby fostering the growth of diversified food imports in China. Additionally, this study examines the initiative's effect on food and nutrition security among participating countries, highlighting a marked promotion of diversified food imports and dietary diversity. This research reinforces the BRI's pivotal role in advancing food security, both within China and across the participating nations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101849"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143144392","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 role of education in career inheritance in China","authors":"Weiwei Wu ,&nbsp;Maozhong Zhou ,&nbsp;Lifeng Su ,&nbsp;Jiangping Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101859","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101859","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Education is the main mode of human capital investment. The level of human capital based on education not only determines work opportunities but also influences the capacity of job achievement in the noncompetitive labour market. This work studies the impact of education on the occurrence and degree of occupational inheritance, empirically tests the heterogeneity of this impact against different backgrounds, and draws on the occupational choice model to analyse the mechanism of this impact through human capital. The results indicate that education has a significant negative effect on career inheritance and the degree of inheritance, which shows significant temporal heterogeneity due to market and employment system reforms; the closer the education level of parents and children is, the greater the probability of career inheritance. The impact mechanism test shows that education can address information friction in the labour market by improving workers’ information acquisition and utilization ability, as well as the noncognitive ability reflected by responsibility and patience, reducing barriers to human capital accumulation and thus negatively affecting career inheritance. Therefore, to guide occupational inheritance within a reasonable range and improve the job matching rate in the labour market, it is necessary to promote the high-quality development of education and improve workers’ comprehensive human capital level, including cognitive and noncognitive human capital, to enhance their career choice ability and sustained human capital accumulation ability. conversely, it is also necessary to further promote the development of the labour market, fundamentally reduce information asymmetry, and help workers make reasonable career choices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101859"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145726","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 the spatial agglomeration of human capital affect strategic innovation in China?","authors":"Haifeng Zhang ,&nbsp;Ruitian Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101868","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101868","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates whether and how the spatial agglomeration of human capital affects strategic innovation, as measured by invention patents in strategic emerging industries in China. We also evaluate the aggregate effects of human capital allocation between 2000 and 2020 on strategic innovation based on the estimates. The results show that increases in human capital density significantly promote strategic innovation. On average, a 1 % increase in the densities of knowledge and technology talents contributes to an increase in strategic innovation by 0.19 % and 0.11 %, respectively. We further reveal that the agglomeration effects largely originate from the improvements in labor market matching and knowledge spillovers. Counterfactual analysis indicates that the spatial agglomeration of human capital would increase the overall strategic innovation by at least 1.36 % over the 2000–2020 period.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101868"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145729","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 effect of monetary, macroprudential policy, and their interaction on bank risk-taking in Indonesia","authors":"Hero Wonida ,&nbsp;Sekar Utami Setiastuti","doi":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101863","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101863","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We employ quarterly bank-level data from 79 conventional commercial banks in Indonesia from 2009Q1 to 2021Q3 to investigate the effect of monetary policy, macroprudential policy, and the interaction of both policies on bank risk-taking in Indonesia. Several important results emerge. First, we find evidence of the risk-taking channel of monetary policy in Indonesia. Furthermore, banks with larger sizes and higher capital levels have a lower risk-taking tendency, represented by the Z-score. Second, macroprudential tightening lowers bank risk-taking. We also find that the interaction between macroprudential and monetary policy tightening reduces risk-taking. To ensure that the results are robust, we estimate our model using different measures of Z-score.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Asian Economics","volume":"96 ","pages":"Article 101863"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143145730","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}