IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v93y2024ipbp86-102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short selling and de-zombification: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Tan, Ruipeng
  • Zhu, Wenjun
  • Pan, Lulu
  • Wu, Huaqing

Abstract

We use China's listed firms from 2007 to 2020 as a sample to examine the impact of short selling on firm de-zombification. Results from difference-in-differences analyses show that the exposure to short selling risk impedes the process of de-zombification. The introduction of the short selling hinders de-zombification by leading the firm more dependent on government subsidies. Further analysis shows that the short selling's negative effect on de-zombification mainly comes from politically connected firms, manufacturing firms and larger-scale firms, as they have more access to more government subsidies. Our findings underscore the unintended consequences of short selling in the context of China's capital market and provide valuable insights for the policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Tan, Ruipeng & Zhu, Wenjun & Pan, Lulu & Wu, Huaqing, 2024. "Short selling and de-zombification: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 86-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:93:y:2024:i:pb:p:86-102
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2024.04.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105905602400265X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2024.04.012?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. Jonathan M. Karpoff & Xiaoxia Lou, 2010. "Short Sellers and Financial Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1879-1913, October.
    2. Ricardo J. Caballero & Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2008. "Zombie Lending and Depressed Restructuring in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(5), pages 1943-1977, December.
    3. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    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. Joe Peek & Eric S. Rosengren, 2005. "Unnatural Selection: Perverse Incentives and the Misallocation of Credit in Japan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1144-1166, September.
    6. Zhang, Xiaoqian & Huang, Bin, 2022. "Does bank competition inhibit the formation of zombie firms?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1045-1060.
    7. Alessandro Beber & Marco Pagano, 2013. "Short-Selling Bans Around the World: Evidence from the 2007–09 Crisis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(1), pages 343-381, February.
    8. Li, Hao & Li, Zhisheng & Lin, Bingxuan & Xu, Xiaowei, 2019. "The effect of short sale constraints on analyst forecast quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 338-347.
    9. El Ghoul, Sadok & Fu, Zhengwei & Guedhami, Omrane, 2021. "Zombie firms: Prevalence, determinants, and corporate policies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    10. Ren, Meixu & Zhao, Jinxuan & Zhao, Jingmei, 2023. "Why is it difficult for Chinese companies to operate across regions in China?—Evidence from zombie companies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    11. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    12. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    13. Chen, Xiao & Lee, Chi-Wen Jevons & Li, Jing, 2008. "Government assisted earnings management in China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 262-274.
    14. Shen, Guangjun & Chen, Binkai, 2017. "Zombie firms and over-capacity in Chinese manufacturing," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 327-342.
    15. Doruk Cengiz & Arindrajit Dube & Attila Lindner & Ben Zipperer, 2019. "The Effect of Minimum Wages on Low-Wage Jobs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1405-1454.
    16. Chang, Qingqing & Zhou, Yisihong & Liu, Guangqiang & Wang, Di & Zhang, Xiaojie, 2021. "How does government intervention affect the formation of zombie firms?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 768-779.
    17. Jiang, Jiaoliang, 2022. "Short selling and corporate diversification in emerging markets: Insights from controlling shareholder tunneling," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    18. Alan Ahearne & Naoki Shinada, 2005. "Zombie firms and economic stagnation in Japan," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 363-381, December.
    19. Qiao, Lu & Fei, Junjun, 2022. "Government subsidies, enterprise operating efficiency, and “stiff but deathless” zombie firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    20. Li, Hongbin & Zhou, Li-An, 2005. "Political turnover and economic performance: the incentive role of personnel control in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1743-1762, September.
    21. Liu, Guangqiang & Zhang, Xiaojie & Zhang, Wanting & Wang, Di, 2019. "The impact of government subsidies on the capacity utilization of zombie firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 51-64.
    22. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C. & Zhang, Tianyu, 2015. "Mixing business with politics: Political participation by entrepreneurs in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 220-235.
    23. MARA FACCIO & RONALD W. MASULIS & JOHN J. McCONNELL, 2006. "Political Connections and Corporate Bailouts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2597-2635, December.
    24. Wang, Shu-Feng & Lee, Kuan-Hui & Woo, Min-Cheol, 2017. "Do individual short-sellers make money? Evidence from Korea," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 159-172.
    25. Ekkehart Boehmer & Juan (Julie) Wu, 2013. "Short Selling and the Price Discovery Process," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 287-322.
    26. Hyeog Ug Kwon & Futoshi Narita & Machiko Narita, 2015. "Resource Reallocation and Zombie Lending in Japan in the 1990s," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 18(4), pages 709-732, October.
    27. Miller, Edward M, 1977. "Risk, Uncertainty, and Divergence of Opinion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1151-1168, September.
    28. Hui Ding & Xiaoran Ni & Hongmei Xu, 2021. "Short selling and labor investment efficiency: evidence from the Chinese stock market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2451-2476, April.
    29. Geng, Yong & Liu, Wei & Wu, Yuzhao, 2021. "How do zombie firms affect China’s industrial upgrading?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 79-94.
    30. Jiang, Liangliang & Lin, Chen & Lin, Ping, 2014. "The determinants of pollution levels: Firm-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 118-142.
