Saving China’s Stock Market?

We estimate the value creation for the stocks purchased by the Chinese government between the period starting with the market crash in mid-June of 2015 and the market recovery in September. We find that the government intervention increased the value of the rescued non-financial firms by RMB 206 billion after netting out the average purchase cost, which is about 1% of the Chinese GDP in 2014. The short-term value creation came from the increased stock demand, the reduced default probabilities, and the increased liquidity. The intervention may come at a long-run cost of creating moral hazard, preventing price discovery, creating more uncertainty, and damaging government credibility.