IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ememar/v50y2022ics1566014121000315.html

Institutional conditions, economic policy uncertainty and foreign institutional investment in China

Author

Listed:
  • He, Lerong
  • Huang, Liying
  • Fang, Liting

Abstract

This paper investigates the influence of host and home country institutional conditions on foreign institutional investment. Utilizing longitudinal and multilevel data on foreign institutional investment in Chinese listed firms between 2004 and 2017, we document that foreign institutional investment decreases with increasing economic policy uncertainty in the host nation. We also find that foreign institutional investors respond more strongly to local economic policy uncertainty when their home nations are closer to China, are culturally and administratively similar to China, operate a smaller domestic stock market, and have weaker minority shareholder protection. The impact of economic policy uncertainty on foreign institutional investment is also stronger when the host nation institution is more developed and open.. Moreover, we reveal the mediating role of stock market volatility on this relationship. Overall, we document that foreign institutional investment is not only shaped by institutional conditions in the host country but also influenced by home country characteristics that define geographical and institutional distance between home and host nations.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Lerong & Huang, Liying & Fang, Liting, 2022. "Institutional conditions, economic policy uncertainty and foreign institutional investment in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ememar:v:50:y:2022:i:c:s1566014121000315
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ememar.2021.100823
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1566014121000315
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ememar.2021.100823?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Yun & Luk, Paul, 2020. "Measuring economic policy uncertainty in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Fergusson, Michael J. & McGuinness, Paul B., 2004. "Chinese securities reform: The role of QFII in the corporate governance process," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 53-61.
    3. John M. Griffin & Federico Nardari & René M. Stulz, 2004. "Are Daily Cross-Border Equity Flows Pushed or Pulled?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(3), pages 641-657, August.
    4. Srilata Zaheer & Margaret Spring Schomaker & Lilach Nachum, 2012. "Distance without direction: Restoring credibility to a much-loved construct," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(1), pages 18-27, January.
    5. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene, 2005. "The determinants of cross-border equity flows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 269-296, March.
    6. Korkeamäki, Timo & Virk, Nader & Wang, Haizhi & Wang, Peng, 2019. "Learning Chinese? The changing investment behavior of foreign institutions in the Chinese stock market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 190-203.
    7. Christopher F Baum & Mark E. Schaffer & Steven Stillman, 2003. "Instrumental variables and GMM: Estimation and testing," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, March.
    8. Heather Berry & Mauro F Guillén & Nan Zhou, 2010. "An institutional approach to cross-national distance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(9), pages 1460-1480, December.
    9. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro & Pereira, João Pedro & Pires, Pedro, 2017. "Do locals know better? A comparison of the performance of local and foreign institutional investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 151-164.
    10. R. Gaston Gelos & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2005. "Transparency and International Portfolio Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2987-3020, December.
    11. Brian J. Bushee, 2001. "Do Institutional Investors Prefer Near†Term Earnings over Long†Run Value?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 207-246, June.
    12. Ningyue Liu & Don Bredin & Liming Wang & Zhihong Yi, 2014. "Domestic and foreign institutional investors' behavior in China," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7-9), pages 728-751, September.
    13. Alderighi, Stefano & Cleary, Siobhan & Varanasi, Padmasai, 2019. "Do institutional factors influence cross-border portfolio equity flows? New evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    14. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    15. Huang, Wei & Zhu, Tao, 2015. "Foreign institutional investors and corporate governance in emerging markets: Evidence of a split-share structure reform in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 312-326.
    16. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    17. Peter W. Liesch & Lawrence S. Welch & Peter J. Buckley, 2011. "Risk and Uncertainty in Internationalisation and International Entrepreneurship Studies," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(6), pages 851-873, December.
    18. Wang, Yizhong & Wei, Yueling & Song, Frank M., 2017. "Uncertainty and corporate R&D investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 176-200.
    19. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    20. Wei Ting & Sin‐Hui Yen & Chien‐Liang Chiu, 2008. "The Influence of Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors on the Association between Default Risk and Audit Opinions: Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(5), pages 400-415, September.
    21. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    22. Wang, Yizhong & Chen, Carl R. & Huang, Ying Sophie, 2014. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 227-243.
    23. Lerong He, 2015. "The Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor System and Corporate Governance in China," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Douglas Cumming & Michael Firth & Wenxuan Hou & Edward Lee (ed.), Sustainable Entrepreneurship in China, chapter 0, pages 105-125, Palgrave Macmillan.
    24. Christian Leuz & Karl V. Lins & Francis E. Warnock, 2010. "Do Foreigners Invest Less in Poorly Governed Firms?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 3245-3285, March.
    25. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro, 2008. "The colors of investors' money: The role of institutional investors around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 499-533, June.
    26. Bena, Jan & Ferreira, Miguel A & Matos, Pedro & Pires, Pedro, 2017. "Are foreign investors locusts? The long-term effects of foreign institutional ownership," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 122-146.
    27. YEO, Steven, 2003. "The PRC Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors Market," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 443-450.
    28. Dahlquist, Magnus & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, René M. & Williamson, Rohan, 2003. "Corporate Governance and the Home Bias," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 87-110, March.
    29. Coeurdacier, Nicolas & Guibaud, Stéphane, 2011. "International portfolio diversification is better than you think," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 289-308, March.
    30. Huo, Rui & Ahmed, Abdullahi D., 2018. "Relationships between Chinese stock market and its index futures market: Evaluating the impact of QFII scheme," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 135-152.
