Project description:Ownership of primary care providers varies in different cities in China. Shanghai represented the full public ownership model of primary providers; Shenzhen had public-owned but private-operated providers; and Hong Kong represented the full private ownership. The study aims to assess the association of primary care ownership and patient perceived quality of care in 3 Chinese megacities.We conducted multistage stratified random surveys in 2013 in the 3 cities. Quality scores of primary care were measured using the validated primary care assessment tools. Multivariate linear regression models were used to compare quality scores after controlling potential confounders of patient demographic, socioeconomic, and healthcare utilization factors.Overall, 797 primary care users in Shanghai, 802 in Shenzhen, and 1325 in Hong Kong participated in the study. The mean total quality scores were reported the highest in Shanghai (28.39), followed by Shenzhen (25.82) and then Hong Kong (25.21) (P < 0.001). Shanghai participants reported the highest scores for 1st contact accessibility, coordination of information, comprehensiveness of service availability, and culture competence, while Hong Kong participants reported the lowest for these domains (P < 0.001). Hong Kong participants from rich households reported higher total scores than those from poor households (P < 0.05); however, this was not found in Shanghai and Shenzhen.The study suggests that private primary care ownership may be associated with lower quality and less equitable care distribution. In China, it suggests that it may be beneficial to promote public-owned and nonprofit providers. Promoting privatization in primary care may be at the cost of quality and equity of primary care.
Project description:The establishment of green finance reform and innovation (GFRI) pilot zone is an important measure of the Chinese government to urge enterprises to develop green transformation. This paper explores the impact of pilot policies in the GFRI pilot zone on corporate environmental investment. Based on 819 A-share listed enterprises from 2010 to 2020, our staggered difference-in-differences (staggered DID) estimation documents revealed that enterprises in the GFRI pilot zone significantly increased the corporate environmental investment efficiency but reduced the scale of corporate environmental investment.This conclusion remained robust after Propensity Scores Matching difference-in-differences (PSM-DID), replacing dependent variables, and shortening the time window. We contend that the increased research and development (R&D) expenditure and technological innovation are the potential mechanisms at work. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the establishment of GFRI improved the environmental investment efficiency of polluting enterprises but had no effect on green enterprises.Meanwhile, the effect of GFRI exhibited heterogeneity in the type of enterprise ownership. This paper evaluates the implementation effect of GFRI from the perspective of corporate environmental investment, and provides theoretical support and an empirical basis for green finance policy to serve China's green economy.
Project description:We propose a model and algorithm to measure the amount of influence a shareholder has over the flow of corporate control held by the ultimate owners. Existing models of corporate ownership and control either focus on the ultimate owners’ influence or inadequately evaluate the influence possessed by intermediate shareholders in a ownership network. As it extends Network Power Index (NPI) that describes the the power of corporate control possessed by the ultimate owners, our new model, Network Power Flow (NPF), delineates the distribution of ownership influence among shareholders across the network and identifies the channels through which the ultimate owners’ corporate control travel through the global shareholding network. Our analysis of NPI and NPF values for 7 million ultimate owners and 16 million shareholders reveals a new landscape of ownership and control in the global shareholding network that remained opaque before.
Project description:PurposeWe assessed differences in structural characteristics, quality improvement processes, and cardiovascular preventive care by ownership type among 989 small to medium primary care practices.MethodsThis cross-sectional analysis used electronic health record and survey data collected between September 2015 and April 2017 as part of an evaluation of the EvidenceNOW: Advancing Heart Health in Primary Care Initiative by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. We compared physician-owned practices, health system or medical group practices, and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) by using 15 survey-based practice characteristic measures, 9 survey-based quality improvement process measures, and 4 electronic health record-based cardiovascular disease prevention quality measures, namely, aspirin prescription, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation support (ABCS).ResultsPhysician-owned practices were more likely to be solo (45.0% compared with 8.1%, P < .001 for health system practices and 12.8%, P = .009 for FQHCs) and less likely to have experienced a major change (eg, moved to a new location) in the last year (43.1% vs 65.4%, P = .01 and 72.1%, P = .001, respectively). FQHCs reported the highest use of quality improvement processes, followed by health system practices. ABCS performance was similar across ownership type, with the exception of smoking cessation support (51.0% for physician-owned practices vs 67.3%, P = .004 for health system practices and 69.3%, P = .004 for FQHCs).ConclusionsPrimary care practice ownership was associated with differences in quality improvement process measures, with FQHCs reporting the highest use of such quality-improvement strategies. ABCS were mostly unrelated to ownership, suggesting a complex path between quality improvement strategies and outcomes.
