IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v70y2021ics0929119921001784.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of the media on government decisions: Evidence from IPOs in China

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Yuanpeng
  • Shi, Haina
  • Zhou, Yi

Abstract

In contrast to most developed countries that use registration systems, China has implemented an approval system for initial public offering (IPO) applications. As this IPO approval system involves more than a compliance test, the process allows regulators to exercise a large degree of discretion, which provides an opportunity to observe regulators' decision making in capital markets. We examine the outcomes of firms' IPO applications from 2008 to 2014 and find evidence that the media influence regulators' decisions on IPO applications. Specifically, firms that experience negative news coverage are more likely to have their IPO applications rejected. Negative news influences government decisions via both information and monitoring roles. The political connections of a firm can alleviate an adverse outcome from negative news. Moreover, negative news predicts a higher probability of committing fraud as well as lower earnings persistence in the post-IPO period. The evidence from the post-IPO period suggests that the media help improve the efficiency of regulators' decision making. Our results are robust to controlling for endogeneity issues and to adopting alternative measures of news negativity and an alternative sample.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Yuanpeng & Shi, Haina & Zhou, Yi, 2021. "The influence of the media on government decisions: Evidence from IPOs in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s0929119921001784
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119921001784
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2021.102056?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. Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1093-1135, June.
    2. Paul C. Tetlock & Maytal Saar‐Tsechansky & Sofus Macskassy, 2008. "More Than Words: Quantifying Language to Measure Firms' Fundamentals," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1437-1467, June.
    3. Gregory S. Miller, 2006. "The Press as a Watchdog for Accounting Fraud," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1001-1033, December.
    4. Joel Peress, 2014. "The Media and the Diffusion of Information in Financial Markets: Evidence from Newspaper Strikes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(5), pages 2007-2043, October.
    5. Borochin, Paul & Cu, Wei Hua, 2018. "Alternative corporate governance: Domestic media coverage of mergers and acquisitions in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 1-25.
    6. Nicky J. Ferguson & Dennis Philip & Herbert Y. T. Lam & Jie Michael Guo, 2015. "Media Content and Stock Returns: The Predictive Power of Press," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    7. Lili Dai & Jerry T. Parwada & Bohui Zhang, 2015. "The Governance Effect of the Media's News Dissemination Role: Evidence from Insider Trading," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 331-366, May.
    8. Correia, Maria M., 2014. "Political connections and SEC enforcement," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 241-262.
    9. Loughran, Tim & McDonald, Bill, 2013. "IPO first-day returns, offer price revisions, volatility, and form S-1 language," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 307-326.
    10. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    11. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    12. Tracy Yue Wang & Andrew Winton & Xiaoyun Yu, 2010. "Corporate Fraud and Business Conditions: Evidence from IPOs," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2255-2292, December.
    13. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    14. Timothy Besley & Andrea Prat, 2006. "Handcuffs for the Grabbing Hand? Media Capture and Government Accountability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 720-736, June.
    15. Joe, Jennifer R. & Louis, Henock & Robinson, Dahlia, 2009. "Managers’ and Investors’ Responses to Media Exposure of Board Ineffectiveness," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 579-605, June.
    16. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    17. Hartley, Thomas & Russett, Bruce, 1992. "Public Opinion and the Common Defense: Who Governs Military Spending in the United States?," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(4), pages 905-915, December.
    18. Jiaxing You & Bohui Zhang & Le Zhang, 2018. "Who Captures the Power of the Pen?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 43-96.
    19. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    20. Liu, Qigui & Tang, Jinghua & Tian, Gary Gang, 2013. "Does political capital create value in the IPO market? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 395-413.
    21. Diego García, 2013. "Sentiment during Recessions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1267-1300, June.
    22. Lily Fang & Joel Peress, 2009. "Media Coverage and the Cross‐section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2023-2052, October.
    23. Vikramaditya Khanna & E. Han Kim & Yao Lu, 2015. "CEO Connectedness and Corporate Fraud," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(3), pages 1203-1252, June.
    24. Joseph D. Piotroski & T. J. Wong & Tianyu Zhang, 2015. "Political Incentives to Suppress Negative Information: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 405-459, May.
    25. Wu, Yanling & Tian, Gary Gang, 2021. "Public relations expenditure, media tone, and regulatory decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    26. Bei Qin & David Strömberg & Yanhui Wu, 2018. "Media Bias in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(9), pages 2442-2476, September.
    27. Aharony, J & Lee, CWJ & Wong, TJ, 2000. "Financial packaging of IPO firms in China," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 103-126.
    28. Fang, Junxiong & Shi, Haina & Xu, Haoping, 2012. "The determinants and consequences of IPOs in a regulated economy: Evidence from China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 131-150.
    29. Riordan, Ryan & Storkenmaier, Andreas & Wagener, Martin & Sarah Zhang, S., 2013. "Public information arrival: Price discovery and liquidity in electronic limit order markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1148-1159.