    31. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g70969520 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev & Robert E. Hoskisson & Mike W. Peng, 2005. "Strategy Research in Emerging Economies: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 1-33, January.
    33. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, June.
    34. Laura Alfaro & Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan & Vadym Volosovych, 2008. "Why Doesn't Capital Flow from Rich to Poor Countries? An Empirical Investigation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(2), pages 347-368, May.
    35. Abdioglu, Nida & Khurshed, Arif & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2013. "Foreign institutional investment: Is governance quality at home important?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 916-940.
    36. Kim, Woochan & Sung, Taeyoon & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "Does corporate governance risk at home affect investment choices abroad?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 25-41, September.
    37. Choi, Nicole & Fedenia, Mark & Skiba, Hilla & Sokolyk, Tatyana, 2017. "Portfolio concentration and performance of institutional investors worldwide," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 189-208.
    38. Zou, Liping & Tang, Tiantian & Li, Xiaoming, 2016. "The stock preferences of domestic versus foreign investors: Evidence from Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) in China," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 12-28.
    39. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Sharma, Susan Sunila & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2018. "Can economic policy uncertainty predict stock returns? Global evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 134-150.
    40. Tesar, Linda L. & Werner, Ingrid M., 1995. "Home bias and high turnover," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 467-492, August.
    41. Kang, Wensheng & Lee, Kiseok & Ratti, Ronald A., 2014. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm-level investment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 42-53.
    42. Brickley, James A. & Lease, Ronald C. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 1988. "Ownership structure and voting on antitakeover amendments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 267-291, January.
    43. Renhai Hua & Pengfei Zhao & Honghai Yu & Libing Fang, 2020. "Impact of US Uncertainty on Chinese Stock Market Volatility," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(3), pages 576-592, February.
    44. Ben S. Bernanke, 1983. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Cyclical Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(1), pages 85-106.
    45. Donghui Li & Fariborz Moshirian & Peter Kien Pham & Jason Zein, 2006. "When Financial Institutions Are Large Shareholders: The Role of Macro Corporate Governance Environments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2975-3007, December.
    46. Aggarwal, Reena & Erel, Isil & Ferreira, Miguel & Matos, Pedro, 2011. "Does governance travel around the world? Evidence from institutional investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 154-181, April.
    47. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 523-564.
    48. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    49. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g70969520 is not listed on IDEAS
    50. Forbes, Kristin J., 2010. "Why do foreigners invest in the United States?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 3-21, January.
    51. Jian Chen & Fuwei Jiang & Guoshi Tong, 2017. "Economic policy uncertainty in China and stock market expected returns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 57(5), pages 1265-1286, December.
    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. Hamza Almustafa & Imad Jabbouri & Ploypailin Kijkasiwat, 2023. "Economic Policy Uncertainty, Financial Leverage, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from U.S. Firms," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Dai, Yue & Chen, Minhao & Zuo, Zhengyu, 2023. "Neighbors in space: Satellite imagery and Chinese B-share discount," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Babaei, Hamid & Hübner, Georges & Muller, Aline, 2023. "The effects of uncertainty on the dynamics of stock market interdependence: Evidence from the time-varying cointegration of the G7 stock markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    4. Zhang, Li & Hu, Shiwei, 2023. "Foreign uncertainty and domestic exporter dynamics," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    5. Niels Gillmann, 2026. "A Global Network of Economic Policy Uncertainty Spillovers," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 27-62, March.
    6. Yang, Lu & Xu, Haifeng, 2025. "Shifting risk preferences of foreign institutional investors on corporate social responsibility amidst the U.S.-China trade war," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    7. Cristian Barra & Pasquale Marcello Falcone, 2024. "Unraveling the impact of economic policy uncertainty on environmental efficiency: How do institutional quality and political orientation matter?," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 1450-1490, November.
    8. Fang, Liting & He, Lerong & Huang, Liying, 2025. "Stock market liberalization and exports of small and medium-sized enterprises," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Ali, Sara & Badshah, Ihsan & Demirer, Riza & Hegde, Prasad & Rognone, Lavinia, 2024. "Climate risk, ESG ratings, and the flow-performance relationship in mutual funds," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    10. Man Jin, 2025. "Mechanism of Attracting Foreign Direct Investment from ESG Funds In The New Energy Vehicle Industry—Evidence from Chinese Corporations," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(4), pages 21582440251, October.
    11. Morão, Hugo, 2024. "An economic policy uncertainty index for Portugal," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    12. Ahmed, Neveen & Tanos, Barbara Abou & Farooq, Omar & Bouaddi, Mohammed, 2025. "Economic policy uncertainty and active management: Evidence from SRI funds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    13. Aamir Aijaz Syed & Assad Ullah & Muhammad Abdul Kamal, 2024. "Impact of COVID-19 and lockdown stringency on foreign institutional investment in India: evidence from wavelet coherence and spectral causality approaches," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 2433-2452, June.
    14. Mujtaba Kayani, Ghulam & Saeed, Abubakr & Riaz, Hammad & Ali, Ashiq, 2023. "Political power shift in host markets and firm asset retrenchment: Evidence from Chinese MNCs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Christian Kabengele & Rüdiger Hahn, 2025. "Venture capital funding in Africa: a mixed-methods study of evolving ecosystems and financial discrimination," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 56(6), pages 777-794, August.
    16. Li, Geling & Ren, Kangjun & Qiao, Yuhao & Wu, Bao, 2024. "From framing to priming: How does media coverage promote ESG preferences of institutional investors," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    17. Ben, Fang & Ma, Jingjing, 2025. "Enterprise's perception of economic policy uncertainty and outward foreign direct investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(PE).

