Haze pollution reduction in Chinese cities: Has digital financial development played a role?

Zhao, Chunkai; Yan, Bihe

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.942243

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…The digital economy has a negative impact on haze pollution, but the restraining effect is nonlinear and enhanced with the improvement of the development level of the digital economy. Technological innovation, industrial structure upgrading, and green development are the three main mechanisms for digital finance to reduce smog pollution [ 37 ]. Yang et al [ 38 ] explored the nonlinear mechanism of digital finance and haze pollution and found that a high level of economic development would help alleviate air pollution.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the Digital Economy on PM2.5: Experience from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River Basin

Zhao

Cheng

Zheng

2022

IJERPH

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The development of the digital economy holds great significance for alleviating haze pollution. To estimate the impact of the digital economy on haze pollution, this paper explores the spatiotemporal evolutionary characteristics of the digital economy and PM2.5 concentration in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2019 and conducts regression analysis by combining a fixed effect (FE) model and the spatial Durbin model (SDM). Moreover, this study divides the mitigation effect of haze pollution into a direct effect and a spatial spillover effect, and it further analyzes the mechanism from the perspectives of technological innovation and the industrial structure. The empirical results show that the development level of the digital economy increases year by year and that the concentration of PM2.5 decreases year by year. The digital economy level and PM2.5 concentration in the downstream region are higher than those in the middle region, and the digital economy is negatively correlated with haze pollution. Similarly, the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy is conducive to curbing haze pollution. The robustness test also supports this conclusion. In addition, there is regional heterogeneity in the impact of the digital economy on haze pollution. The direct effect and spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on haze pollution in the downstream region are greater than those in the middle region. This study suggests that to realize air pollution prevention and control, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of digital infrastructure and create a good digital economy development environment based on local conditions. Encouraging the development of digital technological innovation and promoting industrial digital transformation hold great significance for alleviating haze pollution.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the Digital Economy on PM2.5: Experience from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River Basin

Zhao

Cheng

Zheng

2022

IJERPH

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“…First, in column (1) of Table 6 , we perform a placebo test by advancing the COVID-19 shock, which is widely used in robustness checks of DID estimations ( Chen and Zhao, 2022 ; Zhao and Yan, 2022 ). Specifically, we simulate the COVID-19 shock forward by one period, which is the 2017/2018 academic year based on our data feasibility.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The DID model is one of the classic methods to evaluate the effect of exogenous shocks, events, or policies, which is widely employed in social science (e.g., O’Connell et al, 2022 ; Zhao et al, 2022 ; Zhao and Yan, 2022 ). When evaluating the effects of a shock, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, if we just simply compare the difference of the dependent variable before and after the shock, the short-term trend changes may interfere with the estimation results and lead to the causality effects being uncertain.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This database is conducted by Shandong University and National Population Health Data Center in China, and contains a large number of variables on students’ mental health, basic information, and socio-economic status, providing the feasibility of our study ( Yi et al, 2019 ; Dong et al, 2020 , 2021 ). Moreover, the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a perfect quasi-natural experiment, which creates conditions for us to use the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model, a widely used approach in the field of social sciences (e.g., O’Connell et al, 2022 ; Zhao et al, 2022 ; Zhao and Yan, 2022 ), to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health in China. In terms of the measurement of mental health, we used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which is widely used in research related to adolescent mental health (e.g., Goodman et al, 2000 ; Rotheray et al, 2014 ; Kersten et al, 2017 ; Hu and Qian, 2021 ; Ravens-Sieberer et al, 2022 ), and measured adolescents’ mental health in five dimensions: Emotional symptoms, Conduct problems, Inattention, Peer relationship problems, and Prosocial problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-19 pandemic and adolescent mental health in China: Micro evidence and socioeconomic mechanisms

Chen

Zhao

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

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Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health has received sufficient attention in the medical and public health fields, analysis from the social science perspective is still lacking. By regarding the shock of COVID-19 pandemic as a quasi-natural experiment, this study adopts the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model and large microdata from Shandong Province, China, to identify the causal effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of senior high school students. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic results in an increase of 2.5677 points in adolescent psychological problem scores, equivalent to an average decrease of 29.93% in mental health. Furthermore, results of mechanism tests show that this negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health can be explained by a reduction in social trust, as well as widening inequalities caused by the digital divide and family income gap. Moreover, the estimates suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has a greater negative influence on the mental health of boys and urban adolescents. Our study complements the research field on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health and the potential socioeconomic mechanisms from a new perspective. These findings provide insights into how to safeguard adolescent mental health in China and other countries in the pandemic prevention and post-pandemic era.

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“…(2) Digital finance has reduced the risk of commercial banks [34], eliminated the information monopoly of commercial banks, increased competition between commercial banks [35], and reduced the market power premium of the traditional banking sector, and therefore enables companies to access more favorable financial services. Furthermore, the growing use of technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain has increased the efficiency of the operations and maintenance of financial institutions while decreasing the marginal cost of capital financing, i.e., the digital finance environment has reduced the cost of exogenous financing for enterprises [36]. (3) Digital finance increases investors' access to financial markets, broadens the investment channels for capital suppliers, and expands the supply of capital in the debt market [37].…”

Section: Digital Finance and Cash-holding Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Finance and Corporate Cash-Holding Strategy: Organizational Heterogeneity and Strategic Transmission Channels

Bao

2023

Sustainability

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This study examined the impact of digital finance on corporate cash holdings and the influence of organizational structure and corporate strategy, using the example of A-share-listed companies in China from 2011 to 2018. The results showed that digital finance significantly reduced the level of cash holdings of listed companies; compared with Group Holding Company Limited, the impact of digital finance on the cash holdings of independent enterprises was more pronounced; and digital finance reduced the degree of strategic radicalization of listed companies, then reduced the level of cash holdings of listed companies. The reliability of the empirical results was validated using the dynamic panel model, instrumental variable analysis, and other sensitivity tests. The findings of the study have implications for the guidance of digital finance development and dynamic adjustment of corporate cash holdings.

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Haze pollution reduction in Chinese cities: Has digital financial development played a role?

Cited by 5 publications

References 84 publications

Impact of the Digital Economy on PM2.5: Experience from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River Basin

Impact of the Digital Economy on PM2.5: Experience from the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River Basin

COVID-19 pandemic and adolescent mental health in China: Micro evidence and socioeconomic mechanisms

Digital Finance and Corporate Cash-Holding Strategy: Organizational Heterogeneity and Strategic Transmission Channels

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