IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v86y2023icp570-586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air pollution and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Jie
  • Wang, Wanwan
  • Yuan, Fang

Abstract

Using a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2014 to 2018, we investigate the effect of air pollution on corporate risk-taking. The findings show that air pollution is negatively related to corporate risk-taking in China. The mechanism analyses find that executive incentives and state ownership weaken the negative effect of air pollution on corporate risk-taking, suggesting that inducing negative mood to executives and increasing environmental regulations by local governments are two potential channels. Overall, our study provides evidence on how air pollution affects corporate policy in terms of risk-taking.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Jie & Wang, Wanwan & Yuan, Fang, 2023. "Air pollution and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 570-586.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:86:y:2023:i:c:p:570-586
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.04.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105905602300117X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.04.001?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. Lai, Wangyang & Song, Hong & Wang, Chang & Wang, Huanhuan, 2021. "Air pollution and brain drain: Evidence from college graduates in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Fernando Broner & Paula Bustos & Vasco Carvalho, 2011. "Sources of comparative advantage in polluting industries," Economics Working Papers 1331, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Dec 2019.
    3. Jiekun Huang & Nianhang Xu & Honghai Yu, 2020. "Pollution and Performance: Do Investors Make Worse Trades on Hazy Days?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(10), pages 4455-4476, October.
    4. Wu, Qinin & Lu, Jing, 2020. "Air pollution, individual investors, and stock pricing in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 267-287.
    5. Tan, Zhidong & Yan, Lina, 2021. "Does air pollution impede corporate innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 937-951.
    6. Cull, Robert & Xu, Lixin Colin, 2005. "Institutions, ownership, and finance: the determinants of profit reinvestment among Chinese firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 117-146, July.
    7. Acharya, Viral V. & Amihud, Yakov & Litov, Lubomir, 2011. "Creditor rights and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 150-166, October.
    8. Anthony Heyes & Matthew Neidell & Soodeh Saberian, 2016. "The Effect of Air Pollution on Investor Behavior: Evidence from the S&P 500," NBER Working Papers 22753, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. J. Bradford De Long & Lawrence H. Summers, 1991. "Equipment Investment and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 445-502.
    10. Tom Y. Chang & Joshua Graff Zivin & Tal Gross & Matthew Neidell, 2019. "The Effect of Pollution on Worker Productivity: Evidence from Call Center Workers in China," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 151-172, January.
    11. Boubakri, Narjess & Cosset, Jean-Claude & Saffar, Walid, 2013. "The role of state and foreign owners in corporate risk-taking: Evidence from privatization," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 641-658.
    12. Low, Angie, 2009. "Managerial risk-taking behavior and equity-based compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 470-490, June.
    13. Lo, Carlos W. H. & Fryxell, Gerald E., 2003. "Enforcement Styles Among Environmental Protection Officials in China," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 81-115, January.
    14. Dong, Rui & Fisman, Raymond & Wang, Yongxiang & Xu, Nianhang, 2021. "Air pollution, affect, and forecasting bias: Evidence from Chinese financial analysts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(3), pages 971-984.
    15. Chen Yuyu & Jin Ginger Zhe & Kumar Naresh & Shi Guang, 2012. "Gaming in Air Pollution Data? Lessons from China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 1-43, December.
    16. Levy, Tamir & Yagil, Joseph, 2011. "Air pollution and stock returns in the US," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 374-383, June.
    17. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & John, Kose & Waisman, Maya, 2016. "Urban Agglomeration and CEO Compensation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1925-1953, December.
    18. Li, Kai & Griffin, Dale & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2013. "How does culture influence corporate risk-taking?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-22.
    19. B. Mak Arvin & Byron Lew, 2012. "Life satisfaction and environmental conditions: issues for policy," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 76-90.
    20. Viscusi, W Kip, 1983. "Frameworks for Analyzing the Effects of Risk and Environmental Regulations on Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 793-801, September.
    21. Khaw, Karren Lee-Hwei & Liao, Jing & Tripe, David & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2016. "Gender diversity, state control, and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 141-158.
    22. He, Guojun & Fan, Maoyong & Zhou, Maigeng, 2016. "The effect of air pollution on mortality in China: Evidence from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 18-39.
    23. Simon Gervais & J. B. Heaton & Terrance Odean, 2011. "Overconfidence, Compensation Contracts, and Capital Budgeting," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1735-1777, October.
    24. Lin, Yueh-hsiang & Hu, Shing-yang & Chen, Ming-shen, 2005. "Managerial optimism and corporate investment: Some empirical evidence from Taiwan," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 523-546, November.
    25. Nakano, Makoto & Nguyen, Pascal, 2012. "Board size and corporate risk-taking: Further evidence from Japan," MPRA Paper 38990, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    26. Alexander Ljungqvist & Liandong Zhang & Luo Zuo, 2017. "Sharing Risk with the Government: How Taxes Affect Corporate Risk Taking," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 669-707, June.
    27. Zhang, Weike & Zhang, Xueyuan & Tian, Xiaoli & Sun, Fengwei, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty nexus with corporate risk-taking: The role of state ownership and corruption expenditure," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    28. Wolfram Schlenker & W. Reed Walker, 2016. "Airports, Air Pollution, and Contemporaneous Health," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 83(2), pages 768-809.
    29. R. David Mclean & Mengxin Zhao, 2014. "The Business Cycle, Investor Sentiment, and Costly External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 1377-1409, June.
    30. Siqi Zheng & Xiaonan Zhang & Weizeng Sun & Chengtao Lin, 2019. "Air pollution and elite college graduates’ job location choice: evidence from China," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(2), pages 295-316, October.