    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. Song, Jun Myung & Kim, Woochan, 2025. "Do U.S. Institutional investors react to international politics?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Cui, Di & Ding, Mingfa & Han, Yikai & Suardi, Sandy, 2022. "Foreign shareholders, relative foreign policy uncertainty and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Chada, Swechha, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainties and institutional ownership in India," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    4. Abdioglu, Nida & Khurshed, Arif & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2013. "Foreign institutional investment: Is governance quality at home important?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 916-940.
    5. Alderighi, Stefano & Cleary, Siobhan & Varanasi, Padmasai, 2019. "Do institutional factors influence cross-border portfolio equity flows? New evidence from emerging markets," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    6. Xiaoqiong Wang & Siqi Wei & Xiaoyang Zhu, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and heterogeneous institutional investor horizons," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 39-67, January.
    7. Korkeamäki, Timo & Virk, Nader & Wang, Haizhi & Wang, Peng, 2019. "Learning Chinese? The changing investment behavior of foreign institutions in the Chinese stock market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 190-203.
    8. Kałdoński, Michał & Jewartowski, Tomasz, 2025. "Are institutional investors effective monitors in a country where closely held firms predominate? Insights from agency problem-driven dividend payouts," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(PB).
    9. Mishra, Anil V. & Ratti, Ronald A., 2011. "Governance, monitoring and foreign investment in Chinese companies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 171-188, June.
    10. Kim, Woochan & Sung, Taeyoon & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "Does corporate governance risk at home affect investment choices abroad?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 25-41, September.
    11. Simon Döring & Wolfgang Drobetz & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Henning Schröder, 2021. "Institutional investment horizons and firm valuation around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(2), pages 212-244, March.
    12. Sami Gharbi & Hidaya Othmani, 2025. "Foreign Institutional Ownership and R&D Activities: Evidence from High-tech French Firms," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 26(1), pages 39-54, February.
    13. Alderighi, Stefano & Cleary, Siobhan & Varanasi, Padmasai, 2018. "The determinants of cross-border portfolio equity flows: new evidence from emerging markets," Economics Discussion Papers 23310, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    14. Lee, Junyong & Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2023. "International portfolio diversification and the home bias puzzle," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Chung, Chune Young & Song, Jun Myung, 2024. "Institutional investors by nationality and long-term investor value appropriation," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(PB).
    16. Miletkov, Mihail K. & Poulsen, Annette B. & Babajide Wintoki, M., 2014. "The role of corporate board structure in attracting foreign investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 143-157.
    17. Korkeamäki, Timo & Virk, Nader & Wang, Haizhi & Wang, Peng, 2018. "Learning Chinese? The changing investment behavior of foreign institutions in the Chinese stock market," BOFIT Discussion Papers 19/2018, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    18. Tsafack, Georges & Guo, Lin, 2021. "Foreign shareholding, corporate governance and firm performance: Evidence from Chinese companies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    19. Giofré, Maela, 2014. "Domestic investor protection and foreign portfolio investment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 355-371.
    20. Anil Mishra, 2011. "Australia’s equity home bias and real exchange rate volatility," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 223-244, August.

    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:ememar:v:50:y:2022:i:c:s1566014121000315. 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/620356 .

    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.