Professor Hu Jinyan’s Team Publishes Research in Authoritative Journals

Recently, the research paper Can Green Portfolio Management of Funds Win Additional Support from Market Funds? — Identification of Dual Objectives of Fund Investors by the team of Professor Hu Jinyan from the School of Economics at Shandong University was published in Issue 10, 2025 of Journal of Financial Research, an authoritative journal. This paper is one of the phased achievements of the Major Program of the National Social Science Fund of China Research on Financial Structure Optimization and Institutional Innovation to Promote High-quality Development of the Real Economy (Project No. 22&ZD117) and the Key Program of the National Social Science Fund of China Research on Financial Structure Optimization Serving High-quality Economic Development under the New Development Pattern (Project No. 21AZD114).

Guiding financial institutions to carry out green investment and financing to stimulate and expand social capital investment in energy conservation, environmental protection, new energy and other fields has always been a key task of green finance construction. The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that high-quality development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. Promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of economic and social development is a key link to achieve high-quality development. It is necessary to improve the fiscal, taxation, financial, investment and price policies and standard systems supporting green development. The Central Economic Work Conference in 2023 emphasized guiding financial institutions to increase support for scientific and technological innovation, green transformation, inclusive small and micro businesses, digital economy and other aspects, further promoting the construction of ecological civilization and green and low-carbon development, and continuing to fight the tough battles of blue sky, clear water and pure land. In March 2025, the Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Doing a Good Job in the "Five Major Articles" of Finance pointed out that financial institutions should be guided to incorporate green and low-carbon transformation factors into asset portfolio management considerations.

Based on China's active public fund data, this paper studies whether investors pursue environmental benefits in addition to financial returns. The results show that both financial performance and environmental performance of funds have a significant promoting effect on net capital inflow. Expansion analysis finds that investors of green funds show a stronger positive response to environmental performance; investors of funds with low financial performance pay more attention to the environmental performance of funds, indicating investors' pursuit and preference for environmental benefits. In addition, holding green stocks has no significant impact on the financial performance of funds. Further research shows that both institutional investors and individual investors pursue environmental benefits brought by green investment; investors of smaller and newly established funds pay more attention to the environmental performance information disclosed by fund investment portfolios. This paper has certain enlightening significance for investor guidance, corporate green information disclosure and fund operation management.

Hu Jinyan is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Economics at Shandong University, and currently Secretary of the Party Committee of Qingdao University. He is an expert enjoying special government allowances from the State Council, a Famous Social Scientist of Shandong Province, an Excellent Young Expert with Outstanding Contributions in Shandong Province, a Famous Teacher of Shandong Province, and a Top Financial Talent of Shandong Province. He also serves as Deputy Director of the National Teaching Steering Committee for Finance Majors under the Ministry of Education, Vice Chairman of Shandong Federation of Social Sciences, Deputy Director of the Strategic Advisory Expert Committee for Economic Field of Shandong Province, Vice President of Chinese Quantitative Economics Association, Standing Director of China Finance Annual Conference, President of Shandong Finance Society, and Vice President of Shandong Finance Association. He has undertaken many national-level teaching quality engineering projects and is the chief expert of Key Programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Major Programs of the National Social Science Fund of China.