IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v70y2021ics1043951x21001218.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CEO experience and corporate financing decisions: Evidence from a natural experiment in China

Author

Listed:
  • Hao, Ying
  • Huang, Yuxiu
  • Cui, Xuegang
  • Liu, Qiang
  • Zhang, Yuwen

Abstract

Using the unique setting in China's economic transition and market reform, we investigate whether CEOs' experience regarding an economic boom affect corporate financing decisions. Economic booming, as a result of China's reform and open policy since 1978, affects individual risk preferences and decision behavior for those who grew up during the reform process. We find that Reform-and-Opening CEOs, who experience the reform and open-up era early in life, implement more aggressive capital structure policies and maintain higher leverage compared to Planned Economy CEOs. Furthermore, we determine that Reform-and-Opening CEOs tend to conduct debt issuance more frequently to cover financing needs as they can better deal with the liquidity risk of debt financing and confront the pressures arising from frequent monitoring by the debt markets. Using the stagewise regression, we find a cumulative effect of early growth experience. We also use the common trend test and placebo tests to deal with the concern that Reform-and-Opening CEOs pursue significantly more aggressive financial policies relevant to the systematic differences. Additional tests rule out the possibility that our results are driven by industry competition, state ownership, and educational ideology.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao, Ying & Huang, Yuxiu & Cui, Xuegang & Liu, Qiang & Zhang, Yuwen, 2021. "CEO experience and corporate financing decisions: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s1043951x21001218
    DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2021.101703
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X21001218
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.chieco.2021.101703?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. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2005. "CEO Overconfidence and Corporate Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2661-2700, December.
    2. Fabian Waldinger, 2012. "Peer Effects in Science: Evidence from the Dismissal of Scientists in Nazi Germany," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 79(2), pages 838-861.
    3. Allen, Franklin & Qian, Jun & Qian, Meijun, 2005. "Law, finance, and economic growth in China," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 57-116, July.
    4. Ciarreta Antuñano, Aitor & Zárraga Alonso, Ainhoa, 2007. "Electricity consumption and economic growth: evidence from Spain," BILTOKI 1134-8984, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Economía Aplicada III (Econometría y Estadística).
    5. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    6. Paul H. Malatesta & Kathryn L. DeWenter, 2001. "State-Owned and Privately Owned Firms: An Empirical Analysis of Profitability, Leverage, and Labor Intensity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 320-334, March.
    7. Lawrence J. Lau & Yingyi Qian & Gerard Roland, 2000. "Reform without Losers: An Interpretation of China's Dual-Track Approach to Transition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 120-143, February.
    8. Lewellen, Katharina, 2006. "Financing decisions when managers are risk averse," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 551-589, December.
    9. Alberto Alesina & Nicola Fuchs-Schundeln, 2005. "Good bye Lenin (or not?): The effect of Communism on people's preferences," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2076, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    10. Li, Kai & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2009. "Ownership, institutions, and capital structure: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 471-490, September.
    11. Carolyn P. Egri & David A. Ralston, 2004. "Generation Cohorts and Personal Values: A Comparison of China and the United States," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(2), pages 210-220, April.
    12. Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2003. "Do Better Institutions Mitigate Agency Problems? Evidence from Corporate Finance Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 185-212, March.
    13. Ulrike Malmendier & Stefan Nagel, 2011. "Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 126(1), pages 373-416.
    14. 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.
    15. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    16. Boycko, Maxim & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1996. "A Theory of Privatisation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 309-319, March.
    17. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C., 2018. "Living through the Great Chinese Famine: Early-life experiences and managerial decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 638-657.
    18. David A Ralston & Carolyn P Egri & Sally Stewart & Robert H Terpstra & Yu Kaicheng, 1999. "Doing Business in the 21st Century with the New Generation of Chinese Managers: A Study of Generational Shifts in Work Values in China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 415-427, June.
    19. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    20. David D. Li, 1998. "Changing Incentives of the Chinese Bureaucracy," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 130, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    21. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    22. Ibrahim Bostan & G. Mujtaba Mian, 2019. "Inventor Chief Executive Officers and Firm Innovation," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 247-286, June.
    23. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    24. John R. Graham & Sonali Hazarika & Krishnamoorthy Narasimhan, 2011. "Financial Distress in the Great Depression," NBER Working Papers 17388, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    25. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1994. "Politicians and Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 109(4), pages 995-1025.
    27. Naughton, Barry, 1994. "Chinese Institutional Innovation and Privatization from Below," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 266-270, May.
    28. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    29. Peter MacKay & Gordon M. Phillips, 2005. "How Does Industry Affect Firm Financial Structure?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1433-1466.
    30. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    31. Tan, Justin, 2001. "Innovation and risk-taking in a transitional economy: A comparative study of chinese managers and entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 359-376, July.
    32. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Mark T. Leary & Michael R. Roberts, 2014. "Do Peer Firms Affect Corporate Financial Policy?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 139-178, February.
    34. Alberto Alesina & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, 2007. "Goodbye Lenin (or Not?): The Effect of Communism on People," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1507-1528, September.
    35. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    36. Mayer-Haug, Katrin & Read, Stuart & Brinckmann, Jan & Dew, Nicholas & Grichnik, Dietmar, 2013. "Entrepreneurial talent and venture performance: A meta-analytic investigation of SMEs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1251-1273.