    31. Lepori, Gabriele M., 2016. "Air pollution and stock returns: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 25-42.
    32. Serfling, Matthew A., 2014. "CEO age and the riskiness of corporate policies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 251-273.
    33. Petra Christmann & Glen Taylor, 2001. "Globalization and the Environment: Determinants of Firm Self-Regulation in China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(3), pages 439-458, September.
    34. Li, Chao Kevin & Luo, Jin-hui & Soderstrom, Naomi S., 2020. "Air pollution and analyst information production," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    35. Chintrakarn, Pandej, 2008. "Environmental regulation and U.S. states' technical inefficiency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 363-365, September.
    36. Deng, Xin & Gao, Huasheng, 2013. "Nonmonetary Benefits, Quality of Life, and Executive Compensation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(1), pages 197-218, February.
    37. Nikolai Roussanov & Pavel Savor, 2014. "Marriage and Managers' Attitudes to Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2496-2508, October.
    38. 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.
    39. Bargeron, Leonce L. & Lehn, Kenneth M. & Zutter, Chad J., 2010. "Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 34-52, February.
    40. 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.
    41. Gennaro Bernile & Vineet Bhagwat & P. Raghavendra Rau, 2017. "What Doesn't Kill You Will Only Make You More Risk-Loving: Early-Life Disasters and CEO Behavior," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(1), pages 167-206, February.
    42. Hisham Farag & Chris Mallin, 2018. "The influence of CEO demographic characteristics on corporate risk-taking: evidence from Chinese IPOs," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(16), pages 1528-1551, November.
    43. Huangyue Chen & Xiaoping Tan & Qun CAO, 2020. "Air pollution, auditors' pessimistic bias and audit quality: evidence from China," Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(1), pages 74-104, July.
    44. Nguyen, Pascal, 2011. "Corporate governance and risk-taking: Evidence from Japanese firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 278-297, June.
    45. Faccio, Mara & Marchica, Maria-Teresa & Mura, Roberto, 2016. "CEO gender, corporate risk-taking, and the efficiency of capital allocation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 193-209.
    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. Xing, Lu & Han, DongHao & Hui, Xie, 2023. "The impact of carbon policy on corporate risk-taking with a double/debiased machine learning based difference-in-differences approach," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    2. Tao, Yunqing & Kong, Dongmin & Sun, Nan & Li, Xiaofan, 2024. "Social credit and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Deng, Hong & Li, You & Lin, Yongjia, 2023. "Green financial policy and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).
    4. Zhao, Yuanshuang & Dong, Liang & Sun, Yuhang & Ma, Yunning & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "Is air pollution the original sin of firms? The impact of air pollution on firms' ESG scores," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    5. Pan, Zhilei & Li, Shouwei & Li, Jingwei & Gong, Chen, 2024. "Air pollution and bank risk taking: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(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. Fu, Fanjie & Fang, Jing & Zhang, Fan & Yao, Shujie & Ou, Jinghua, 2024. "CEOs' hometown connections and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    2. Jiang, Jiaoliang & Chen, Yulin, 2021. "How does labor protection influence corporate risk-taking? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Xu, Weidong & Gao, Xin & Xu, Hao & Li, Donghui, 2022. "Does global climate risk encourage companies to take more risks?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Hao, Ying & Huang, Lixin & Huang, Yuxiu & Wei, Zi, 2023. "Air quality and CEO cross–regional turnover ——The role of compensation or incentive," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Chen, Xiao & Guo, Gangxing, 2024. "Air pollution and online lender behavior: Evidence from Chinese peer-to-peer lending," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    6. Çolak, Gönül & Korkeamäki, Timo, 2021. "CEO mobility and corporate policy risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    7. He, Feng & Ding, Cong & Yue, Wei & Liu, Guanchun, 2023. "ESG performance and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    8. Yin, Libo & Lu, Man, 2022. "Oil uncertainty and firms' risk-taking," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Wang, Li & Dai, Yunhao & Kong, Dongmin, 2021. "Air pollution and employee treatment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. He Xiao, 2022. "How does air pollution affect corporate information environment?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 987-1016, December.
    11. Su, Yuandong & Lu, Xinjie & Zeng, Qing & Huang, Dengshi, 2022. "Good air quality and stock market returns," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    12. Li, Rong & Liu, Luxi & Qiu, Yun & Tian, Xiaohui, 2024. "Air pollution and stock returns: The cash flow risk channel," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. Yu, Shuangli & Shen, Yuxin & Zhang, Fan & Shen, Yongjian & Xu, Zefeng, 2022. "Air pollution and executive incentive: Evidence from pay-performance sensitivity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    14. Zhang, Cheng & Yang, Chunhong & Liu, Cheng, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate risk-taking: Loss aversion or opportunity expectations," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    15. Shr, Yau-Huo & Hsu, Wen & Hwang, Bing-Fang & Jung, Chau-Ren, 2023. "Air quality and risky behaviors on roads," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    16. Guo, Liwen & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Cook, Sarah, 2024. "Air pollution and education investment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    17. Chang, Jeffery (Jinfan) & Meng, Qingbin & Ni, Xiaoran, 2022. "A tale of riskiness: The real effects of share pledging on the Chinese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. Cao, Yue & Dong, Yizhe & Ma, Diandian & Sun, Li, 2021. "Customer concentration and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    19. Kam C. Chan & Tao Chen & Baohua Liu & Junfeng Wu, 2022. "Air pollution and CEO compensation: Evidence from China," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 448-469, April.
    20. Roy, Suvra & Nguyen, Harvey & Visaltanachoti, Nuttawat, 2023. "Be nice to the air: Severe haze pollution and mutual fund risk," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; Corporate risk-taking; Environmental psychology; Environmental regulation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    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:reveco:v:86:y:2023:i:c:p:570-586. 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/620165 .

    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.