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CEOs' early-life experiences and corporate policy: Evidence from China's great famine

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  • Zhang, Le

Abstract

We examine the style of famine CEOs (CEOs who experienced China's Great Famine) in their corporate policy. By exploiting the variation in famine intensity across provinces, we find that CEOs who experienced more intense famines during their childhood are more risk averse. They use less debt, hold more cash, and perform fewer takeovers. However, their takeovers perform better, and their stock returns are less volatile. Our findings support the view that early-life experience affects CEOs' risk preference.

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  • Zhang, Le, 2017. "CEOs' early-life experiences and corporate policy: Evidence from China's great famine," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA), pages 57-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:46:y:2017:i:pa:p:57-77
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2017.08.004
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    9. Chen, Xiangpo & Hu, Xinyan & Xu, Jinhai, 2023. "When winter is over, its cold remains: Early-life famine experience breeds risk aversion," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Managerial style; Risk preference; Corporate policy; China's Great Famine;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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