IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v106y2022ics0264999321002868.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Anti-corruption and CEO compensation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China

Author

Listed:
  • Kong, Dongmin
  • Zhu, Ling
  • Wang, Xin

Abstract

In emerging markets, the externality of political environment is an important factor affecting the design of agent contracts. However, few studies have studied political determinants of incentives in CEO compensation. This study utilizes an exogenous political shock in China (i.e., the investigations of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection) to identify the causal effect of anti-corruption on CEO compensation by using firm-level data during 2000–2016 from China through a difference-in-differences method. By considering the reduction in corruption arising from the shock, we find that CEO compensation substantially increases. Channel analysis reveals that the anti-corruption campaign reduces the negative externalities of corruption and increases incentive efficiency in non-state-owned enterprises. In addition, the effect of the anti-corruption campaign on CEO compensation is particularly pronounced with firms exposing to high corrupt environment, inspection groups having high ability, and CEOs without political connections.

Suggested Citation

  • Kong, Dongmin & Zhu, Ling & Wang, Xin, 2022. "Anti-corruption and CEO compensation: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:106:y:2022:i:c:s0264999321002868
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2021.105697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999321002868
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2021.105697?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. Brick, Ivan E. & Palmon, Oded & Wald, John K., 2006. "CEO compensation, director compensation, and firm performance: Evidence of cronyism?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 403-423, June.
    2. Huang, Qianqian & Yuan, Tao, 2021. "Does Political Corruption Impede Firm Innovation? Evidence from the United States," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 213-248, February.
    3. Xiaping Cao & Michael Lemmon & Xiaofei Pan & Meijun Qian & Gary Tian, 2019. "Political Promotion, CEO Incentives, and the Relationship Between Pay and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 2947-2965, July.
    4. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    5. 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.
    6. Song, Chang-Qing & Chang, Chun-Ping & Gong, Qiang, 2021. "Economic growth, corruption, and financial development: Global evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 822-830.
    7. Desai, Mihir A. & Dyck, Alexander & Zingales, Luigi, 2007. "Theft and taxes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 591-623, June.
    8. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    9. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2005. "Why do some firms give stock options to all employees?: An empirical examination of alternative theories," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 99-133, April.
    10. Mironov, Maxim, 2015. "Should one hire a corrupt CEO in a corrupt country?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 29-42.
    11. Jiahua Xu & Lan Zou, 2019. "The impact of CEO pay and its disclosure on stock price crash risk: evidence from China," China Finance Review International, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(4), pages 479-497, July.
    12. Cao, Xiaping & Wang, Yuchen & Zhou, Sili, 2018. "Anti-corruption campaigns and corporate information release in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 186-203.
    13. Rainer Haselmann & David Schoenherr & Vikrant Vig, 2018. "Rent Seeking in Elite Networks," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(4), pages 1638-1690.
    14. Kevin M. Murphy & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2008. "Why Is Rent-Seeking So Costly to Growth?," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Kai A. Konrad & Arye L. Hillman (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 2, pages 213-218, Springer.
    15. Nemlioglu, Ilayda & Mallick, Sushanta, 2021. "Effective innovation via better management of firms: The role of leverage in times of crisis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    16. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Ho, Shan-Ju, 2020. "Country governance, corruption, and the likelihood of firms’ innovation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 326-338.
    17. Wang, Yuanyuan & You, Jing, 2012. "Corruption and firm growth: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 415-433.
    18. Mariassunta Giannetti & Guanmin Liao & Jiaxing You & Xiaoyun Yu, 2021. "The Externalities of Corruption: Evidence from Entrepreneurial Firms in China," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(3), pages 629-667.
    19. Beck, Paul J. & Maher, Michael W., 1986. "A comparison of bribery and bidding in thin markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-5.
    20. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    21. Melanie Manion, 2016. "Taking China’s anticorruption campaign seriously," Economic and Political Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 3-18, January.
    22. Fisman, Raymond & Svensson, Jakob, 2007. "Are corruption and taxation really harmful to growth? Firm level evidence," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 63-75, May.
    23. 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).
    24. Bai, Min & Wang, Renxiang & Yu, Chia-Feng (Jeffrey) & Zheng, Jianming, 2019. "Limits on executive pay and stock price crash risk: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 206-221.
    25. Liu, Xiaoding, 2016. "Corruption culture and corporate misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 307-327.
    26. Shang, Xiaodan & Luo, Chuanjian & Wen, Qian, 2020. "Do Chinese executives reward for luck?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 318-325.
    27. David Schoenherr, 2019. "Political Connections and Allocative Distortions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 74(2), pages 543-586, April.
    28. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    29. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    30. Ningyu Qian, 2019. "How does anti-corruption affect firm labour inputs? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(8), pages 707-711, May.
    31. Lui, Francis T, 1985. "An Equilibrium Queuing Model of Bribery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 760-781, August.
    32. Bhagat, Sanjai & Bolton, Brian, 2008. "Corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 257-273, June.
    33. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1994. "Politicians and Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 995-1025.
