Using executive resume data of China’s listed companies between 2006 and 2016, we investigated the relationship between pay disparities within top management teams (TMT) and firms’ innovation performance. Specifically, we assessed two dimensions of pay disparities: vertical pay disparity between CEOs and non-CEO managers, and horizontal pay disparity among non-CEO managers. Considering the difference in regional marketization progress, we also explored the moderating effect of marketization degree on this relation. It is found that: with vertical pay disparity increasing by 1%, firms’ innovation performance is improved by 2.3%; with horizontal pay disparity increasing, firms’ innovation performance is promoted first and then restrained; higher marketization degree strengthens the incentive effects of both vertical and horizontal pay disparity. But the grouped regression results show that, in state-owned enterprises, horizontal pay disparity is only negatively associated with innovation. The theoretical and practical significance of the research is discussed at the end of the paper.

The existing literature on the influencing factors of carbon emissions ignores the relationship between financial agglomeration and carbon emissions. Based on the analysis of the emission reduction history of major countries, this paper mainly uses the provincial-level data of China from 2002 to 2018 to explore the impact of financial agglomeration on carbon emissions. The conclusions are as follows: (1) China lacks carbon tax policies; there are many drawbacks in the carbon trading market, and a “bottom-up” voluntary emission reduction mechanism has not been formed. (2) China’s carbon emissions and financial development are characterized by spatial agglomeration. (3) Financial agglomeration can reduce carbon emissions. In central China, the low-carbon region, and the pilot regions for carbon trading, financial agglomeration has a greater impact on reducing emissions. (4) Financial agglomeration can reduce emissions by reducing the proportion of the secondary industry and increasing the proportion of the third industry. (5) Financial agglomeration can still lower carbon emissions when the spacing effect is taken into account. Finally, according to the conclusion, this paper puts forward relevant suggestions to help China reduce carbon emissions.

Focusing on the rapid rise of China’s housing prices in recent years, in this paper, we construct a model using the cheap talk game that centers on how information receivers in a market make inferences about the true state of the information based on the cost-free signals they receive and then make decisions based on these inferences, which in turn affect market equilibrium. By constructing a cheap talk game model of house prices, we examine the correlation between market expectations, economic fundamentals, and individual housing purchase decisions. Then, we conduct an empirical analysis using the dynamic GMM method based on the panel data of 35 large and medium-sized cities in China. The analysis reveals that: (1) when the whole of society expects housing prices to rise, housing prices will rise regardless of the true state of economic fundamentals; (2) when information on economic fundamentals is accurate and reliable, home buyers tend to make purchase decisions based on such information, thus maximizing the utility of society as a whole; but when information on economic fundamentals is unreliable, home buyers tend to make purchase decisions according to their own housing price expectations, which is not conducive to the optimization of the utility of society as a whole; (3) the empirical results also reveal that expectations are a non-negligible factor in the rise of housing prices, and the coefficient of expectations exceeds that of each economic fundamental; this demonstrates the investment-driven attribute of the housing market in China. At the same time, economic fundamentals have a definite effect on housing prices, which implies that the rise of housing prices in China is supported by objective conditions.