Building a competitive advantage based on transparency: When and why does transparency matter for corporate social responsibility?

Customers today are increasingly demanding transparency from firms. This article discusses the concept of performance transparency and explores when and why transparency plays a key role for a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) effectiveness. In doing so, it addresses consumer skepticism as the logic of the transparency-CSR interaction and presents empirical evidence of the effect. It also discusses key principles for managing performance transparency effectively. Companies should monitor and track performance transparency regularly, initiate consistent transparency practices along with CSR activities, pay attention to the types of information made available, and adapt the transparency practices to the involvement level.     

独立董事、税收激进与融资约束

在代理理论框架下,研究税收激进对企业融资约束产生的影响,并根据独立董事的双重职能分析独立董事对两者关系的影响。研究结果表明:税收激进整体上与企业融资约束存在正相关关系,即税收激进行为会导致企业融资约束程度提高,但适度的税收筹划有助于降低企业融资约束程度,激进的避税行为则会增加企业的融资约束;独立董事监督和咨询职能的发挥有助于降低企业税收激进程度,并能够通过降低代理冲突和信息不对称程度来减弱税收激进与融资约束之间的正向关系。     

数字化转型与企业融资约束

数字经济浪潮下，传统产业深度融合的数字化转型成为企业创新发展的必由之路。基于 2008-2020 年创业板上市公司数据，研究了数字化转型对中小企业融资约束的影响。结果显示，中小企业开展数字化转型能有效降低融资约束，渠道机制研究还表明提高企业信息透明度、降低融资成本、加强创新能力可以缓解融资约束。进一步异质性分析发现，企业微观层面的股权质押、股票流动性及外部环境层面的机构投资者持股比例、经济政策不确定性均在数字化转型过程中发挥调节作用。运用工具变量法、PSM-DID 弱化内生性问题后，以上结论仍然稳健。本研究丰富了数字化转型经济效果的相关理论，为更好地运用数字化转型缓解中小企业融资约束提供引导与启示，兼具理论与实际价值。     

Do insiders trade on government subsidies?

We examine whether and how insiders trade on government subsidies, a major instrument through which the governments intervene in the economy. Using a novel dataset of government subsidies of Chinese listed firms, we find that net insider purchase increases significantly during the month of subsidy receipt. The effect of subsidies on insider trading is weaker in firms with a more transparent information environment and when subsidies are granted in a more predictable manner. In contrast, the effect is more pronounced for politically connected firms. Further analysis shows that the subsidy-trading relation may reflect both insiders’ informational advantage concerning subsidies and their superior ability to detect mispricing-related opportunities. Our findings provide new insights into the capital market consequences of government subsidies through the lens of insider trading.     

Corporate transparency and firm value: Does market competition play an external governance role?

We investigate whether market competition affects the relationship between corporate transparency and firm value in the United States using a sample of 12,665 firm-year observations, representing 1,644 individual firms for the period 1996–2018. The results show that stronger transparency enhances firm value, and market competition has a significantly positive effect on that relationship. More importantly, we use hierarchical linear models further to explore the cross-level interaction impact of market competition, and we find evidence suggesting that the industry-level competition has a significant cross-level moderating effect. Additionally, consistent with the substitute perspective, we also find that the disciplinary power of competition on the relationship between transparency and value is more pronounced for firms with weak corporate governance. Overall, our evidence supports the “bright side” of the competition view and highlights the active external governance role that competition plays in the value promotion effect of corporate transparency at both the individual and the industry levels.     

Economic Consequences of Transparency Regulation: Evidence from Bank Mortgage Lending

We examine the economic consequences of a rule designed to improve consumers' understanding of mortgage information. The 2015 TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures rule (TRID) simplifies the mortgage disclosures provided to consumers. As a consequence, TRID-affected mortgages become a less attractive investment opportunity to banks. Our main results document that mortgage applications affected by TRID are less likely to be approved following the rule's effective date. We find evidence consistent with both a decrease in consumers' information processing costs and an increase in banks' secondary market frictions, providing insight into the potential channels through which this reduction in mortgage credit operates. We also find that banks partially compensate for reduced mortgage lending by increasing small business lending, and that fintechs absorb mortgage demand in areas with reduced mortgage lending by banks. Our study documents real actions that firms take in response to disclosure transparency regulation and contributes to the literature on the economic consequences of such regulation.     

文明城市创建与企业商业信用融资

借助“全国文明城市评选”这一准自然实验，基于对2003—2021年中国地级市与沪深A股上市公司进行匹配的面板数据，考察文明城市创建对企业商业信用的影响及其作用机制。研究发现，文明城市创建显著促进了辖区内企业商业信用获取。进一步分析表明，影响机制在于优化外部公司治理和提高企业信息透明度，且这一积极作用在所处城市行政级别较高、所处行业竞争激烈、审计质量低、资产可抵押程度低和负债水平高的企业中更为突出。研究有助于深入分析文明城市创建的经济后果，并为文明城市评选的持续推进提供经验参考。     

企业ESG 与资本市场表现

在经济社会发展绿色化、低碳化态势下,ESG 理念在资本市场中的地位日益凸显。文章基于2015—2021 年我国A 股上市公司数据,研究ESG 表现对企业股票流动性的影响。研究发现,ESG 表现显著提升了企业股票流动性,该效应在国有企业、大规模企业以及市场化程度较高的地区企业中更显著。机制分析表明,企业ESG 有利于提升投资者情绪和信息透明度,进而促进股票流动性。进一步研究发现,企业良好ESG 表现所带来的股票流动性显著提升了企业价值和企业创新。发掘企业ESG在金融市场的作用效果,为活跃资本市场提供新的经验证据。