IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bracre/v56y2024i5s0890838923001622.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political connections, corruption, and investment decisions of Chinese mutual funds

Author

Listed:
  • He, Chao
  • Kryzanowski, Lawrence

Abstract

We examine the impact of political connections on the investment decisions of Chinese mutual funds. We identify a direct link between mutual funds' political connections and stocks held from the same political network using hand-collected information on the professional backgrounds of Chinese mutual fund managers and fund management company (FMC) shareholders. While mutual funds tend to allocate more investments to stocks based on their political connections, this effect alleviates somewhat after the 2012 anti-corruption campaign. Our findings suggest that anti-corruption campaigns can help reduce the political effects of government-related agencies on fund holdings and contribute to better market fairness.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Chao & Kryzanowski, Lawrence, 2024. "Political connections, corruption, and investment decisions of Chinese mutual funds," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(5).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:bracre:v:56:y:2024:i:5:s0890838923001622
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bar.2023.101300
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890838923001622
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bar.2023.101300?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julian Atanassov, 2013. "Do Hostile Takeovers Stifle Innovation? Evidence from Antitakeover Legislation and Corporate Patenting," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1097-1131, June.
    2. Kong, Dongmin & Tao, Yunqing & Wang, Yanan, 2020. "China's anti-corruption campaign and firm productivity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Liu, Guanchun & Hu, May & Cheng, Chen, 2021. "The information transfer effects of political connections on mitigating policy uncertainty: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy, 2010. "Sell‐Side School Ties," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1409-1437, August.
    5. Joseph D. Piotroski & T.J. Wong, 2012. "Institutions and Information Environment of Chinese Listed Firms," NBER Chapters, in: Capitalizing China, pages 201-242, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Toke S. Aidt, 2009. "Corruption, institutions, and economic development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 25(2), pages 271-291, Summer.
    7. Ping Yu & On Kit Tam & Jing Zhou, 2015. "Does Corporate Governance Matter in the Contractual Form of Fund Management Companies in China?," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(S4), pages 89-103, July.
    8. Gan, Weiyu & Xu, Xixiong, 2019. "Does anti-corruption campaign promote corporate R&D investment? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 292-296.
    9. Golubov, Andrey & Xiong, Nan, 2020. "Post-acquisition performance of private acquirers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Benjamin A. Olken & Rohini Pande, 2012. "Corruption in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 479-509, July.
    11. Lauren Cohen & Breno Schmidt, 2009. "Attracting Flows by Attracting Big Clients," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2125-2151, October.
    12. Kong, Dongmin & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Higher education and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Gao, Huasheng & Zhang, Jin, 2019. "SOX Section 404 and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 759-787, April.
    14. Xu, Gang & Yano, Go, 2017. "How does anti-corruption affect corporate innovation? Evidence from recent anti-corruption efforts in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 498-519.
    15. Xunan Feng & Anders C. Johansson, 2018. "Underpaid and Corrupt Executives in China’s State Sector," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1199-1212, July.
    16. Fan, Ying, 2002. "Questioning guanxi: definition, classification and implications," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(5), pages 543-561, October.
    17. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    18. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    19. González, Felipe & Prem, Mounu, 2018. "The value of political capital: Dictatorship collaborators as business elites," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 217-230.
    20. Jakob Svensson, 2005. "Eight Questions about Corruption," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 19-42, Summer.
    21. Tu, Wenjun & Zheng, Xiaolan & Li, Lei & Lin, Zhiang (John), 2021. "Do Chinese firms benefit from government ownership following cross-border acquisitions?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    22. Hong, Harrison & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2012. "Red and blue investing: Values and finance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19.
