IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v60y2020i4p3681-3707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short‐selling and cost of equity: evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Ning Hu
  • Siqi Lu
  • Tao Ma
  • Jianfang Ye

Abstract

In this study, we take advantage of the gradual lifting of the short‐selling ban in China and find that firms affected by the lifting of the ban experience a lower cost of equity. In addition, the affected firms also incur less earnings management, higher market liquidity and higher investment efficiency. Further evidence shows that firms’ cost of equity increases after their stocks are no longer eligible for short selling. Our inferences are robust to alternative measures of cost of equity, and to using a propensity score‐matched sample. Our study contributes to the literature by providing evidence that short sellers play a monitoring role in the Chinese stock markets and sheds light on the benefits of short selling in emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Ning Hu & Siqi Lu & Tao Ma & Jianfang Ye, 2020. "Short‐selling and cost of equity: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3681-3707, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:60:y:2020:i:4:p:3681-3707
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.12540
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12540
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.12540?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhisheng Li & Bingxuan Lin & Ting Zhang & Chen Chen, 2018. "Does short selling improve stock price efficiency and liquidity? Evidence from a natural experiment in China," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(15), pages 1350-1368, October.
    2. Jonathan M. Karpoff & Xiaoxia Lou, 2010. "Short Sellers and Financial Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1879-1913, October.
    3. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    4. Jose A. Scheinkman & Wei Xiong, 2003. "Overconfidence and Speculative Bubbles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1183-1219, December.
    5. Chang, Eric C. & Luo, Yan & Ren, Jinjuan, 2014. "Short-selling, margin-trading, and price efficiency: Evidence from the Chinese market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 411-424.
    6. Vivian W. Fang & Allen H. Huang & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2016. "Short Selling and Earnings Management: A Controlled Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1251-1294, June.
    7. Eric C. Chang & Joseph W. Cheng & Yinghui Yu, 2007. "Short‐Sales Constraints and Price Discovery: Evidence from the Hong Kong Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(5), pages 2097-2121, October.
    8. Arturo Bris & William N. Goetzmann & Ning Zhu, 2007. "Efficiency and the Bear: Short Sales and Markets Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1029-1079, June.
    9. Alexander, Gordon J. & Peterson, Mark A., 2008. "The effect of price tests on trader behavior and market quality: An analysis of Reg SHO," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 84-111, February.
    10. Pedro A. C. Saffi & Kari Sigurdsson, 2011. "Price Efficiency and Short Selling," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 821-852.
    11. Yinghua Li & Liandong Zhang, 2015. "Short Selling Pressure, Stock Price Behavior, and Management Forecast Precision: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 79-117, March.
    12. Dan A. Simunic & Minlei Ye & Ping Zhang, 2017. "The Joint Effects of Multiple Legal System Characteristics on Auditing Standards and Auditor Behavior," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(1), pages 7-38, March.
    13. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    14. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2002. "Breadth of ownership and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 171-205.
    15. David Hirshleifer & Siew Hong Teoh & Jeff Jiewei Yu, 2011. "Short Arbitrage, Return Asymmetry, and the Accrual Anomaly," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(7), pages 2429-2461.
    16. Sanjay Deshmukh & Keith Jacks Gamble & Keith M. Howe, 2015. "Short Selling and Firm Operating Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 217-236, March.
    17. Robert Battalio & Paul Schultz, 2006. "Options and the Bubble," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(5), pages 2071-2102, October.
    18. Steven N. Kaplan & Tobias J. Moskowitz & Berk A. Sensoy, 2013. "The Effects of Stock Lending on Security Prices: An Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(5), pages 1891-1936, October.
    19. Bradley, Michael & Chen, Dong, 2011. "Corporate governance and the cost of debt: Evidence from director limited liability and indemnification provisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 83-107, February.
    20. Hemang Desai & K. Ramesh & S. Ramu Thiagarajan & Bala V. Balachandran, 2002. "An Investigation of the Informational Role of Short Interest in the Nasdaq Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2263-2287, October.
    21. Hou, Kewei & van Dijk, Mathijs A. & Zhang, Yinglei, 2012. "The implied cost of capital: A new approach," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 504-526.
