Time: June 26th 2015( Friday)15:00-16:30

Location: Room 501, Jiageng 2

Moderator:Jinshuai Hu, Associate Professor of IFAS

Topic:PoliticalConnections and Corporate Investments: Evidence from the Recent Anti-corruptionCampaign in China 

Presenter：Xiaofei Pan, lecturer, Universityof Wollongong, Australia

Abstract:

Taking advantage of thecorruption scandals, particular the recent anti-corruption campaign initiatedby Xi Jinping in China, we construct a natural experiment and identify theouster of corrupt politicians and connected firms through bribery and personal relationships.Our empirical tests reveal that corporate investment expenditures of thesefirms decline significantly after the ouster of the politicians, especially fornon-SOEs relative to SOEs. Further analysis shows that this change ininvestment expenditures results in improved investment efficiency for SOEs,while reduces investment efficiency for non-SOEs. We also document that theouster of the politicians influences firm investment decisions more in regionswhere corruption is more severe. Additional analysis also shows that theincrease in investment efficiency in SOEs is associated with rectified firmperformance, positive stock price effects, reduced perks and strongerpay-performance relationship, while non-SOEs do not exhibit a significant change.Overall findings support our main argument that political ties obtained frombribing politicians facilitate rent seeking from government, which isdetrimental for SOE value because SOE managers have extracted more privatebenefits due to less monitoring by government owners, while the politicalcapital bring favourable treatments and add value for non-SOEs. Our study alsocalls for efficient channels to fight corruption through either buildingsounder institutional environments including stronger legal system orencouraging government to relinquish the economic control to eliminate rentseeking incentives.

Personal Profile:

Dr. Pan got his Ph.D.,master, and bachelor in Finance from Universityof Wollongong, Dalian University of Technology and North Eastern University respectively. His researchinterests include Corporate governance and ownershipstructure/family control, political capital/connection, financialinstitutions/bank lending, and financing and investment.  He’s published papers in Journal of Banking andFinance, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Journal of Corporate Finance, andetc.