The 15th Five-Year Plan period marks a critical stage in China’s march toward the goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035. Proactively assessing rural development trends and systematically planning rural construction strategies are of great significance for advancing agricultural and rural modernization. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, a series of measures have been taken to promote rural construction, leading to comprehensive economic and social development in rural areas and continuous improvement in the level of agricultural and rural modernization. The evolutionary trajectory of rural construction reflects a logic of expanding driving forces from a "material-oriented" to a "people-oriented" approach, a shift in driving modes from "exogenous-led" to "endogenous development", and a deepening focus of the driving field from "urban-rural gap" to "rural differentiation", all of which indicate profound changes in the driving mechanisms of rural construction in the new era. Nevertheless, rural construction still faces multiple challenges, including insufficient consideration of heterogeneity in rural planning, tensions between rural infrastructure and modernization goals, mismatches between public service provision and demographic trends, inadequate alignment between the living environment and the requirements of ecological livability, and difficulties in ensuring that factor endowments meet the demands for sustainable rural construction and operation. To address these challenges, efforts should be made to follow the shifting logic of driving forces, with a focus on promoting the clustered spatial layout of rural construction, modernizing and intelligently upgrading production and living facilities, advancing the fine-grained provision of rural public services, facilitating the green transition of development models, and strengthening the resource-based operationalization of rural factors, so as to synergistically advance rural construction.

The subjective class identification of residents in China often does not align with their objective economic status, and the phenomenon of "downward identification" is widespread. Existing research has paid more attention to the impact of individual endowments on class identification, but has paid less attention to the role of regional opportunity fairness in this process. This paper examines the impact of regional inequality of opportunity on residents’ subjective class identity based on microdata from six periods of the China General Social Survey (CGSS) from 2010 to 2018. The empirical results show that inequality of opportunity significantly reduces residents’ subjective class identity, and leads to the problem of 'lower class identity bias’. Mechanistic analyses suggest that inequality of opportunity reduces class identity by lowering the level of employment and increasing the sense of relative deprivation. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect is more pronounced for the youth group, the highly skilled labor force, and the agricultural household registration group. This paper adds to the literature on the impact of inequality of opportunity on residents’ welfare level and provides a possible explanation for the "mystery of downward shift" of residents’ class identity in China. In the new era, China still needs to deepen the reform of the income distribution system to promote fairness of opportunity and social mobility, and then enhance the class identity of the residents.

This study explores the effect of minimum labor remuneration on household economic resilience, which is of great significance for enhancing family welfare and achieving stable social development. Based on both macro-level city data and micro-level household data, this study empirically analyze the impact of minimum labor remuneration on household economic resilience. The results show that minimum labor remuneration can significantly enhance household economic resilience, a conclusion that remains robust after a series of robustness tests. The moderating effect analysis indicates that social security can positively moderate this positive effect. The heterogeneous analysis shows that the positive impact of minimum labor remuneration on household economic resilience is more significant in regions with high administrative efficiency, households with higher education levels, and families with urban household registration. The mechanism analysis suggests that minimum labor remuneration can improve household economic resilience through the "income effect" and "employment effect." Therefore, this study suggests that it is crucial to implement the minimum labor remuneration system, optimize the social security system, improve government administrative efficiency, optimize the urban-rural household registration system and `enhance the overall education level in society.

In the context of deep population aging, commercial banks face distinctly different population aging pressures due to variations in their operational characteristics and branch layouts. However, existing studies mostly adopt regional aging data to analyze its impact on bank risks, making it difficult to accurately reflect the heterogeneity in risk exposures across individual banks. This paper, based on the operational characteristics and branch distributions of commercial banks, categorizes and calculates the aging pressure index faced by 201 banks from 2010 to 2023, and examines its specific impact on bank risk-taking. The findings are as follows: (1) Population aging significantly exacerbates bank risk-taking, and this conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests; (2) Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of population aging is most significant on city commercial banks, and banks headquartered in cities with net population inflows have higher risk exposures; (3) Active fiscal policy plays a positive moderating role in mitigating the impact of population aging on risk-taking in the banking sector, with fiscal expenditure and fiscal deficit dimensions being particularly prominent in enhancing banks' risk resilience.