    30. Chao Chen & Haina Shi & Haoping Xu, 2013. "Underwriter Reputation, Issuer Ownership, and Pre-IPO Earnings Management: Evidence from China," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 42(3), pages 647-677, September.
    31. Laura Xiaolei Liu & Ann E. Sherman & Yong Zhang, 2014. "The Long-Run Role of the Media: Evidence from Initial Public Offerings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1945-1964, August.
    32. Chen, Donghua & Guan, Yuyan & Zhang, Tianyu & Zhao, Gang, 2017. "Political connection of financial intermediaries: Evidence from China's IPO market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 15-31.
    33. Alan Guoming Huang & Hongping Tan & Russ Wermers & Wei Jiang, 2020. "Institutional Trading around Corporate News: Evidence from Textual Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(10), pages 4627-4675.
    34. Poirier, Dale J., 1980. "Partial observability in bivariate probit models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 209-217, February.
    35. 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.
    36. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Galpin, Neal & Ray, Rina & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2009. "The Role of the Media in the Internet IPO Bubble," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 657-682, June.
    37. Paul C. Tetlock, 2010. "Does Public Financial News Resolve Asymmetric Information?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(9), pages 3520-3557.
    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. Feng, Jie & Pan, Wanbin & Tao, Libin & Hu, Wenjing, 2024. "COVID-19 media sentiment and IPO underpricing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    2. Cheng, Zijian & Liu, Zhangxin (Frank) & Wang, Isabel Zhe & Zhao, Xingju, 2024. "Reverse merger audit fee premium: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    3. Wu, Shanshan & Zhang, Jing & Elliott, Robert J.R., 2023. "Green securities policy and the environmental performance of firms: Assessing the impact of China's pre-IPO environmental inspection policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    4. Junkun Zhao & Zhe Shen & Yong Huang, 2023. "IPO suspension and pricing: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 5143-5182, December.
    5. Zhang, Xiaoying & Lin, Ling & Xiao, Min & Yang, Jing, 2024. "Do auditors care about what retail investors say? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    6. Lyu, Huaili & Jia, Wanjiao & Tan, Xiulin, 2023. "Individual investment banker human capital and SEO discount: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(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. Wu, Yanling & Tian, Gary Gang, 2021. "Public relations expenditure, media tone, and regulatory decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Jiamin Wang & Qian Li & Chenmeng Lai & Victor Song, 2024. "Corporate fraud, political connections, and media bias: Evidence from China," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(2), pages 319-353, April.
    3. Yang, Shuai & Wu, Chao, 2021. "Do Chinese managers listen to the media?: Evidence from mergers and acquisitions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Buehlmaier, Matthias M. M. & Zechner, Josef, 2016. "Financial media, price discovery, and merger arbitrage," CFS Working Paper Series 551, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    5. Jacobs, Heiko, 2020. "Hype or help? Journalists’ perceptions of mispriced stocks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 550-565.
    6. Bajo, Emanuele & Raimondo, Carlo, 2017. "Media sentiment and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 139-153.
    7. Liao, Rose & Wang, Xinjie & Wu, Ge, 2021. "The role of media in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Ji Sun & Yi Zhou & Jiaguo (George) Wang & Jie (Michael) Guo, 2020. "Influence of media coverage and sentiment on seasoned equity offerings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 557-585, April.
    9. Dang, Tung Lam & Dang, Man & Hoang, Luong & Nguyen, Lily & Phan, Hoang Long, 2020. "Media coverage and stock price synchronicity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Baloria, Vishal P. & Heese, Jonas, 2018. "The effects of media slant on firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 184-202.
    11. Hossain, Md Miran & Mammadov, Babak & Vakilzadeh, Hamid, 2024. "Friends in media: Implications of media connections for analyst forecast optimism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    12. Dang, Tung Lam & Dang, Viet Anh & Moshirian, Fariborz & Nguyen, Lily & Zhang, Bohui, 2019. "News media coverage and corporate leverage adjustments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    13. Lili Dai & Rui Shen & Bohui Zhang, 2021. "Does the media spotlight burn or spur innovation?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 343-390, March.
    14. Di Giuli, Alberta & Laux, Paul A., 2022. "The effect of media-linked directors on financing and external governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 103-131.
    15. Wu, Chunying & Xiong, Xiong & Gao, Ya, 2022. "The role of different information sources in information spread: Evidence from three media channels in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 327-341.
    16. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Jia, Ming & Ruan, Hongfei & Zhang, Zhe, 2017. "How rumors fly," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 33-45.
    18. Aman, Hiroyuki & Moriyasu, Hiroshi, 2022. "Effect of corporate disclosure and press media on market liquidity: Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Bai, Jing & Tang, Xuesong & Zheng, Yuxin, 2023. "Serving the truth: Do directors with media background improve financial reporting quality?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    20. Onur Bayar & Emre Kesici, 2024. "The impact of social media on venture capital financing: evidence from Twitter interactions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 195-224, January.

    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:corfin:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s0929119921001784. 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: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.