    37. Frank, Murray Z. & Goyal, Vidhan K., 2003. "Testing the pecking order theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 217-248, February.
    38. Una Okonkwo Osili & Anna L. Paulson, 2008. "Institutions and Financial Development: Evidence from International Migrants in the United States," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 498-517, August.
    39. Antoinette Schoar & Luo Zuo, 2017. "Shaped by Booms and Busts: How the Economy Impacts CEO Careers and Management Styles," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1425-1456.
    40. Tan, Justin, 2005. "Venturing in turbulent water: a historical perspective of economic reform and entrepreneurial transformation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 689-704, September.
    41. Steven N. Kaplan & Mark M. Klebanov & Morten Sorensen, 2012. "Which CEO Characteristics and Abilities Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 973-1007, June.
    42. 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.
    43. Niţoi, Mihai & Clichici, Dorina & Moagăr-Poladian, Simona, 2019. "The effects of prudential policies on bank leverage and insolvency risk in Central and Eastern Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 148-160.
    44. John R. Graham & Sonali Hazarika & Krishnamoorthy Narasimhan, 2011. "Financial Distress in the Great Depression," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 821-844, December.
    45. Chu, Yongqiang & Liu, Ming & Ma, Tao & Li, Xinming, 2020. "Executive compensation and corporate risk-taking: Evidence from private loan contracts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    46. Antoinette Schoar & Luo Zuo, 2016. "Does the Market Value CEO Styles?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 262-266, May.
    47. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    48. Long, Wenbin & Tian, Gary Gang & Hu, Jun & Yao, Daifei (Troy), 2020. "Bearing an imprint: CEOs' early-life experience of the Great Chinese Famine and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    49. Li, David D, 1998. "Changing Incentives of the Chinese Bureaucracy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 393-397, May.
    50. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2017. "Military experience and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 141-184, March.
    51. Wang, Qian & Wong, T.J. & Xia, Lijun, 2008. "State ownership, the institutional environment, and auditor choice: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 112-134, September.
    52. John McMillan & Christopher Woodruff, 2002. "The Central Role of Entrepreneurs in Transition Economies," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 153-170, Summer.
    53. 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.
    54. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jon Yan, 2011. "Overconfidence and Early‐Life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1687-1733, October.
    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. Liu, Yang & Zhang, Han & Zhang, Fukang, 2023. "CEO's poverty imprints and corporate financial fraud: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 81(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. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    2. Ebrahim, M. Shahid & Girma, Sourafel & Shah, M. Eskandar & Williams, Jonathan, 2014. "Dynamic capital structure and political patronage: The case of Malaysia," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 117-128.
    3. Hao, Ying & Li, Junyi & Cui, Xuegang & Ni, Juan, 2023. "CEO experience, managerial overconfidence and investment efficiency: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    5. Pindado, Julio & Requejo, Ignacio & Rivera, Juan C., 2017. "Economic forecast and corporate leverage choices: The role of the institutional environment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 121-144.
    6. Kuang Kuang Deng & Siu Kei Wong & Kwong Wing Chau, 2018. "Institutions and Capital Structure: The Case of Chinese Property Firms," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 352-385, April.
    7. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jonathan Yan, 2010. "Overconfidence and Early-life Experiences: The Impact of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," NBER Working Papers 15659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Huyghebaert, Nancy & Quan, Qi & Sun, Lijian, 2014. "Financing decisions after partial privatization in China: Can a stock market quotation really provide discipline?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 27-46.
    9. Elena Alexandra Nenu & Georgeta Vintilă & Ştefan Cristian Gherghina, 2018. "The Impact of Capital Structure on Risk and Firm Performance: Empirical Evidence for the Bucharest Stock Exchange Listed Companies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-29, April.
    10. Muhammad Yusuf Amin & Amanat Ali & Bashir Khan, 2019. "Capital Structure of Chinese Firms Across different Sectors: Does Ownership Structure Matter?," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 4(2), pages 70-82, June.
    11. Li, Larry & Islam, Silvia Z., 2019. "Firm and industry specific determinants of capital structure: Evidence from the Australian market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 425-437.
    12. Sanyal, Paroma & Bulan, Laarni T., 2011. "Regulatory risk, market uncertainties, and firm financing choices: Evidence from U.S. Electricity Market Restructuring," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 248-268, June.
    13. Li, Kai & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2009. "Ownership, institutions, and capital structure: Evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 471-490, September.
    14. Vidhan K. Goyal & Frank Packer, 2017. "Capital Structure in Emerging Asia," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2017-48, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Dec 2017.
    15. G. Oka Warmana & I. Ketut Rahyuda & Ida Bagus Anom Purbawangsa & Ni Luh Gede Sri Artini, 2020. "Investigating Capital Structure Speed of Adjustment (SOA) of Indonesian Companies for Corporate Value," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 21(3), pages 215-231, September.
    16. Sabri Boubaker & Taher Hamza, 2014. "Does managerial overconfidence matter in explaining debt financing policy?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(4), pages 2324-2339.
    17. Jiyoon Lee, 2021. "Information Asymmetry, Mispricing, and Security Issuance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(6), pages 3401-3446, December.
    18. Elsas, Ralf & Florysiak, David, 2008. "Empirical Capital Structure Research: New Ideas, Recent Evidence, and Methodological Issues," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 4743, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    19. Ridha Esghaier, 2017. "Capital Structure Choices and Behavioral Biases: An Application to a Panel of US Industrial Companies," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 608-622.
    20. Soon Suk Yoon & Hyo Jin Kim & Hongbok Lee & Doug Waggle, 2017. "Financing preferences: evidence from the Korean market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(44), pages 4501-4520, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Early growth experiences; Corporate financing decisions; Prosperous era;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    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:chieco:v:70:y:2021:i:c:s1043951x21001218. 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/chieco .

    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.