    34. Lu, Jiankun & Zhang, Hongsheng & Meng, Bo, 2021. "Corruption, firm productivity, and gains from import liberalization in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    35. Kong, Dongmin & Wang, Li & Wang, Maobin, 2017. "Effects of anti-corruption on firm performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 190-195.
    36. Tian, Ni & Zhang, Zongyi, 2018. "How do anticorruption measures affect executive incentive?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 179-185.
    37. Dai, Yunhao & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Stouraitis, Aris & Tan, Weiqiang, 2020. "An ill wind? Terrorist attacks and CEO compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 379-398.
    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. 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).
    2. Ji, Mianmian & Lv, Wendai, 2022. "Demonstration zones reform and corporate philanthropy: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Zhou, Zhifang & Han, Shangjie & Huang, Zhiying & Cheng, Xu, 2023. "Anti-corruption and corporate pollution mitigation: Evidence from China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    4. Wu, Kai & Liu, Jiming, 2022. "Purifying political ecology: How anti-corruption campaign affects capital structure decisions?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Siying Yang & Shunyu Ma & Jingjing Lu, 2022. "Can government venture capital guidance funds promote urban innovation? Evidence from China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 753-770, June.
    6. Wang, Zhao & He, Yali & Jiang, Tianqi, 2024. "Does the gender composition of local governments matter for firms’ information environment? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    7. Rind, Asad Ali & Abbassi, Wajih & Allaya, Manel & Hammouda, Amira, 2022. "Local peers and firm misconduct: The role of sustainability and competition," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    8. Li, Bin & Liu, Xiaomei, 2023. "Communist party organization and abnormal compensation of enterprise executives," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    9. Liu, Huan & Hou, Canran, 2023. "The external effect of institutional cross-ownership on excessive managerial perks," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 483-501.
    10. 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.
    11. 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).
    12. Jeffrey A. Chandler & Tsutomu Doiguchi & Oleg V. Petrenko, 2022. "Revisiting the Effect of Internationalization on Firm Governance: A Replication and Extension Study," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(3), pages 351-391, June.
    13. 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).
    14. Tan, Wenhao & Wang, Qiong & Guo, Xiuyuan & Chen, Jiangting, 2022. "Political connections and managerial premiums in the labor market: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    15. Miao, Senlin & Wen, Fenghua & Zhang, Yun, 2022. "Industry tournament incentives and the speed of leverage adjustments: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    16. Qia, Zhang & Yanting, Jin, 2023. "Historical or contemporary causes of corruption: International evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(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. 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.
    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. Tao, Miaomiao & Dagestani, Abd Alwahed & Goh, Lim Thye & Zheng, Yuhang & Le, Wen, 2023. "Do China's anti-corruption efforts improve corporate productivity? A difference-in-difference exploration of Chinese listed enterprises," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 87(PB).
    4. Du, Qingjie & Heo, Yuna, 2022. "Political corruption, Dodd–Frank whistleblowing, and corporate investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Bae, Sung C. & Kwon, Taek Ho & Liu, Chenyang, 2024. "The impact of high-pressure political reforms on state-owned enterprises: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    6. Demir, Firat & Hu, Chenghao & Liu, Junyi & Shen, Hewei, 2022. "Local corruption, total factor productivity and firm heterogeneity: Empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    7. Hu, Juncheng, 2021. "Do facilitation payments affect earnings management? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Cai, Weixing & Hu, Feng & Xu, Fangming & Zheng, Liyi, 2022. "Anti-corruption campaign and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    9. Li, Guangzi & Chan, Kam C., 2021. "Anti-corruption intensity and loan contracting: Evidence from non-state owned firms in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    10. Le, Anh-Tuan & Doan, Anh-Tuan, 2020. "Corruption and financial fragility of small and medium enterprises: International evidence," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 57.
    11. Brzić, Barbara & Dabić, Marina & Kukura, Frane & Podobnik, Boris, 2021. "The effects of corruption and the fraction of private ownership on the productivity of telecommunication companies," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Cheng, Maoyong & Geng, Hongyan, 2021. "Do local firms employ political activities to respond to political uncertainty?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    13. Wu, Jiamei & Chen, Zhibin & Guo, Chong, 2022. "How does anti-corruption affect green innovation? Evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 405-424.
    14. 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).
    15. Yan Leung Cheung & P. Raghavendra Rau & Aris Stouraitis, 2012. "How much do firms pay as bribes and what benefits do they get? Evidence from corruption cases worldwide," NBER Working Papers 17981, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Elisa Gamberoni & Christine Gartner & Claire Giordano & Paloma Lopez-Garcia, 2016. "Is corruption efficiency-enhancing? A case study of nine Central and Eastern European countries," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 331, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    17. Wenwu Cai & Xiaofeng Quan & Gary Gang Tian, 2023. "Local Corruption and Trade Credit: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 563-594, July.
    18. Lee, Mina & Mutlu, Canan & Lee, Seung-Hyun, 2023. "Bribery and Firm Growth: Sensemaking in CEE and Post-Soviet Countries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    19. Lu, Jiankun & Zhang, Hongsheng & Meng, Bo, 2021. "Corruption, firm productivity, and gains from import liberalization in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    20. Ferris, Stephen P. & Hanousek, Jan & Tresl, Jiri, 2021. "Corporate profitability and the global persistence of corruption," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    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:ecmode:v:106:y:2022:i:c:s0264999321002868. 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/inca/30411 .

    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.