Does insiders share pledging stifle innovation? Evidence from China

We examine the relation between insiders share pledging activities for personal loans and firm innovation. Firstly, we find a negative effect of both the existence of pledging and the intensity of pledging activities on firm innovation, measured by R&D and patent application. Pledging by insiders with decision rights is associated with a 4.6% decline in R&D activities and 0.5% decline in patent applications, respectively, which accounts for 4.0% and 10.6% of the mean of each variable. This result holds using a propensity-score matched sample. In addition, we instrument pledging activities by financing constraints faced by other firms controlled by the same controlling insiders who pledge shares. IV estimation yield similar results. Secondly, we find share pledge activities have more pronounced effect on firm innovations when firms are located in areas with strong property rights protection, when firms are non-SOEs, or when pledging insiders serve on corporate boards. Lastly, we also find a negative effect of share pledging of other firms with common shareholders on firm innovations of interest. Overall, our findings suggest that pledging shares by insiders stifle firm innovation because share pledging reduce insiders' preference for risk taking.     

Does oil price uncertainty matter in firm innovation? Evidence from China

Inspired by the prevalence of firm innovation and substantial influence of international oil price uncertainty (OPU) on firm operation and decision-making, we investigate the influence of OPU on firm innovation. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms over the 2007–2019 period, our study reveals that OPU decreases firm innovation. This finding is consistent with the real options theory and the prospect theory. Mediation analysis shows that OPU could decrease firm innovation by increasing firms' financing constraints degree. Moreover, high-tech firms and those in highly competitive industries have fewer options to delay their innovation investments, we find that the adverse effects of OPU on their innovation are weaker. Finally, further analysis shows that government subsidies can help mitigate adverse effects of OPU on firm innovation. This paper reveals that OPU goes beyond the commonly known and understood regular indicator that shapes a firm's innovation activity and enriches firm-level evidence for the effects of OPU by highlighting the effects on long-term investment in intangible assets.     

Does venture capital investment enhance corporate innovation? Evidence from Korea

We examine whether venture capital (VC) investment enhances corporate innovation in Korea. Using a matched sample of 802 firms from 1998 to 2012, we find that after the first round of VC investment, VC-backed firms are more innovative than non-VC-backed firms. Our results suggest that the positive influence of VC investment largely comes from the ability of VC firms to reduce information asymmetry between investors and ventures: VC funds managed by independent venture capitalists significantly enhance corporate innovation, whereas those managed by governmental venture capitalists do not. Furthermore, this positive influence becomes more pronounced where there is greater information asymmetry. Finally, we show that funds with profit-based compensation structures are more likely to encourage corporate innovation than those with fee-based compensation structures.     

Can fintech innovation promote household consumption? Evidence from China family panel studies

Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and the digital inclusive financial index (DFI), this paper explores the relationship between fintech innovation and household consumption. The results show that fintech innovation can significantly promote household consumption at the nationwide level. Further mechanism tests show that entrepreneurship and increasing income are the two main transmission channels. Besides that, we further conduct heterogeneity tests. The tests present that the promoting effects in the eastern region, urban households, and wealthy households are higher than that in the western region, rural households, and low-and middle-income groups. The phenomenon shows that the Chinese government should positively guide the development of fintech in order to enable people to enjoy the benefits brought by scientific progress. In addition, the conclusions have great reference value for developing countries.     

Does social trust restrain firm financing violations? Evidence from China

We use a sample of Chinese firms to examine the impact of social trust, as an informal institution, on firm financing violations. Our findings suggest that when a firm is located in a region with high social trust, it commits fewer financing violations than those committed by firms in a region of low social trust. The results are robust for alternative measures of financing violations (fraudulent activities when issuing new shares, changing the use of new funds to uses other than the stipulated purposes, or illegally using third‐party loan guarantees), social trust, and after using instrumental variables estimation to account for endogeneity. Additional analysis suggests that the impact of social trust on restraining financing violations is more pronounced for firms having lower interest costs, facing low industry competition, located in high marketisation regions, and having good internal control. The findings show that the impact of social trust on financing violations is moderated by the economic reality of the firm (interest costs and competition), the formal institutional environment (level of marketisation), and the internal governance of a firm (internal control).     

Does political pressure matter in bank lending? Evidence from China

Using provincial data from China between 2002 and 2011, we find substantial evidence indicating a positive association between the growth of bank loans issued by commercial banks and the political pressures faced by provincial leaders. This association is particularly true for state‐owned banks, which are much more politically pressurized than others, but is relatively attenuated in provinces with a more developed banking sector. We also find that bank loans issued under greater political pressures are less commercially oriented and have lower quality. Our findings are robust to a variety of sensitivity analyses and alternative measures of political pressure. Overall, our study contribute to a growing literature emphasizing the role of the political incentives of government officials in fuelling economic growth through credit allocation.     

