IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v89y2024ipap196-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Information disclosure by industry and the cost of equity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhao, Ling
  • Huang, Hao

Abstract

Based on manually collected data, this study examines the impact of information disclosure by industry (IDI) on firms’ cost of equity. Using a staggered difference-in-difference design, we find that the cost of equity of the firms that adopt IDI regulations is decreased. The results are robust when we address endogeneity and use alternative measurements of the cost of equity. Moreover, this effect is more pronounced in firms with higher individual ownership and located in areas with weak legal environments. The path analysis results show that the enactment of IDI regulations reduces the cost of equity by improving information transparency and reducing the agency cost of management.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Ling & Huang, Hao, 2024. "Information disclosure by industry and the cost of equity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 196-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:196-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.07.094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056023003040
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.07.094?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. Gus De Franco & S.P. Kothari & Rodrigo S. Verdi, 2011. "The Benefits of Financial Statement Comparability," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 895-931, September.
    2. Michael E. Porter, 1992. "Capital Choices: Changing The Way America Invests In Industry," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 5(2), pages 4-16, June.
    3. Matthew Serfling, 2016. "Firing Costs and Capital Structure Decisions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(5), pages 2239-2286, October.
    4. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    5. Michael J. Brennan & Claudia Tamarowski, 2000. "Investor Relations, Liquidity, And Stock Prices," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 12(4), pages 26-37, January.
    6. Hou, Kewei & van Dijk, Mathijs A. & Zhang, Yinglei, 2012. "The implied cost of capital: A new approach," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 504-526.
    7. Fateh Saci & Sajjad Jasimuddin, 2021. "Does the research done by the institutional investors affect the cost of equity capital?," Post-Print halshs-03617379, HAL.
    8. Viral V. Acharya & Ramin P. Baghai & Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, 2014. "Wrongful Discharge Laws and Innovation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 301-346, January.
    9. Paul Gompers & Joy Ishii & Andrew Metrick, 2003. "Corporate Governance and Equity Prices," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(1), pages 107-156.
    10. 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.
    11. Kenneth A. Froot & Andre F. Perold & Jeremy C. Stein, 1992. "Shareholder Trading Practices And Corporate Investment Horizons," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 5(2), pages 42-58, June.
    12. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    13. Yen†Jung Lee, 2012. "The Effect of Quarterly Report Readability on Information Efficiency of Stock Prices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 1137-1170, December.
    14. Jere R. Francis & Dechun Wang, 2008. "The Joint Effect of Investor Protection and Big 4 Audits on Earnings Quality around the World," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(1), pages 157-191, March.
    15. Lawrence, Alastair, 2013. "Individual investors and financial disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 130-147.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1553-1583 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Rjiba, Hatem & Saadi, Samir & Boubaker, Sabri & Ding, Xiaoya (Sara), 2021. "Annual report readability and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    18. Weng, Tzu-Ching & Chi, Hsin-Yi, 2019. "Family succession and business diversification: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 56-81.
    19. 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.
    20. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    21. James S. Ang & Rebel A. Cole & James Wuh Lin, 2000. "Agency Costs and Ownership Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 81-106, February.
    22. Kou, Wenchao & Hussain, Simon, 2007. "Predictive gains to segmental disclosure matrices, geographic information and industry sector comparability," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 183-195.
    23. Leuz, Christian & Nanda, Dhananjay & Wysocki, Peter D., 2003. "Earnings management and investor protection: an international comparison," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 505-527, September.
    24. Jeong‐Bon Kim & Bing Li & Zhenbin Liu, 2019. "Information‐Processing Costs and Breadth of Ownership," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(4), pages 2408-2436, December.
    25. Wang, Kun Tracy & Kartika, Fiki & Wang, Wanbin Walter & Luo, Guqiang, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility, investor protection, and the cost of equity: Evidence from East Asia," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    26. He, William Peng & Lepone, Andrew & Leung, Henry, 2013. "Information asymmetry and the cost of equity capital," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 611-620.
    27. Gu, Lifeng & Wang, Yixin & Yao, Wentao & Zhang, Yilin, 2018. "Stock liquidity and corporate diversification: Evidence from China’s split share structure reform," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 57-80.
    28. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    29. Saci, Fateh & Jasimuddin, Sajjad M., 2021. "Does the research done by the institutional investors affect the cost of equity capital?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    30. Li, Xiaorong & Wang, Steven Shuye & Wang, Xue, 2017. "Trust and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 74-91.
    31. Li, Xiaorong & Luo, Jingbo & Chan, Kam C., 2018. "Political uncertainty and the cost of equity capital," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 215-222.
    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. Guo, Borui & Huang, Xiaoxia, 2024. "Digital transformation tone signal and the cost of equity: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(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. Ni, Xiaoran, 2020. "Does stakeholder orientation matter for earnings management: Evidence from non-shareholder constituency statutes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    2. Guernsey, Scott & Sepe, Simone M. & Serfling, Matthew, 2022. "Blood in the water: The value of antitakeover provisions during market shocks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(3), pages 1070-1096.
    3. Asiri, Mohammed & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Duong, Lien, 2020. "Is corporate tax avoidance associated with investment efficiency?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Institutional investors' horizons and corporate employment decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Rjiba, Hatem & Saadi, Samir & Boubaker, Sabri & Ding, Xiaoya (Sara), 2021. "Annual report readability and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    6. Mousa, Gehan A. & Elamir, Elsayed A.H. & Hussainey, Khaled, 2022. "The effect of annual report narratives on the cost of capital in the Middle East and North Africa: A machine learning approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Zhang, Chenrui & Wang, Yatong, 2024. "Is enterprise digital transformation beneficial to shareholders? Insights from the cost of equity capital," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Harford, Jarrad & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2018. "Do long-term investors improve corporate decision making?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 424-452.
    9. Jiang, Fuxiu & Cai, Xinni & Nofsinger, John R. & Zheng, Xiaojia, 2020. "Can reputation concern restrain bad news hoarding in family firms?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    10. Loureiro, Gilberto & Silva, Sónia, 2022. "Earnings management and stock price crashes post U.S. cross-delistings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Ghouma, Hatem, 2018. "Employee welfare and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 700-725.
    12. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    13. Bhargava, Rahul & Faircloth, Sheri & Zeng, Hongchao, 2017. "Takeover protection and stock price crash risk: Evidence from state antitakeover laws," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 177-184.
    14. Fang, Yiwei & Fornaro, James & Li, Lingxiang & Zhu, Yun, 2018. "The impact of accounting laws and standards on bank risks: Evidence from transition countries," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 103-118.
    15. Ni, Xiaoran & Song, Wei & Yao, Jiaquan, 2020. "Stakeholder orientation and corporate payout policy: Insights from state legal shocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    16. Jian Wang & Yanhuang Huang & Hongrui Feng & Jun Yang, 2023. "The effect of customer concentration on stock sentiment risk," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 565-606, February.
    17. Dang, Man & Puwanenthiren, Premkanth & Truong, Cameron & Henry, Darren & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Audit quality and seasoned equity offerings methods," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Nguyen, Phuong-Anh & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility create shareholder value? The importance of long-term investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    19. Caroline Flammer & Aleksandra Kacperczyk, 2016. "The Impact of Stakeholder Orientation on Innovation: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(7), pages 1982-2001, July.
    20. Obeng, Victoria A. & Ahmed, Kamran & Miglani, Seema, 2020. "Integrated reporting and earnings quality: The moderating effect of agency costs," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information disclosure by industry; Cost of equity; Legal enforcement; Agency cost;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:89:y:2024:i:pa:p:196-212. 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.