    31. Li, Hongbin & Meng, Lingsheng & Wang, Qian & Zhou, Li-An, 2008. "Political connections, financing and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese private firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 283-299, October.
    32. Gustavo Grullon & Sébastien Michenaud & James P. Weston, 2015. "The Real Effects of Short-Selling Constraints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1737-1767.
    33. Imai, Kentaro, 2016. "A panel study of zombie SMEs in Japan: Identification, borrowing and investment behavior," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 91-107.
    34. Pedro A. C. Saffi & Kari Sigurdsson, 2011. "Price Efficiency and Short Selling," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 821-852.
    35. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    36. Asher Curtis & Neil L. Fargher, 2014. "Does Short Selling Amplify Price Declines or Align Stocks with Their Fundamental Values?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2324-2340, September.
    37. Jaskowski, Marcin, 2015. "Should zombie lending always be prevented?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 191-203.
    38. Cai, Guowei & Zhang, Xuejiao & Yang, Hao, 2022. "Fiscal stress and the formation of zombie firms: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    39. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1987. "Constraints on short-selling and asset price adjustment to private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 277-311, June.
    40. Matray, Adrien, 2021. "The local innovation spillovers of listed firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 395-412.
    41. Gong, Rong, 2020. "Short selling threat and corporate financing decisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    42. Meng, Qingbin & Li, Xinyu & Chan, Kam C. & Gao, Shenghao, 2020. "Does short selling affect a firm's financial constraints?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    43. David De Angelis & Gustavo Grullon & Sébastien Michenaud, 2017. "The Effects of Short-Selling Threats on Incentive Contracts: Evidence from an Experiment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1627-1659.
    44. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    45. Massimo Massa & Bohui Zhang & Hong Zhang, 2015. "The Invisible Hand of Short Selling: Does Short Selling Discipline Earnings Management?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(6), pages 1701-1736.
    46. Yuyaun Tan & Yiping Huang & Wing Thye Woo, 2016. "Zombie Firms and the Crowding-Out of Private Investment in China," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 32-55, Fall.
    47. Ni, Xiaoran & Yin, Sirui, 2020. "The unintended real effects of short selling in an emerging market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Qiao, Lu & Fei, Junjun, 2022. "Government subsidies, enterprise operating efficiency, and “stiff but deathless” zombie firms," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Stephie Tsai, Hsin-Ju & Wu, Yuliang & Xu, Bin, 2021. "Does capital market drive corporate investment efficiency? Evidence from equity lending supply," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    3. Shangming Yang & Yanjiang Zhang & Jinyuan Zhang & Bochao Zhang, 2024. "Technology accessibility and the local government's incentive to aid zombie firms in China," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 501-523, April.
    4. Bui, Dien Giau & Hasan, Iftekhar & Lin, Chih-Yung & Nguyen, Hong Thoa, 2023. "Short-selling threats and bank risk-taking: Evidence from the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. He, Meng & Bai, Xuelian & Zhang, Junrui, 2024. "Does short selling reduce classification shifting?—— Exploration of market-oriented governance mechanism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Jiang, Jiaoliang, 2022. "Short selling and corporate diversification in emerging markets: Insights from controlling shareholder tunneling," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Xufeng Liu & Die Wan, 2022. "Does short‐selling affect mutual fund shareholdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(S1), pages 1887-1923, April.
    8. Feng, Ling & Lang, Henan & Pei, Tingting, 2022. "Zombie firms and corporate savings: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 551-564.
    9. Ren, Meixu & Zhao, Jinxuan & Zhao, Jingmei, 2023. "The crowding-out effect of zombie companies on fixed asset investment: Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    10. Bessler, Wolfgang & Vendrasco, Marco, 2022. "Short-selling restrictions and financial stability in Europe: Evidence from the Covid-19 crisis," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Li, Xinyu & Wang, Huacheng & Li, Rong, 2023. "A hidden channel of “blood transfusion”: Internal capital market subsidies and zombie firms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(6).
    12. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Jie He & Kam C. Chan, 2023. "Does short sales deregulation affect qualitative information disclosure?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S1), pages 1351-1380, April.
    14. Luo, Jinbo & Ni, Xiaoran & Tian, Gary Gang, 2020. "Short selling and corporate tax avoidance: Insights from a financial constraint view," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    15. Meng, Qingbin & Huang, Haozheng & Li, Xinyu & Wang, Song, 2023. "Short-selling and corporate default risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 398-417.
    16. Geng, Yong & Liu, Wei & Wu, Yuzhao, 2021. "How do zombie firms affect China’s industrial upgrading?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 79-94.
    17. Chen, Shenglan & Chou, Robin K. & Liu, Xiaoling & Wu, Yuhui, 2020. "Deregulation of short-selling constraints and cost of bank loans: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Chen, Shenglan & Lin, Bingxuan & Lu, Rui & Ma, Hui, 2018. "The disciplinary effects of short sales on controlling shareholders," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 56-76.
    19. Mazouz, Khelifa & Wu, Yuliang, 2022. "Why do firm fundamentals predict returns? Evidence from short selling activity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Ni, Xiaoran & Xu, Hongmei, 2023. "Are short selling threats beneficial to creditors? Insights from corporate default risk," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 81(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:reveco:v:93:y:2024:i:pb:p:86-102. 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.