Knowledge is the foundation for growth and development. Investment in knowledge improves new method for originate knowledge society and knowledge economy. Investment in knowledge embraces expenditure on education and R&D and software. Measuring of investment in knowledge is characteristically complicated. We examine the influence of investment in knowledge in multifactor productivity growth and...

Using a sample of 2174 Chinese listed firms for the period 2014–2019, we examine whether air pollution impairs investment efficiency firms. We find robust evidence that is negatively associated with firms’ efficiency, and this association more pronounced small firms, non-state-owned financially constrained confronted high business risk or intense industrial product market competition.