Unlike most previous studies focused on the impact of domestic risk on firms’ innovation activities, this research places more effort on identifying whether and how geopolitical risk affected corporate innovation behavior in China over the period 2003–2019. By constructing firm-level panel data that combine financial information with data on geopolitical risk and patenting activity, we find that geopolitical risk exerts a negative impact on firms’ innovation activity through increased external financing costs and by reducing firms’ willingness to raise capital. This inhibitory effect is more pronounced for companies with high innovation capability, export-oriented firms, and firms facing higher macro-risk exposure. In addition, political connection can alleviate these restricting effects of geopolitical risk on firm innovation. Knowledge of these impacts should help firm managers, government, and policymakers to develop more efficient development strategies and mitigate the impact of such risk on corporate operations.

By adopting the dynamic panel threshold approach, this study assesses how foreign direct investment (FDI) shapes the causality between urbanization and CO₂ emissions in China from 1996–2018. The results suggest that a rise in the pace of urbanization increases CO₂ emissions, but this harmful effect becomes weaker after achieving a certain level of foreign capital. We also find that the more developed the technology, financial and government sectors, the more it can promote urbanization to reduce CO₂ emissions. These results offer policy implications for China’s urban planning and environmental policy.

By constructing a city-level financial-technology (FinTech) development dataset, this study examines the impact of FinTech on corporate-innovation behavior from a financial-supply perspective. The results reveal that FinTech promotes corporate innovation by reducing corporate-financing constraints and financing costs, alleviating information asymmetry, and expanding financing channels. This promotion effect is more pronounced for private, small, and young firms, firms with fewer fixed assets, and those located in low-regulation intensity areas. Moreover, credit-based FinTech companies have a greater impact on business innovation. In addition, bank deregulation and increased bank competition crowd out the financial supply of FinTech for innovation financing. Knowledge of these impacts can help corporate managers, governments, and financial regulators to formulate more effective development strategies to promote corporate innovation.

A well-known fact is that an earthquake or earth shaking does not cause injuries and deaths. rather, buildings and infrastructure systems collapsing on...