Financial technology (fintech) has seen fast development recently in China; however, studies exploring the contributions of fintech to China’s economic growth remain limited. Thus, this study motivated by the knowledge gaps and fast expansion of fintech examined: (i) the impact of fintech and the submeasures of third-party payment, credit, and insurance on China’s economic growth; (ii) the regional and provincial impact of fintech on China’s economic growth; (iii) the causality relationships between fintech and economic growth. By using a sample of 31 provinces in China and the instrumental variable generalized method of moments (IV–GMM) technique, the study established the following: (i) fintech and the submeasures of third-party payment, credit, and insurance have a statistically significant positive effect on China’s economic growth. Specifically, a 10% rise in fintech, third-party payment, credit, and insurance raises China’s economic growth by 8%, 4%, 5%, and 16%, respectively; (ii) the eastern region has the highest growth effect of fintech. Moreover, Zhejiang province has the highest growth effect of fintech at the provincial level; (iii) a unidirectional causality exists from third-party payment and credit to economic growth, and economic growth to insurance; a bidirectional causality exists between fintech and economic growth. This article explicitly suggests substantial institutional reforms to promote the healthy development of fintech in China.

Ending poverty in all its forms by 2030 remains the first agenda of Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. Motivated by this agenda, this study examined the direct and indirect effect of financial technology (fintech) and its sub-measures of third-party payment and credit on poverty measured by household per capita consumption. We used a panel of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2017. The results indicated that fintech and these sub-measures reduce poverty in China. The results further showed that fintech complements economic growth and financial development to reduce poverty in China.

Climate change remains one of the world’s significant threats today, and thus Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 prioritizes countries to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change by 2030. Recent studies have scrutinized the impact of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) on the environment. However, the majority of these studies assumed that the environmental impact of ICT is homogenous across countries. This study, therefore, investigated the impact of ICT on environmental degradation, considering the difference in ICT quality among countries. Applying a panel dataset of 110 countries between 2000 to 2018 and the instrumental variable generalized method of moments (IV-GMM) technique, the findings revealed that ICTs improve environmental sustainability in countries with high ICT quality while degrading the environment in countries with moderate and low ICT quality. The results of the causality analysis also showed bi-directional causality between ICT and carbon emissions in countries with high and moderate ICT quality, while there is a uni-directional causality running from carbon emissions to ICT in countries with low ICT quality. Policies that enhance ICT usage through low pricing were recommended for moderate and low ICT quality countries to help mitigate environmental degradation.

This study examines the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on renewable energy (RE) growth for 20 countries using data for the 2000 to 2018 period. Our findings indicate that EPU has an insignificant negative effect on RE growth. The results from the causality analysis indicate no evidence of causality between EPU and RE growth.

We estimate the impact of COVID-19 on domestic credit in China over the period January 01, 2020 to June 30, 2020. Our findings show that an increase in COVID-19 confirmed cases/deaths significantly increases domestic credit in China, however; the magnitude of the impact is very small. The results from the impulse response analysis show that the response of domestic credit to COVID-19 shocks was positive in both the short- and long-run.

This research provides the very first empirical investigation of the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the cryptocurrency market (Bitcoin trading volume, and returns). The findings indicate that the Russia-Ukraine war impedes Bitcoin trading volume. A 1% increase in the Russia-Ukraine war leads to a 0.2% reduction in Bitcoin trading volume. The findings also indicate that the impact is more pronounced during the post-invasion period, especially after one week of the invasion. Finally, the Russia-Ukraine war predicts Bitcoin returns in both the short and long run.