    23. Li, Mingsheng & Liu, Desheng & Peng, Hongfeng & Zhang, Luxiu, 2022. "Political connection and its impact on equity market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    24. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    25. Bradley, Daniel & Pantzalis, Christos & Yuan, Xiaojing, 2016. "The influence of political bias in state pension funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(1), pages 69-91.
    26. Xu, Xixiong & Li, Yaoqin & Liu, Xing & Gan, Weiyu, 2017. "Does religion matter to corruption? Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 34-49.
    27. Richard Harris & Shengyu Li, 2019. "Government assistance and total factor productivity: firm-level evidence from China," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 1-27, December.
    28. Adams, Renée & Almeida, Heitor & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Understanding the relationship between founder-CEOs and firm performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 136-150, January.
    29. Hung, Chi-Hsiou D. & Jiang, Yuxiang & Liu, Frank Hong & Tu, Hong & Wang, Senyu, 2017. "Bank political connections and performance in China," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 57-69.
    30. Jun Huang & Albert Y. Wang, 2015. "The Predictability of Managerial Heterogeneities in Mutual Funds," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(4), pages 947-979, October.
    31. Hu, Jinshuai & Jiang, Haiyan & Holmes, Mark, 2019. "Government subsidies and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    32. Jiong Gong & Ping Jiang & Shu Tian, 2016. "Contractual mutual fund governance: the case of China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 543-567, April.
    33. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    34. Aleksandar Andonov & Yael V. Hochberg & Joshua D. Rauh, 2018. "Political Representation and Governance: Evidence from the Investment Decisions of Public Pension Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2041-2086, October.
    35. Delios, Andrew & Zhou, Nan & Xu, Wei Wei, 2008. "Ownership structure and the diversification and performance of publicly-listed companies in China," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(6), pages 473-483.
    36. Hu, Yiming & Xu, Mingxia, 2021. "Xi's anti-corruption campaign and the speed of capital structure adjustment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    37. Martin J. Conyon & Lerong He & Xin Zhou, 2015. "Star CEOs or Political Connections? Evidence from China's Publicly Traded Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3-4), pages 412-443, April.
    38. Chen, Kang, 2004. "Fiscal centralization and the form of corruption in China," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 1001-1009, November.
    39. Atanasov, Vladimir & Black, Bernard, 2016. "Shock-Based Causal Inference in Corporate Finance and Accounting Research," Critical Finance Review, now publishers, vol. 5(2), pages 207-304, December.
    40. Veronika K. Pool & Noah Stoffman & Scott E. Yonker, 2015. "The People in Your Neighborhood: Social Interactions and Mutual Fund Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(6), pages 2679-2732, December.
    41. Kebin Deng & Haijian Zeng & Yushu Zhu, 2019. "Political connection, market frictions and financial constraints: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 59(4), pages 2377-2414, December.
    42. Hao, Zhuoqun & Liu, Yu & Zhang, Jinfan & Zhao, Xiaoxue, 2020. "Political connection, corporate philanthropy and efficiency: Evidence from China’s anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 688-708.
    43. Wang, Fangjun & Xu, Luying & Zhang, Junrui & Shu, Wei, 2018. "Political connections, internal control and firm value: Evidence from China's anti-corruption campaign," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 53-67.
    44. He, Lerong & Wan, Hong & Zhou, Xin, 2014. "How are political connections valued in China? Evidence from market reaction to CEO succession," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 141-152.
    45. John M. Griffin & Clark Liu & Tao Shu, 2022. "Is the Chinese Anticorruption Campaign Authentic? Evidence from Corporate Investigations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7248-7273, October.
    46. Huang, Ying Sophie & Liang, Bing & Wu, Kai, 2021. "Are mutual fund manager skills transferable to private funds?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 614-638.
    47. Chu, Yongqiang, 2021. "Debt Renegotiation and Debt Overhang: Evidence from Lender Mergers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(3), pages 995-1021, May.
    48. Robert F. Radin & William B. Stevenson, 2006. "Comparing Mutual Fund Governance and Corporate Governance," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(5), pages 367-376, September.
    49. Tian, Ni & Zhang, Zongyi, 2018. "How do anticorruption measures affect executive incentive?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 179-185.
