Exploration of the impact of demographic changes on life insurance consumption: empirical analysis based on Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Based on the panel data of eight member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from 1996 to 2019, this study explores the impact of demographic changes on life insurance consumption in SCO member countries under the framework of static panel model and dynamic panel model. And the study analyzes the heterogeneity of religious division and different aging degrees. The empirical results show that both old-age dependency ratio and teenager dependency ratio have positive impacts on life insurance consumption in the SCO countries. Besides, the current consumption of ordinary life insurance significantly stimulates the future consumption of ordinary life insurance. Furthermore, demographic changes have heterogeneous impacts on life insurance consumption in terms of different religions and different degrees of aging. Our findings provide managerial implications for insurance companies that carry out life insurance business in SCO member states. Insurance companies should consider the policyholders’ life insurance consumption in accordance with demographic changes of both old-age dependency ratio and teenager dependency ratio, and also take differentiated life insurance sales strategies according to different degrees of aging and whether the residents believe in Islam

Whether Green Finance Improves Green Innovation of Listed Companies—Evidence from China

Facing the intensification of global carbon emissions and the increasingly severe pressure of environmental pollution, listed companies urgently need to promote green innovation, achieve green transformation, and alleviate environmental problems. Green finance policy has played a significant role as a financial strategy for environmental governance in affecting green innovation level over the years. In this context, taking the green finance reform and innovation pilot zone (GFRIPZ) implemented in 2017 in China as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper analyzes the impact of green finance policy on green innovation level of listed companies by the difference-in-difference model. Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2008 to 2020, the results of empirical analysis show that green finance significantly promotes green innovation of listed companies. The effect is profound on green utility model patents, but less pronounced on green invention patents. Among all these pilot zones, the policy effects of GFRIPZ ranked in descending order are Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Xinjiang. In addition, green finance has a more significant impact on heavy-polluting industries, large and state-owned enterprises, and listed companies located in the eastern region. Furthermore, the effects of industry heterogeneity ranked in descending order are energy, manufacturing, processing, and engineering industry, while it is not obvious in the service industry. Mechanism analysis suggests that the effect is driven by a reduction in the cost of debt financing and an increase in the long-term debt ratio. The findings provide implications for policymakers to promote the level of green innovation and environmental governance. Therefore, policymakers should support the long-term creative development of green invention patents by reducing the cost of debt financing and increasing the long-term debt ratio and consider the heterogeneous characteristics of listed companies when formulating green finance policies