Project description:In the context of promoting the orderly expansion of capital investment and rational allocation of resources to achieve green and circular economic development. Green finance, as a new engine to promote the sustainability of enterprises, holds significant importance in exploring the positive effect of green finance policies on optimizing the investment decisions of enterprises and guiding them to efficiently utilize their resources to maximize value creation. Using A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample, we apply the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method to test the impact of the green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (2017) on the investment efficiency of enterprises in the pilot regions. We also adopt a two-step method to test the mechanisms of financial resource misallocation and agency costs. The study reveals that the green finance policy significantly enhances the investment efficiency of enterprises in the pilot areas. Financial resource misallocation and agency costs are important influence mechanisms. Drawing on resource allocation theory and agency theory, the study concludes that the green finance policy alleviates financial resource misallocation by directing financial resources toward high-efficiency enterprises. Moreover, the policy effectively reduces agency conflicts caused by power separation and information asymmetry, ensuring that enterprises can maximize the benefits of their investments. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-state-owned enterprises and low-tech innovative enterprises in the pilot areas have disadvantages in terms of capital stock and loan credit, so the policy can improve their investment efficiency effectively. Based on these findings, we recommend that to leverage the positive effects of the green finance policy, it is essential to enhance the guiding role of the government, strengthen market mechanisms, and bolster corporate initiatives. This study complements the research on the economic effects of location-orientated comprehensive green finance policies on enterprises, considering the dual aspects of resource allocation efficiency and corporate governance, and makes up for the shortcomings of the existing literature. The study's conclusions offer valuable insights for enhancing green finance to support enterprises in achieving efficient production.
Project description:Increased private finance can accelerate forest and landscape restoration globally. Here we conduct semi-structured interviews with asset managers, corporations and restoration finance experts to examine incentives and barriers to private restoration finance. Next, we assess what type of restoration projects and regions appeal to different private funders and how current financial barriers can be overcome. We show that market incentives for corporations include meeting net-emission-reduction commitments, impact and sustainable branding opportunities, and promotion of sustainability in supply chains. Conversely, asset managers face stronger barriers to investing in restoration as it is deemed a high-risk, unknown investment with low profitability. We find that investment finance biases towards restoration projects in low-risk areas and corporate finance towards areas with business presence. Both private finance types tend to omit projects focusing on natural regeneration. Through expanded and diversified markets for restoration benefits, strong public policy support and new financial instruments, private finance for restoration can be scaled for a wider variety of restoration projects in more diverse geographical contexts.
Project description:Industrial technological progress, as an essential industrial-technological and institutional phenomenon, brings with it the possibility of high profits for firms but also implies new norms and rules of competition, which affect the willingness and propensity of firms to bear the costs of undertaking venture capital projects. This study empirically investigates the causal impact of industrial-technological progress on corporate risk-taking and the mechanism of digital financial growth on the relationship between the two, based on data from China's A-share listed businesses from 2011 to 2020. This paper finds that (1) industrial technological progress improves enterprise risk-taking levels. Moreover, digital financial development has an incentive effect on industrial technological progress and enterprise risk-taking levels. (2) Industrial technological progress under digital financial development generates financing constraint relaxation effects, input capital return enhancement effects, and innovation performance incentive effects, increasing enterprise risk-taking. (3) The positive moderating effect of digital financial development on the relationship between industrial technological progress and the risk-taking level of enterprises in the eastern regions and enterprises in the high-tech industry is more prominent. The study's findings provide a theoretical foundation and policy insights on the crucial elements of industrial-technological progress and enterprises' increased ability to take risks throughout the development of digital finance.
Project description:This study aims to explore Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Islamic Social Finance activities in Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad (BPMB) as one of the Development of Financial Institutions (DFIs) in Malaysia and their impact on sustainability post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (2021-2023). A semi-structured interview was conducted among the top management and employees of BPMB. Resultantly, the bank has aligned its Islamic Social Finance and CSR activities with the third Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Nevertheless, the impact on banking sustainability post-pandemic remains uncertain as efforts towards SDG remain at the preliminary stage. Conclusively, Islamic Social Finance and CSR are critical to enhance banking sustainability. This study provide insight to other DFIs in understanding the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Islamic Social Finance activities in achieving sustainability post pandemic.