Local speculative culture and stock price crash risk

Using unique city gambling conviction data in China as a proxy for a local speculative culture, we examine the impact of such a culture on stock price crash risk. We find that firms in regions with a stronger speculative culture are more likely to experience future stock price crash risk. The results are consistent after using 2SLS regression analysis (IV) and staggered difference-in-difference (DID) analysis to mitigate endogeneity concerns. Further analysis shows that overinvestment, excessive debt, accounting conservatism and charitable donations are the main channels through which local speculative culture affects stock price crash risk. We also find that the positive relationship between local speculative culture and stock price crash risk is more salient for small firms and firms with managers with a cultural backgrounds similar to the local culture. Our study implies that the local culture plays an important role in the practice of corporate governance.