In response to the prominent problems of inadequate and unbalanced old-age security for the current flexible workers, there is an urgent need to accelerate the development and improvement of a multi-pillar pension system tailored to this group. Distinct from the lack of attention regarding the empirical association of public-private pension for flexible workers and the insufficient attention to the fairness of multi-pillar pension in existing research, this article examines the relationship between public and private pensions among flexible workers and its mechanism from the micro-individual level, exploring its pension fairness outcome. Using data from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 China Household Finance Surveys (CHFS), we found a complementary effect between public pension and private life insurance participation among flexible workers. Compared to the Enterprise Employees’ Basic Pension Insurance (EEBPI), the Urban and Rural Residents’ Basic Pension Insurance (URRBPI) showed a more positive correlation with flexible workers’ private life insurance participation. URRBPI preferred to boost flexible workers’ private life insurance purchase through current contributions and expected benefits, while EEBPI tended to promote it through financial literacy. Upper-middle-income URRBPI enrollers were the primary drivers of the complementary relationship. The mixed public and private pensions were not friendly to low-to-middle-income flexible employment groups, but possibly improved the expected pension for some middle-income flexible workers and narrowed the pension gap between groups covered by different public pension systems, as well as between flexible and formal workers. It is recommended that flexible workers be integrated into the "dumbbell-shaped" multi-pillar pension structure, with various measures implemented to promote fairness in the pension system.

A sound rural elderly care policy not only enhances public welfare but also promotes social equity and justice. However, existing research has been vague in defining the criteria for a 'good’ policy, lacking quantitative evaluation. To address this, a three-dimensional analytical framework comprising 'theme-tool-quality’ was constructed. Text mining and content analysis methods were employed to conduct an in-depth analysis of rural elderly care service policies from 2013 to 2025. The PMC index model was then applied to quantitatively evaluate 11 specialised policies. Findings reveal: policy themes exhibit distinct characteristics, encompassing five categories: rural elderly care service networks, safeguard mechanisms and resource support, safety net provisions for vulnerable seniors, innovations in mutual-aid care models, and integrated medical-care with health services; The frequency of policy tool usage is unevenly distributed: mandatory tools account for 47.19%, hybrid tools for 27.24%, and voluntary tools for 25.57%, revealing a policy profile characterised by 'strong supply, weak incentives, and market deficiencies’; The average PMC score for representative rural elderly care policies is 6.59, indicating generally acceptable policy quality, though with significant inter-governmental disparities. Future improvements to rural elderly care policy quality could involve expanding thematic content, optimising policy tool combinations, and promoting the diffusion of high-quality policies.

Against the backdrop of a complex and volatile global economy and ongoing regional conflicts, enhancing the resilience of county-level economies is essential for promoting high-quality economic development and achieving comprehensive rural revitalization. Existing research has primarily focused on macro-level analysis based on provincial and municipal data, with limited studies on county-level indicator measurement and the impact of digital divides across different administrative tiers. This study employs a dual machine learning model to examine the impact and mechanisms of digital rural development on county-level economic resilience using panel data from 2014 to 2022. It further investigates the heterogeneous effects generated by digital divides across different administrative tiers. Findings reveal: First, digital rural development significantly enhances county-level economic resilience, with results remaining robust after stability tests. Second, centered on technology, digital rural development enhances county-level economic resilience by dismantling market barriers, optimizing industrial structures, and boosting non-agricultural entrepreneurial vitality. Third, the promotional effect of digital rural development on county-level economic resilience is constrained by the three-tier digital divide, resulting in an inhibitory effect in regions with low levels of digital development.

Land consolidation is an important pathway to promote large-scale agricultural operations, yet existing research has seldom provided in-depth explanations or systematic reviews of the internal mechanisms and implementation frameworks of land consolidation practices. Based on the logic of collective action, combined with the synergy theory of institutional economics, this paper constructs the analytical framework of "subject of interest, property right object, institutional environment", utilizes the survey data of the natural villages belonging to the typical model villages in Y County of G Province, and adopts the csQCA method of applying the concurrent relationship of multiple factors, and the results of the research show that there are three synergistic modes: the double advantage promotion mode of the subject of interest and the object of property rights, the synergistic promotion mode of the advantage of the subject of interest and the democratic governance system, and the synergistic promotion mode of the advantage of the object of property rights and the clan system. The conclusions of this paper are not only conducive to the theoretical sorting out of the internal mechanism for the successful realization of land consolidation, but also provide experience for localities to create conditions for the realization of the "engineering construction and tenure adjustment" parallel mode of land consolidation.