    50. Dong, Bin & Torgler, Benno, 2013. "Causes of corruption: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 152-169.
    51. Rui Chen & Zhennan Gao & Xueyong Zhang & Min Zhu, 2018. "Mutual Fund Managers’ Prior Work Experience and Their Investment Skill," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 47(1), pages 3-24, March.
    52. On K. Tam & Jing Zhou & Ping Yu, 2019. "Board effectiveness in Chinese fund management companies," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 479-492, August.
    53. Wenfeng Wu & Sofia A. Johan & Oliver M. Rui, 2016. "Institutional Investors, Political Connections, and the Incidence of Regulatory Enforcement Against Corporate Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(4), pages 709-726, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chao He & Lawrence Kryzanowski & Yunfei Zhao, 2023. "Political connections of Chinese fund management companies and fund performance," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(3), pages 597-627, August.
    2. Shenghui Tong, 2022. "Corruption and anti‐corruption in China: a review and future research agenda," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 36(1), pages 3-16, May.
    3. Boubaker, Sabri & Liu, Pei-Zhi & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun, 2024. "Do anti-corruption campaigns affect corporate environmental responsibility? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Yi, Shangkun & Wang, Jian & Wang, Xiaoting & Feng, Hongrui, 2022. "CEO political connection and stock sentiment beta: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Lin, Shu & Tian, Shu & Zheng, Lu, 2022. "Friend or foe: On a common shareholder relationship between mutual funds and public companies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Feng, Qianbin & Hu, Xiao & Deng, Xinyi & Lu, Jun, 2023. "Anti-corruption campaign and capacity utilization of state-owned enterprises: Evidence from China’s central committee inspection," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 319-346.
    7. Wang, Xiaoxiao, 2023. "Bank affiliation and mutual funds’ trading strategy distinctiveness," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Itzhak Ben-David & Francesco Franzoni & Rabih Moussawi & John Sedunov, 2021. "The Granular Nature of Large Institutional Investors," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(11), pages 6629-6659, November.
    9. Ammann, Manuel & Cochardt, Alexander Elmar & Straumann, Simon & Weigert, Florian, 2022. "Back to the roots: Ancestral origin and mutual fund manager portfolio choice," CFR Working Papers 22-04, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    10. Zhou, Kuo & Luo, Haotian & Ye, Diyu & Tao, Yunqing, 2022. "The power of anti-corruption in environmental innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    11. Li-Xin Wang, 2016. "Modeling Stock Price Dynamics with Fuzzy Opinion Networks," Papers 1602.06213, arXiv.org.
    12. Yang, Cheng & Zhang, Wenzhe & Sheng, Yan & Yang, Zhiqing, 2021. "Corruption and firm efforts on environmental protection: Evidence from a policy shock," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    13. Kong, Gaowen & Huang, Jiating & Ma, Guangyuan, 2023. "Anti-corruption and within-firm pay gap: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. John M. Griffin & Clark Liu & Tao Shu, 2022. "Is the Chinese Anticorruption Campaign Authentic? Evidence from Corporate Investigations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7248-7273, October.
    15. Chen, Honghui & Qu, Yuanyu & Shen, Tao & Wang, Qinghai, 2024. "Soft information in portfolio management," SocArXiv 84tfm, Center for Open Science.
    16. He, Wenjian & Chen, Xiaoyang & Liu, Zhiyong John, 2022. "Can anti-corruption help realize the “strong” Porter Hypothesis in China? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Chen Ma & Maoyong Cheng & Gerald J. Lobo, 2024. "How Do Tax Agents Respond to Anti-corruption Intensity?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 137-164, February.
    18. Yiyuan Ma & Youzhi Xiao, 2022. "The Substitution Effect of Chinese Anti-Corruption “Alcohol Ban”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-13, June.
    19. Marshall A. Geiger & Sami Keskek & Abdullah Kumas, 2022. "Trading concentration and industry-specific information: an analysis of auto complaints," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 913-937, October.
    20. Liang, Quanxi & Jin, Qi & Lu, Meiting & Shan, Yaowen, 2023. "When school ties meet geography: Education-province bias in mutual fund portfolios," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Politically connected funds and holdings; Fund management company ownership; Work experience in political entities; Anti-corruption campaign; Market fairness;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility

    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:eee:bracre:v:56:y:2024:i:5:s0890838923001622. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-british-accounting-review .

    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.