This paper uses panel data from the 2014–2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to study the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on the cultural consumption of urban and rural residents using two-way fixed effects. The results show that DIF can promote the growth of cultural consumption of urban and rural residents, and the promotion effect is greater for rural residents. Mechanism analysis shows that DIF increases the cultural consumption of urban and rural residents mainly through easing liquidity constraints, reducing precautionary savings, and increasing payment convenience. Moreover, reducing precautionary savings has a greater impact on the cultural consumption of urban residents, while the other two mechanisms have a greater impact on rural residents. In the heterogeneity analysis, credit business and some indicators reflecting the convenience of payment have a greater impact on rural residents. The insurance business has a greater impact on urban residents. This paper provides policy references for the development of DIF and the enhancement of residents’ cultural consumption.

Open public data is a vital institutional arrangement for overcoming data constraints in corporate low-carbon technological innovation; however, its mechanisms and boundaries remain empirically untested. Using a panel dataset of China’s Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed A-share firms over the 2007-2023 period, this study employs a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to examine the impact of open public data on corporate low-carbon technological innovation. The results show that open public data has a significant positive effect on corporate low-carbon technological innovation, and the results remain robust across multiple validation tests. Mechanism tests point out that open public data primarily drives corporate low-carbon technological innovation by enhancing government transparency and reducing barriers to factor mobility. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of open public data is more pronounced among firms characterized by higher R&D investment, lower financial constraints, and greater digitalization. Further analysis indicates that open public data also exhibits significant geographic and industry spillover effects, with the geographic spillover following an inverted U-shaped pattern of decay and the industry spillover driven by peer imitation. This paper provides policy references for the development of open public data and the enhancement of corporate low-carbon technological innova-tion.

Open public data is a vital institutional arrangement for overcoming data constraints in corporate low-carbon technological innovation. Using a panel dataset of China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms over the 2007–2023 period, this study employs a difference-in-differences (DID) approach to examine the impact of open public data on corporate low-carbon technological innovation. The results show that open public data has a significant positive effect on corporate low-carbon technological innovation, and the results remain robust across multiple validation tests. Mechanism tests point out that government transparency negatively moderates the promotional effect of public data openness on corporate low-carbon technological innovation, while barriers to factor mobility positively moderate this effect. The heterogeneity analysis indicates that the positive impact of open public data is more pronounced among firms characterized by higher R&D investment, lower financial constraints, and greater digitalization. Further analysis indicates that open public data also exhibits significant geographic and industry spillover effects, with the geographic spillover following an inverted U-shaped pattern of decay and the industry spillover driven by peer imitation. This study provides evidence on leveraging open public data to stimulate low-carbon innovation and facilitate green economic transformation, offering valuable insights for advancing data-driven sustainable development globally.