    22. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    23. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:2205-2223 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Henry, Tyler R. & Kisgen, Darren J. & Wu, Juan (Julie), 2015. "Equity short selling and bond rating downgrades," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 89-111.
    25. Ernan Haruvy & Charles N. Noussair, 2006. "The Effect of Short Selling on Bubbles and Crashes in Experimental Spot Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(3), pages 1119-1157, June.
    26. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    27. Zhi Jin & Bingxuan Lin & Xue Yang & Ting Zhang, 2018. "Accounting conservatism and short selling: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3-4), pages 352-394, March.
    28. Saqib Sharif & Hamish D. Anderson & Ben R. Marshall & Henk Berkman, 2014. "Against the tide: the commencement of short selling and margin trading in mainland China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 54(4), pages 1319-1355, December.
    29. William R. Gebhardt & Charles M. C. Lee & Bhaskaran Swaminathan, 2001. "Toward an Implied Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 135-176, June.
    30. Massimo Massa & Bohui Zhang & Hong Zhang, 2015. "The Invisible Hand of Short Selling: Does Short Selling Discipline Earnings Management?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1701-1736.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Stephie Tsai, Hsin-Ju & Wu, Yuliang & Xu, Bin, 2021. "Does capital market drive corporate investment efficiency? Evidence from equity lending supply," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Meng & Bai, Xuelian & Zhang, Junrui, 2024. "Does short selling reduce classification shifting?—— Exploration of market-oriented governance mechanism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Hae Mi Choi, 2020. "Short‐sale constraints and informational efficiency to private information: A natural experiment," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 625-643, November.
    3. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Ge-zhi Wu & Da-ming You, 2021. "Margin trading, short selling and corporate green innovation," Papers 2107.11255, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2021.
    6. Chen, Shenglan & Chou, Robin K. & Liu, Xiaoling & Wu, Yuhui, 2020. "Deregulation of short-selling constraints and cost of bank loans: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    7. Francis, Bill B. & Samuel, Gilna & Wu, Qiang, 2023. "The impact of short selling on dividend smoothing," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Xufeng Liu & Die Wan, 2022. "Does short‐selling affect mutual fund shareholdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1887-1923, April.
    9. Pavlidis, Efthymios G. & Vasilopoulos, Kostas, 2020. "Speculative bubbles in segmented markets: Evidence from Chinese cross-listed stocks," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    10. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2021. "The 2020 European short-selling ban and the effects on market quality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    11. Nezafat, Mahdi & Schroder, Mark & Wang, Qinghai, 2017. "Short-sale constraints, information acquisition, and asset prices," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 273-312.
    12. Boulton, Thomas J. & Smart, Scott B. & Zutter, Chad J., 2020. "Worldwide short selling regulations and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Hauser, Florian & Huber, Jürgen, 2012. "Short-selling constraints as cause for price distortions: An experimental study," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1279-1298.
    14. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Xinyu & Chan, Kam C. & Gao, Shenghao, 2020. "Does short selling affect a firm's financial constraints?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Wang, Yuchen & Wang, Xiaoming, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty and information intermediary: The case of short seller," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew & McKenzie, Michael D. & Segara, Reuben, 2012. "The impact of naked short selling on the securities lending and equity market," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 81-107.
    17. Shyu, Yih-Wen & Chan, Kam C. & Liang, Hsin-Yu, 2018. "Spillovers of price efficiency and informed trading from short sales to margin purchases in absence of uptick rule," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 163-183.
    18. Frino, Alex & Lecce, Steven & Lepone, Andrew, 2011. "Short-sales constraints and market quality: Evidence from the 2008 short-sales bans," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 225-236, August.
    19. Xiaoxu Ling & Siyuan Yan & Louis T. W. Cheng, 2022. "Investor relations under short‐selling pressure: Evidence from strategic signaling by company site visits," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1145-1174, July.
    20. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Ma, Hui, 2018. "The disciplinary effects of short sales on controlling shareholders," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-76.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:60:y:2020:i:4:p:3681-3707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.