Does foreign institutional ownership increase return volatility? Evidence from China

This paper investigates the impact of foreign institutional ownership on firm-level stock return volatility in China, based on our study of a sample of 1458 firms between 1998 and 2008. The empirical results show that share ownership by foreign institutions (both financial and non-financial) increases firm-level stock return volatility, even after controlling for a complete ownership structure, firm size, turnover, and leverage, and correcting for potential endogeneity problems. However, the results also show that foreign individual shareholdings reduce volatility. Furthermore, we document a positive relationship between domestic shareholdings (individual, institutional, and governmental) and firm-level stock return volatility. Empirical results with interaction terms show that foreign institutional ownership increases firm-level return volatility by strengthening the positive impact of liquidity on volatility. The volatility reduction effect of foreign individual ownership is attenuated by government ownership suggests a poor governance environment as a result of the involvement of the Chinese government.     

Does stock market development always improve firm-level financing? Evidence from Tunisia

The question of whether or not increased stock market size allows for improved financing conditions for firms in emerging markets is an important one for policy-making. This paper seeks to investigate this issue by analyzing whether increases in market-level liquidity have indeed trickled down to individual firms over the last decade of stock market development in Tunisia, a fast-growing Mediterranean emerging market. We develop time varying liquidity scores for all firms listed in the Tunisian market over the 1997–2009 period and analyze the extent to which market development, firm-level characteristics and risk exposure affect the magnitude and the distribution of liquidity using a set of fixed effect panel regressions. Our results suggest that massive increases in value traded have created market congestion, thereby increasing the costs of trading, in a context of persistently low efficiency and increased international integration. The main implications of this process are (i) market-level development and international integration are not sufficient conditions to ease access to finance for local firms, (ii) further reforms in the Tunisian market should focus on diversifying corporate ownership and improving the disclosure of information, and (iii) international investors seeking diversification in Tunisia should be aware of a significant illiquidity risk.     

Does Fintech facilitate cross-border M&As? Evidence from Chinese A-share listed firms

This paper examines whether and how financial technology (Fintech) affects the cross-border M&A decision-making and the performance of acquiring firms. Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed firms over the period of 2011–2019, we find that local Fintech development effectively facilitates firms' cross-border M&A activities. This effect is more prominent for firms with lower innovation capability, with higher profitability, and those in key participant provinces of the Belt and Road Initiative. We provide evidence that Fintech supports the decision-making of cross-border M&As due to the mitigation of financing friction and the decrease in information disadvantage. Further analysis also shows that the acquirer's cross-border M&A performance is higher when it is located in a province with better development of Fintech. Our paper provides new insights into the impact of technology-enabled innovation in the financial industry on the behavior of firms in non-financial industries.     

Does investment banker human capital matter in acquisitions? Evidence from China

Investment banker human capital is valuable in mergers and acquisitions. Exploiting a unique hand-built dataset, this paper studies whether and how investment banker's education and experience impact the merger performance in China. We find that investment bankers' education credentials are positively related to the post-merger performance; however, greater investment banker experience does not. We further explore the channels and show that the education effect is stronger in deals with higher information asymmetry and acquirers with worse corporate governance. On the other hand, experience increases merger performance in deals with high information asymmetry but reduces deal performance in poorly governed firms. Our findings suggest that higher education attainment facilitates both the advisory and monitoring role of investment bankers, while more experience makes investment bankers better advisors yet worse monitors. Our findings also suggest that investment bankers' roles in value creation are highly dependent on different institutional backgrounds, and one cannot generalize the findings in the U.S. across borders.     

How Does Being Public Affect Firm Investment? Further Evidence from China

What role does the stock market play in the allocation of capital? Few studies have examined how being public affects firm investment in emerging markets. This study fills this gap by comparing investment behavior in public and private Chinese firms over the period 2004–2010. We find an overall improved capital allocation of public firms relative to private firms in China. By disentangling the financial constraints effect from the agency effect, we show that public firms are less likely to underinvest when there is cash flow insufficiency and more likely to overinvest when there is free cash flow. We conclude that both effects coexist and that whether or not being public improves investment behavior depends on the net effect of loosening financial constraints and worsening agency conflicts. Further examination shows that financial information plays a limited role in these effects, implying that the association between being public and firm investment may not be attributed to information asymmetry but, rather, institutional arrangement in China.     

Does aggressiveness help? Evidence from IPO corruption and pricing in China

Using a unique database of Chinese firms bribing initial public offering (IPO) regulators, we examine the impact of bribing on IPO pricing. Our findings suggest that bribing firms are younger, smaller, more volatile in their operating activities, and more generous in compensating underwriters and management. Most important, bribing firms price their IPO shares more aggressively than non-bribing firms and exhibit a higher price-to-earnings ratio, lower first-day return, and poorer post-IPO stock performance. Additional analyses suggest that both bribing and non-bribing firms exhibit negative announcement returns after the arrest of corrupt officials. However, the effect is stronger for bribing firms. Overall, bribing firms are systematically more aggressive than their non-bribing counterparts. They concede less to IPO investors and reward underwriters and management for helping them access the capital market.     

