IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v224y2023ics0165176523000241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of political connections in bad times: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Hengxu
  • Zhao, Wenxi

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between political connections and firm financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, we found that politically connected enterprises paid more taxes, employed more employees, and suffered financial performance. This study enriches the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on enterprises and provides suggestions for regulators.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Hengxu & Zhao, Wenxi, 2023. "The role of political connections in bad times: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:224:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523000241
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.110999
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176523000241
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2023.110999?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. Rocca, Maurizio La & Fasano, Francesco & Cappa, Francesco & Neha, Neha, 2022. "The relationship between political connections and firm performance: An empirical analysis in Europe," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    2. Rüdiger Fahlenbrach & Kevin Rageth & René M Stulz, 2021. "How Valuable Is Financial Flexibility when Revenue Stops? Evidence from the COVID-19 Crisis [The risk of being a fallen angel and the corporate dash for cash in the midst of COVID]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(11), pages 5474-5521.
    3. Alexandre Garel & Arthur Petit-Romec, 2021. "Investor rewards to environmental responsibility: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," Post-Print hal-03204216, HAL.
    4. Ren, Zhaomin & Zhang, Xuan & Zhang, Zhekai, 2021. "New evidence on COVID-19 and firm performance," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 213-225.
    5. Jonathan Brogaard & Matthew Denes & Ran Duchin & David Denis, 2021. "Political Influence and the Renegotiation of Government Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(6), pages 3095-3137.
    6. Garel, Alexandre & Petit-Romec, Arthur, 2021. "Investor rewards to environmental responsibility: Evidence from the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Alan D. Jagolinzer & David F. Larcker & Gaizka Ormazabal & Daniel J. Taylor, 2020. "Political Connections and the Informativeness of Insider Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1833-1876, August.
    8. Hu, Shiwei & Zhang, Yuyao, 2021. "COVID-19 pandemic and firm performance: Cross-country evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 365-372.
    9. Amore, Mario Daniele & Bennedsen, Morten, 2013. "The value of local political connections in a low-corruption environment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 387-402.
    10. Huayu Shen & Mengyao Fu & Hongyu Pan & Zhongfu Yu & Yongquan Chen, 2020. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Firm Performance," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(10), pages 2213-2230, August.
    11. Abubakr Saeed & Yacine Belghitar & Ephraim Clark, 2016. "Do Political Connections Affect Firm Performance? Evidence from a Developing Country," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(8), pages 1876-1891, August.
    12. Mara Faccio, 2006. "Politically Connected Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(1), pages 369-386, March.
    13. Li, Kai & Liu, Xing & Mai, Feng & Zhang, Tengfei, 2021. "The Role of Corporate Culture in Bad Times: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(7), pages 2545-2583, November.
    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. Rongda Chen & Jingjing Yu & Chenglu Jin & Xinyang Chen & Liu Yang & Shuonan Zhang, 2024. "Political connection and credit risk of real estate enterprises: evidence from stock market," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Zengfu Li & Liuhua Feng & Zheng Pan & Hafiz M. Sohail, 2022. "ESG performance and stock prices: evidence from the COVID-19 outbreak in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Michelson, Noam, 2023. "The revolving door of former civil servants and firm value: A comprehensive approach," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Rui Wang & Yi-Na Li & Jiuchang Wei, 2022. "Growing in the changing global landscape: the intangible resources and performance of high-tech corporates," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 999-1022, September.
    4. Xu, Nana & Chen, Jiaqi & Zhou, Fangzhao & Dong, Qing & He, Zhifang, 2023. "Corporate ESG and resilience of stock prices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    5. Yi, Yuyang & Zhang, Zongyi & Xiang, Cheng, 2022. "The value of CSR during the COVID-19 crisis: Evidence from Chinese firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Dian Perwitasari & Doddy Setiawan & An Nurrahmawati & Isna Putri Rahmawati, 2022. "Firm Performance during COVID-19 Pandemic: Does Ownership Identity Matter? Evidence from Indonesia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, September.
    7. Peng, Daoju & Colak, Gonul & Shen, Jianfu, 2023. "Lean against the wind: The effect of policy uncertainty on a firm's corporate social responsibility strategy," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Jiao, Anqi & Lu, Juntai, 2024. "Buffing firm innovation by lobbying," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Hsu, Bo-Xiang & Chen, Yi-Min, 2024. "Does corporate social responsibility influence performance persistence? A signal extraction approach with evidence from Fortune 500 companies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    10. Silva, Thiago Christiano & Wilhelm, Paulo Victor Berri & Tabak, Benjamin Miranda, 2022. "The role of non-critical business and telework propensity in international stock markets during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Barbakadze, I., 2023. "With a Little Help from My Friend: Political Connections and Allocation of COVID-19 Aid," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2355, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    12. Glossner, Simon & Matos, Pedro Pinto & Ramelli, Stefano & Wagner, Alexander F., 2022. "Do institutional investors stabilize equity markets in crisis periods? Evidence from COVID-19," CEPR Discussion Papers 15070, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Bongiovanni, Alessio & Fiandrino, Simona, 2024. "Does firm environmental performance mitigate the market reaction to COVID-19 uncertainty?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    14. Rahman, Md Lutfur & Al Mamun, Mohammed Abdullah, 2021. "How resilient are the Asia Pacific financial markets against a global pandemic?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    15. Amore, Mario Daniele & Pelucco, Valerio & Quarato, Fabio, 2022. "Family ownership during the Covid-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    16. Gao, Haoyu & Wen, Huiyu & Wang, Xingjian, 2022. "Pandemic effect on corporate financial asset holdings: Precautionary or return-chasing?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    17. Saeid Homayoun & Mohammad Ali Bagherpour Velashani & Bashaer Khdhair Abbas Alkhafaji & Siham Jabbar Mezher, 2023. "The Effect of COVID-19 on the Performance of SMEs in Emerging Markets in Iran, Iraq and Jordan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-14, May.
    18. Imen Khanchel & Naima Lassoued & Rym Gargoury, 2023. "CSR and firm value: is CSR valuable during the COVID 19 crisis in the French market?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 27(2), pages 575-601, June.
    19. Thomas Braendle & Alois Stutzer, 2017. "Voters and Representatives: How Should Representatives Be Selected?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2017-05, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    20. Torsten Ehlers & Ulrike Elsenhuber & Kumar Jegarasasingam & Eric Jondeau, 2022. "Deconstructing ESG Scores: How to Invest with Your own Criteria," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 22-23, Swiss Finance Institute.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; Political connections; Corporate governance; Firm financial performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance

    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:ecolet:v:224:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523000241. 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/ecolet .

    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.