Clear and secure farmland property rights are a critical factor in promoting green agricultural development. Existing studies have primarily focused on the impact of farmland property rights on individual farming behaviors, while relatively little attention has been paid to their effect on agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP). Based on micro-level survey data from 898 households in Guizhou Province, this study employs a Tobit model to examine the impact of land tenure security on AGTFP, with a particular emphasis on the heterogeneity of this effect across different types of farming households. The baseline regression results indicate that land tenure security has a significantly positive effect on AGTFP, and this finding remains robust under multiple specification checks. The mechanism analysis reveals that land tenure security improves AGTFP by facilitating appropriately scaled farm operations. Heterogeneity analysis shows that land tenure security significantly enhances AGTFP among households with high efficiency levels, older-generation farmers, and those primarily engaged in agriculture, while its effect is not significant among lower-efficiency households, younger-generation farmers, and those mainly engaged in off-farm activities. Accordingly, it is recommended that the government strengthen the security of farmland use rights, promote appropriately scaled farming in a gradual manner, and adopt differentiated strategies tailored to various household types in order to further advance green agricultural development.

Promoting the real economy to return to its essence is not only the fundamental measure for preventing and controlling systemic financial risks,it is also a strategic cornerstone for the construction of a modern industrial system.Different from existing studies that focus on the single-dimensional analysis of the impact of human capital on the allocation of corporate financial assets, this study deconstructs the heterogeneous transmission paths of the external competitiveness of employees’ and executives’ compensation. Based on the data of Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023, a panel fixed-effects model is adopted to reveal the asymmetric influence mechanism on the allocation of corporate financial assets. The examination reveals that the external competitiveness of employees’ compensation significantly exacerbates the allocation of financial assets, while the external competitiveness of executives’ compensation significantly alleviates the allocation of financial assets. There is an inverted "U" shaped relationship between the external competitiveness of corporate compensation and the allocation of financial assets. The mediation effect test shows that the agency cost and the motivation for arbitrage respectively play a mediating role in the process of the external competitiveness of employees’ and executives’ compensation influencing the allocation of financial assets. The heterogeneity test indicates that in enterprises with a small internal compensation gap and executives having a financial background, the promoting effect of the external competitiveness of employees’ compensation on the allocation of financial assets is more significant. However, in enterprises with a large internal compensation gap, executives without a financial background, and low external profit pressure, the alleviating effect of the external competitiveness of executives’ compensation on the allocation of financial assets is more significant. The conclusion of this paper provides a reference for enterprises to implement targeted differential regulation strategies regarding the external competitiveness of employee and executive compensation, and to curb corporate financial asset allocation by improving governance structures and information disclosure.

Effectively curbing executives’ opportunistic stock selling is a core issue in improving investor protection mechanisms and strengthening the micro-foundations for high-quality capital market development. Whether and how ESG rating divergence, a key dimension of non-financial information, affects executive stock selling decisions remains an urgent question to be examined. Taking A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2023 as the research sample, this study systematically investigates the relationship between ESG rating divergence and executives’ opportunistic stock selling. The results indicate that ESG rating divergence significantly exacerbates executives’ opportunistic stock selling, with this effect being particularly pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises and heavily polluting industries. The mechanism examination reveals that ESG rating divergence intensifies executives’ opportunistic stock selling primarily by increasing corporate market risk and reducing information transparency. Furthermore, governance countermeasures suggest that improving the quality of corporate ESG disclosure, enhancing internal control quality, strengthening oversight by securities analysts, and reinforcing regional legal frameworks all help mitigate the executives’ opportunistic stock selling driven by ESG rating divergence. The findings expand the literature on the economic consequences of ESG rating divergence and provide feasible pathways for comprehensively understanding the trigger mechanisms of executives’ opportunistic stock selling and effectively restraining such behavior.

The development of green manufacturing is instrumental for China’s low-carbon economic transition. Nevertheless, prior research has concentrated on the direct effects of such policies, with scant attention paid to their supply chain spillovers. Addressing this gap, the present study utilizes China’s Green Factory Program as a natural experiment to investigate these spillover effects from a supply chain perspective. It is found that when a customer firm obtains Green Factory certification, it significantly facilitates the low-carbon transition of its suppliers. This effect is more pronounced among suppliers in regions with greater impetus for low-carbon development, in closer geographic proximity to the certified customer, with stronger operational linkages, and under higher scrutiny from green investors. Further analysis suggests that low-carbon technological innovation and improved carbon management serve as primary transmission channels. The results provide crucial policy insights for coordinating carbon abatement efforts throughout the supply chain and for steering the economy towards a sustainable, low-carbon path.