China has been adopting a “mercantilist” policy by lavishing massive government subsidies on Chinese firms. Using hand-collected subsidy data on Chinese listed companies, we find that firms receiving ...more subsidies tend to have a lower cost of debt. However, such firms fail to have superior financial performance. Instead, firms with more subsidies tend to be overstaffed, which demonstrates higher social performance. These results are mainly driven by non-tax-based subsidies rather than tax-based subsidies. Overall, our results suggest that the Chinese government uses non-tax-based subsidies to achieve its social policy objectives at the expense of firms’ profitability.
Using a large sample of unlisted industrial firms in China, we find that a decrease in local governments’ land transfer revenues leads to lower tax avoidance by firms within their jurisdiction. Our ...cross-sectional variation tests suggest that the tax-avoidance-reduction effect is stronger in cities with higher land finance dependence and government intervention, as well as where the political leaders have stronger promotion incentives. However, the effect is moderated for politically connected firms. Further analysis reveals that intensified tax enforcement is the mechanism through which land transfer revenue losses result in decreased tax avoidance. Our study offers novel evidence on a previously underexplored determinant of corporate tax avoidance through the lens of land finance.
This paper was accepted by Gustavo Manso, finance.
Funding:
The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Grants 72002105, 71972089 and 72132002. T. Chen is grateful for the financial support from the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Grant 2015-T2-1-118, RG166/18 and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China Grants 2018A03031043 and 2019A1515011635. C. (C.) Zeng acknowledges the start-up research fund from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Grant A0035237.
Supplemental Material:
Data and the online appendix are available at
https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4191
.
Abstract
Ag/γ-Al
2
O
3
is widely used for catalyzing various reactions, and its performance depends on the valence state, morphology and dispersion of Ag species. However, detailed anchoring ...mechanism of Ag species on γ-Al
2
O
3
remains largely unknown. Herein, we reveal that the terminal hydroxyls on γ-Al
2
O
3
are responsible for anchoring Ag species. The abundant terminal hydroxyls existed on nanosized γ-Al
2
O
3
can lead to single-atom silver dispersion, thereby resulting in markedly enhanced performance than the Ag cluster on microsized γ-Al
2
O
3
. Density-functional-theory calculations confirm that Ag atom is mainly anchored by the terminal hydroxyls on (100) surface, forming a staple-like local structure with each Ag atom bonded with two or three terminal hydroxyls. Our finding resolves the puzzle on why the single-atom silver dispersion can be spontaneously achieved only on nanosized γ-Al
2
O
3
, but not on microsized γ-Al
2
O
3
. The obtained insight into the Ag species dispersion will benefit future design of more efficient supported Ag catalysts.
Passivation of electronic defects at the surface and grain boundaries of perovskite materials has become one of the most important strategies to suppress charge recombination in both polycrystalline ...and single-crystalline perovskite solar cells. Although many passivation molecules have been reported, it remains very unclear regarding the passivation mechanisms of various functional groups. Here, we systematically engineer the structures of passivation molecular functional groups, including carboxyl, amine, isopropyl, phenethyl, and tert-butylphenethyl groups, and study their passivation capability to perovskites. It reveals the carboxyl and amine groups would heal charged defects via electrostatic interactions, and the neutral iodine related defects can be reduced by the aromatic structures. The judicious control of the interaction between perovskite and molecules can further realize grain boundary passivation, including those that are deep toward substrates. Understanding of the underlining mechanisms allows us to design a new passivation molecule, D-4-tert-butylphenylalanine, yielding high-performance p-i-structure solar cells with a stabilized efficiency of 21.4%. The open-circuit voltage (V OC) of a device with an optical bandgap of 1.57 eV for the perovskite layer reaches 1.23 V, corresponding to a record small V OC deficit of 0.34 V. Our findings provide a guidance for future design of new passivation molecules to realize multiple facets applications in perovskite electronics.
