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(Correspondent: Zhong Yiming) Recently, two papers from the School of Economics have been published in the first issue of 2026 of Economic Research, a leading economics journal in China: “Cross-Border Data Flow Regulations and Corporate Supply Chain Transfer” by Professor Yan Bing and PhD candidate Wang Yunkai, and “Temperature Shocks, Trade Networks, and Economic Growth” by Professor Wang Qunyong, PhD candidates Wang Haozhu and Song Runyu.

In the era where data constitutes a critical factor of production, cross-border data flows are widely regarded as a significant driver of global economic growth. However, attendant security concerns have prompted major economies to introduce various regulatory constraints on such flows. The paper “Cross-Border Data Flow Regulations and Corporate Supply Chain Transfer” integrates the enterprise supply chain into the analytical framework and systematically examines how changes in regulatory policies influence adjustments within supply chains. Employing a difference-in-differences framework and leveraging the FactSet Revere database, the study finds that the evolving cross-border data flow policies have increased the costs for Chinese firms to maintain overseas customers, thereby encouraging a domestic reorientation of downstream supply chain segments. Simultaneously, these regulatory changes have intensified competition of domestic market, compelling firms reliant on foreign suppliers to adapt their operational strategies, which, in turn, has contributed to an outward shift in upstream supply chain activities. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the impact of China’s cross-border data flow regulations on corporate supply chains is amplified when trading partner countries impose relatively fewer restrictions on data flows. Moreover, compared to state-owned enterprises, non-state-owned enterprises exhibit greater sensitivity to these regulatory changes. The paper also demonstrates that the effects of policy adjustments propagate along the supply chain, stimulating innovation among both upstream and downstream firms. Finally, the analysis suggests that enhancing innovation capabilities and improving firms’ positions within the supply chain can help mitigate the disruptions caused by regulatory changes. From a policy perspective, governments can support corporate adaptation through improved digital infra‐ structure and targeted innovation subsidies.

Addressing climate change constitutes one of the core challenges for human sustainable development in the 21st century. The paper “Temperature Shocks, Trade Networks, and Economic Growth” uses the network causal inference to analyze both the direct effects and network spillover effects of temperature shocks from the trade network perspective, and discusses how the structure of trade networks influences the spillover effects through counterfactual simulations. The empirical results indicate that a country’s temperature shocks exert a negative impact on the economic growth of its trading partners through trade net‐ work spillovers, with this spillover effect accounting for 64.91% of the total effect. Moreover, the negative spillover effects are more pronounced for low-income countries, non-tropical countries, small economies, coastal countries, and energy abundant countries. Mechanism analysis reveals that a country’s temperature shocks reduce its own capital stock and labor productivity, thereby dampening domestic economic growth, while temperature shocks from its trading partners primarily exert negative impacts on its agricultural and manufacturing sectors by reducing its trade flows.This paper provides a novel framework for predicting how temperature shocks impact long-term global economic growth and offers valuable policy implications for China to mitigate climate risks through optimizing the structure of its trade network.

Economic Research, founded in 1955, is a national comprehensive journal of economic theory. It is sponsored by the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and administered by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is widely recognized by universities and research institutions across China as a top-tier journal in economics.