Can foreign suppliers act as “innovation springboards” for firms? Evidence from China

This study provides a new approach for measuring supplier characteristics by distinguishing the countries where they are located. Using data of Chinese listed companies, we explore how firms' R&D investment and innovation efficiency (patents and citations) are affected by having foreign suppliers in their top five suppliers. Our findings suggest that foreign suppliers acting as transmitters of international technology increase firms' innovation efficiency based on organizational learning theory. Moreover, a series of uncertainties caused by foreign suppliers encourages firms to invest more in R&D based on strategic growth option theory. Mechanism tests show that foreign suppliers from countries with high innovation capacity and a similar Eastern culture have a greater impact on corporate innovation. Firms conduct more R&D activities to mitigate the uncertainties caused by foreign suppliers when they have insufficient overseas channels to acquire international knowledge and a high degree of dependence on foreign suppliers. These results are consistent with a series of robustness tests after accounting for endogeneity.     

Does stock market index adjustment affect environmental information disclosure? Evidence from China

This study empirically investigated the effect of adjustment of the China Securities Index 300 (CSI 300) on environmental information disclosure (EID) by index constituents, based on propensity score matching and difference-in-difference approaches. The results showed that the inclusion in the CSI 300 significantly improved the quality of EID by firms. Moreover, this positive impact was more pronounced among firms with lower agency costs and those located in regions with a stronger legal environment. Further testing of the mediating mechanism revealed that becoming an index constituent served to curb opportunistic behavior by managers arising from shortsightedness. Our results were valid after addressing the potential endogeneity between index adjustment and EID and remained unchanged in various other robustness tests. The findings provide support for the positive impact of stock market index adjustment on non-financial information disclosure and have practical implications for decision-making regarding EID in China and other emerging markets.     

Does economic policy uncertainty raise corporate precautionary cash holdings? Evidence from China

Using China as the research setting, this paper investigates the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and corporate precautionary cash holdings. Empirical results show a U-shaped relation between economic policy uncertainty and corporate precautionary cash holdings. Empirical analysis, in terms of ownership structure, firm size, corporate competitiveness and geographical location, further shows that (i) the effects for economic policy uncertainty in both state-owned and non-state-owned enterprises are significant, but the effect is stronger for state-owned enterprises; (ii) such significant effect is also found more strongly in small and medium-sized enterprises and highly competitive enterprises; and (iii) the effects for eastern, central and western China are all statistically significant, but the effect is strongest for eastern China.     

Do conference calls facilitate market price discovery? Evidence from Taiwan

This study examines whether conference calls accelerate the speed at which the market and analysts understand the implications of the accrual components of current earnings on future earnings. We analyze Taiwan’s listed firms from 2001 through 2014 and find that (1) delayed market reactions to earnings news during the following 12?months occur less often for firms than for host conference calls, and (2) conference calls are associated with a significant improvement in the accuracy of analysts’ earnings forecasts. One possible explanation for our results is that conference calls improve the efficacy of investors’ and analysts’ reactions to earnings announcements by conveying information regarding the accrual components of reported earnings. Our results have implications for other Asian economies that have relatively opaque information environments and weak shareholder protections.     

Does austerity drive public service innovation? Evidence from shared senior management teams in local government

Shared senior management teams are a recent and radical response to financial austerity. They aim to improve the efficiency of public services without the disruption, controversy and transaction costs associated with full-blown organizational mergers. This paper assesses the adoption of this management innovation by English district councils, identifies enablers and barriers to its effective implementation, offers a preliminary assessment of its impacts, and draws out practical lessons for policy-makers.     

Do dividends signal safety? Evidence from China

Our paper examines whether dividends convey information about future cash-flow volatility in the Chinese stock markets. We observe that dividend changes are followed by cash-flow-volatility changes in the opposite direction. Taking advantage of the unique context of China, we show, in both the two-way sorting analysis and the regression analysis, that the strong relation between changes in dividend and cash-flow volatility is robust after controlling for potential confounders, including firm-level financial market frictions, macroeconomic and market conditions, and government intervention in firms' decision-making, and holds after we control for endogeneity concerns. Furthermore, we perform the theoretic mechanism tests of the relation and present supporting evidence on the signaling theory under the setting of asymmetric information, instead of the free cash flow theory based on the assumption of agency conflict. This study enriches our understanding of the source and nature of cash-flow information contained in dividends.     

Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect the Cost of Bank Loans? Evidence from China

This article examines the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and cost of bank loans (CBL) in China. We find that there exists an inverse U-shape relationship between CSR and CBL. In addition, CSR threshold for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is higher than for non-SOEs. In particular, CSR threshold for SOEs is lower in regions with high degree of marketization than in regions with low degree of marketization. The findings indicate that value-destroying effect occurs during CSR underinvestment phase, which is different from the overinvestment view. Moreover, the effect of CSR on CBL also depends on contextual factors such as firm ownership and marketization level.