IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v89y2026icp228-248.html

Mandatory industry disclosure and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from Chinese listed firms

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Limin
  • Gu, Yu
  • Yu, Ying
  • Pan, Lu

Abstract

Corporate tax avoidance undermines public finances and is widely deemed unethical, raising the question of whether greater corporate transparency can mitigate it. We investigate whether a Chinese stock exchange mandate for industry-specific disclosures can serve as an effective policy tool to curb corporate tax avoidance. Using panel data on Chinese A-share firms from 2007 to 2019 and a difference-in-differences design, we find that firms subject to the disclosure requirement experienced a significant decline in tax avoidance. We attribute this reduction to enhanced transparency and oversight, which heighten detection risk and increase the costs of aggressive tax planning. Consistent with this mechanism, the deterrent effect is most pronounced among firms with weaker external monitoring. Overall, our findings highlight regulatory disclosure as an effective governance tool, offering practical insights for policymakers seeking to strengthen corporate transparency and reduce tax avoidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Limin & Gu, Yu & Yu, Ying & Pan, Lu, 2026. "Mandatory industry disclosure and corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 228-248.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:89:y:2026:i:c:p:228-248
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.12.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592625004916
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2025.12.008?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

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:ecanpo:v:89:y:2026:i:c:p:228-248. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    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.