Fintech and the Path of Technological Innovation:From the Perspective of Green Transformation
China is currently vigorously promoting green technological innovation to address the dual challenges from the gradual loss of conventional competitive advantages in manufacturing and from the ecological environment together with climate change.The impact of technological innovation on production methods and the ecological environment largely depends on the path of technological innovation.The path of technological innovation reflects changes in the allocation of innovation resources among different types of technologies in the social economy.Green technological innovation can simultaneously improve production efficiency and environmental quality.Therefore,guiding the economy to shift to a green technological path will be a crucial step to deal with environmental issues and transitioning towards a low-carbon economy,which will help China achieve green transformation and high-quality economic development.Based on a directed technological change framework,this paper explores how fintech influences the path of technological innovation by constructing a general equilibrium model that includes ex ante screening and ex post auditing of financial institutions in the context of uncertainty in innovation outcomes and incomplete information.This paper finds that the development of fintech can promote technological innovation,but has a greater effect on non-green innovation than green innovation.When there is no environmental policy,fintech will cause the economy to continue to develop along the non-green technology path,delaying the green transformation of the economy and society.A certain level of environmental regulation can correct the directed impact of fintech and accelerate the green transformation.In addition,the efficiency of financial contract enforcement is also an important guarantee for green transformation,because the role of fintech in promoting innovation and thus influencing the path of technological innovation can only be fully realized in the context of effective enforcement of financial contracts.The findings are validated based on data of Chinese listed companies from 2011 to 2019.This paper obtains rich policy insights by incorporating the impact of fintech development on the speed of technological innovation(scale effect)and path of technological innovation(structural effect)into a unified analytical framework.The three-in-one policy mix of"fintech+contract enforcement+environmental regulation"can take advantage of fintech to promote innovation while ensuring the efficiency of contract enforcement,and use environmental policy to guide firms to develop green technology paths.The policy mix can not only guide financial resources to support innovation but also alleviate the directed influence of the financial sector,which will solve the dilemma of economic growth and environmental protection from both perspectives of market mechanism and government policy.
fintechinformation asymmetrypath of technological innovationenvironmental regulation
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万方数据