The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are three critical reactions for energy-related applications, such as water electrolyzers ...and metal-air batteries. Graphene-supported single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been widely explored; however, either experiments or density functional theory (DFT) computations cannot screen catalysts at high speed. Herein, based on DFT computations of 104 graphene-supported SACs (M@C
3
, M@C
4
, M@pyridine-N
4
, and M@pyrrole-N
4
), we built machine learning (ML) models to describe the underlying pattern of easily obtainable physical properties and limiting potentials (mean square errors = 0.027/0.021/0.035 V for the ORR/OER/HER, respectively) and employed these models to predict the catalytic performance of 260 other graphene-supported SACs containing metal-N
x
C
y
active sites (M@N
x
C
y
). We recomputed the top catalysts recommended by ML towards the ORR/OER/HER by DFT, which confirmed the reliability of our ML model, and identified two OER catalysts (Ir@pyridine-N
3
C
1
and Ir@pyridine-N
2
C
2
) outperforming noble metal oxides, RuO
2
and IrO
2
. The ML models quantitatively unveiled the significance of various descriptors and quickly narrowed down the candidate list of graphene-supported single-atom catalysts. This approach can be easily used to screen and design other SACs and significantly accelerate the catalyst design for many other important reactions.
The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are three critical reactions for energy-related applications, such as water electrolyzers and metal-air batteries.
An efficient electrochemical approach for the C(sp
2
)-H phosphonation of quinoxalin-2(1
H
)-ones and C(sp
3
)-H phosphonation of xanthenes has been developed. The chemistry was performed in an ...undivided cell under constant current conditions and features a wide range of substrates, up to 99% yield and it is free of transition-metal catalysts- and external oxidants, thereby providing a straightforward approach for dehydrogenative C-H/P-H cross-coupling. In addition, control experiments disclose that some of the reactions may involve a radical pathway.
An efficient electrochemical approach for the C(sp
2
)-H phosphonation of quinoxalin-2(1
H
)-ones and C(sp
3
)-H phosphonation of xanthenes has been developed.
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•The first example of Ni-catalyzed Minisci acylation reaction was developed.•This protocol avoids using external chemical oxidants.•A ligand-to-metal electron transfer process was ...observed.
A nickel-catalyzed electrochemical methodology for the Minisci acylation of aromatic electron-deficient heterocycles with α-keto acids has been developed. The reaction is performed in an undivided cell under constant current conditions, featuring broad scope of substrates and avoiding the conventional utilization of silver-based catalysts in conjunction with excess amount of oxidants. Cyclic voltammetric analysis disclosed that a ligand-to-metal electron transfer process may be involved in the generation of the key acyl radicals.
ABSTRACT This study examines whether politicians exhibit hometown favoritism in assigning preferential corporate income tax rates. We find that firms with hometown connections to incumbent provincial ...leaders experience favorable tax treatment. This effect is more pronounced when those leaders have strong hometown preferences and weaker when they have a strong incentive to seek promotion, suggesting that social incentives are the primary drivers of the effects on corporate tax benefits of hometown favoritism by politicians. Moreover, this effect is intensified when members of senior management have personal connections with the provincial leader. The mechanism test reveals that the provincial governments tend to qualify connected firms for preferential tax policies under their jurisdictions. Overall, our results suggest that hometown favoritism by politicians promotes tax benefits for business entities. Data Availability: Data are available from the public sources cited in the text. JEL Classification: H26; H71; M48.
Pyroptotic cell death or pyroptosis is characterized by caspase-1-dependent formation of plasma membrane pores, leading to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cell lysis. Pyroptosis tightly ...controls the inflammatory responses and coordinates antimicrobial host defenses by releasing pro-inflammatory cellular contents, such as interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18, and consequently expands or sustains inflammation. It is recognized as an important innate immune effector mechanism against intracellular pathogens. The induction of pyroptosis is closely associated with the activation of the NOD-like receptor 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome which has been linked to key cardiovascular risk factors including hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and hyperhomocysteinemia. Emerging evidence has indicated pyroptosis as an important trigger and endogenous regulator of cardiovascular inflammation. Thus, pyroptosis may play an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Design of therapeutic strategies targeting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis holds promise for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) has emerged as an abundant modification throughout the transcriptome with widespread functions in protein-coding and noncoding RNAs. It affects the fates of modified RNAs, ...including their stability, splicing, and/or translation, and thus plays important roles in posttranscriptional regulation. To date, m6A methyltransferases have been reported to execute m6A deposition on distinct RNAs by their own or forming different complexes with additional partner proteins. In this review, we summarize the function of these m6A methyltransferases or complexes in regulating the key genes and pathways of cancer biology. We also highlight the progress in the use of m6A methyltransferases in mediating therapy resistance, including chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy. Finally, we discuss the current approaches and clinical potential of m6A methyltransferase-targeting strategies. Keywords: m6A, m6A methyltransferase, Cancer, Therapy resistance, Drug discovery
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