Non-performing loans of commercial banks have long hampered the development of the banking sector, and directly reflect the credit risk and asset quality. With the continuous development of the financial industry, the introduction of financial inclusion has greatly eased the shortage of funds, and narrowed the gap between poor and rich. However, whether the promotion of financial inclusion in the financial industry could affect the non-performing loans of commercial banks has not been verified. Therefore, this paper discusses the possible associations between financial inclusion and non-performing loans of commercial banks on the regional level, constructs a panel data model by selecting the data of 31 provinces (including 4 municipalities) in China from 2005 to 2016, and uses the fixed effect model for empirical test. The empirical results (from an overall national sample) reveal a negative impact of the financial inclusion on non-performing loans. Moreover, the development of the banking sector and the regional consumption could enhance the impact of financial inclusion, while government intervention and unemployment could reduce the impact of financial inclusion. From the analysis of the regional sample, when the development of financial inclusion reaches a high level, the lagged financial inclusion promote the non-performing loans of commercial banks; however, when the financial inclusion is underdeveloped, the development of commercial banks act as a disincentive to non-performing loans. Therefore, the local governments should pay more attention to the influences of financial inclusion on the financial industry, in order to maintain the stability of banking asset quality. In addition, the negative impact of financial inclusion on non-performing loans of commercial banks is significant in China central region, while its impacts in China eastern and western regions are not significant. This indicates that the development of the financial industry and economy can hamper the effects of financial inclusion. It is necessary to adjust the financial resource allocation according to the characteristics of different regions in China, so that the financial inclusion can effectively promote the regional financial industry upgrade, improve regional capital flow efficiency, and fundamentally reduce the non-performing loans of commercial banks. According to the sample analysis by time, there is a significant negative impact relationship between inclusive finance and commercial banks’ non-performing loans after the financial crisis, while the impacts before and during the financial crisis are not significant. This demonstrates that the impact of the global financial crisis on China’s regional economy has further enhanced the inefficiency of the inclusive financial system on credit risk, which in turn, helps commercial banks better maintain asset quality stability.

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High-polluting industries are regarded as the main sources of air pollutant emissions and the major factors that significantly destroy the ecological environment. Corporate innovation in high-polluting industries improves the energy consumption efficiency and reduces the emission of air pollutant, which mitigates the conflict between environment and economy. Using the sample of China’s listed firms from 2010 to 2017, this study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financialization on corporate innovation in high-polluting industries. The results show that there is a positive association between CSR and corporate innovation, while there is a negative association between financialization and corporate innovation. Furthermore, the financialization of high-polluting firms can alleviate the promotion role of CSR in the innovation process. The financialization of state-owned enterprises in high-polluting industries may not have a crowding-out effect on research and development (R&D), but it can limit the R&D promotion effect of CSR engagements. In contrast, the financialization of non-state-owned enterprises will hinder corporate innovation, but it will not affect the association between CSR and technology innovation. We also find that the financialization of high-polluting firms with low financial constraints can alleviate the promotion role of CSR engagements in innovation. Meanwhile, the CSR engagements of high-polluting firms with high financial constraints play a stronger role in corporate innovation. During the implementation of environmental policies, the negative association between financialization and corporate innovation has been strengthened. Our findings can encourage high-polluting firms to make more efforts in environmental protection and social stability.

Educational inequality is an important factor in the development of human capital, and limits the output of regional economic activities. The unequal distribution of educational resources has become a hot topic noticed by the public, and has restricted sustainable economic growth. This paper provides a better understanding of educational inequality, and explores the impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) and transportation infrastructure on the distribution of educational resources. The panel data models are constructed to discuss the relationship among ICT, transportation infrastructure, and educational inequality, using the data of 31 provinces in China from 2006 to 2016. The empirical results show that there is a positive relationship between ICT and educational inequality, while transportation infrastructure can restrain the unequal distribution of educational resources. Moreover, there is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between transportation infrastructure and educational inequality. Since China’s education reform in 2010, the relationship among ICT, transportation infrastructure, and educational inequality has been significantly changed, as well as the influence mechanism of ICT. In addition, transportation infrastructure in China western regions can effectively alleviate the problem of educational inequality, and its impact will increase with the growth of transportation investments. It is necessary to consider the rational allocation of educational resources, and this is essential to relieve the problem of educational inequality. Therefore, our results demonstrate the key roles of information technology and transportation network in the field of education, and provide some new ideas for the solution of educational inequality.

The approximation in probability for a singular perturbed nonlinear stochastic heat equation is studied. First the approximation result in the sense of probability is obtained for solutions defined on any finite time interval. Furthermore it is proved that the long time behavior of the stochastic system is described by a global random attractor which is upper semi-continuous with respect to the singular perturbed parameter. This also means the long time effectivity of the approximation with probability one.