IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v35y2020ics1544612319304647.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The US–Korea free trade agreement as a shock to product market competition: Evidence from the Korean stock market

Author

Listed:
  • Ryu, Doowon

Abstract

This study examines the effect of product market competition on stock returns by treating the establishment of the US−Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) as an external shock. We use the degree of tariff reduction resulting from the KORUS FTA to construct a unique dataset for measuring product market competition. We sort firms into high-tariff-change (treatment group) and low-tariff-change groups (control group) and use the controlled difference-in-differences method to mitigate any possible endogeneity problems. We find clear empirical evidence that product market competition significantly negatively affects stock returns.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryu, Doowon, 2020. "The US–Korea free trade agreement as a shock to product market competition: Evidence from the Korean stock market," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:35:y:2020:i:c:s1544612319304647
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2019.09.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612319304647
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2019.09.011?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. Alimov, Azizjon, 2014. "Product market competition and the value of corporate cash: Evidence from trade liberalization," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 122-139.
    2. Gu, Lifeng, 2016. "Product market competition, R&D investment, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 441-455.
    3. Doowon Ryu & Doojin Ryu & Joon Ho Hwang, 2017. "Corporate governance, product-market competition, and stock returns: evidence from the Korean market," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(1), pages 50-91, April.
    4. Valta, Philip, 2012. "Competition and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 661-682.
    5. Gustavo Grullon & Yelena Larkin & Roni Michaely, 2019. "Are US Industries Becoming More Concentrated?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 697-743.
    6. Kewei Hou & David T. Robinson, 2006. "Industry Concentration and Average Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1927-1956, August.
    7. M. Cecilia Bustamante & Andres Donangelo, 2017. "Product Market Competition and Industry Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(12), pages 4216-4266.
    8. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    9. Xavier Giroud & Holger M. Mueller, 2011. "Corporate Governance, Product Market Competition, and Equity Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 563-600, April.
    10. Laurent Fresard, 2010. "Financial Strength and Product Market Behavior: The Real Effects of Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1097-1122, June.
    11. Caroline Flammer, 2015. "Does product market competition foster corporate social responsibility? Evidence from trade liberalization," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(10), pages 1469-1485, October.
    12. Ashiq Ali & Sandy Klasa & Eric Yeung, 2009. "The Limitations of Industry Concentration Measures Constructed with Compustat Data: Implications for Finance Research," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(10), pages 3839-3871, October.
    13. Laurent Fresard, 2010. "Financial Strength and Product Market Behavior: The Real Effects of Corporate Cash Holdings," Post-Print hal-00537081, HAL.
    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. Ryu, Doowon, 2022. "Product market competition and business groups in Korea," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).

    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. Ryu, Doowon, 2022. "Product market competition and business groups in Korea," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    2. Katarzyna Platt, 2020. "Corporate Bonds And Product Market Competition," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(3), pages 615-647, August.
    3. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    4. Dou, Winston Wei & Ji, Yan & Wu, Wei, 2021. "Competition, profitability, and discount rates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 582-620.
    5. Cornett, Marcia Millon & Erhemjamts, Otgontsetseg & Tehranian, Hassan, 2019. "Competitive environment and innovation intensity," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 44-59.
    6. Babar, Md. & Habib, Ahsan, 2021. "Product market competition in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review of the literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Rahman, Dewan & Kabir, Muhammad & Oliver, Barry, 2021. "Does exposure to product market competition influence insider trading profitability?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Mikael C. Bergbrant & Delroy M. Hunter & Patrick J. Kelly, 2015. "Product Market Competition, Capital Constraints and Firm Growth," Working Papers w0215, Center for Economic and Financial Research (CEFIR).
    9. Zhang, Zhou, 2023. "Competition, investment reversibility, and equity risk premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    10. Bakke, Tor-Erik & Feng, Felix Zhiyu & Mahmudi, Hamed & Zhu, Caroline H., 2022. "Foreign competition and CEO risk-incentive compensation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Marco Maria Mattei & Petya Platikanova, 2017. "Do product market threats affect analyst forecast precision?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1628-1665, December.
    12. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Chia‐Feng (Jeffrey) Yu & Ralf Zurbruegg, 2020. "Does market power discipline CEO power? An agency perspective," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 26(3), pages 724-752, June.
    13. Alimov, Azizjon, 2014. "Product market competition and the value of corporate cash: Evidence from trade liberalization," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 122-139.
    14. Si Li & Xintong Zhan, 2019. "Product Market Threats and Stock Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4011-4031, September.
    15. Tuli, Kapil R. & Mukherjee, Anirban & Dekimpe, Marnik G., 2012. "On the Value Relevance of Retailer Advertising Spending and Same-store Sales Growth," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 447-461.
    16. Do, Trung K. & Huang, Henry Hongren & Ouyang, Puman, 2022. "Product market threats and leverage adjustments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    17. Boubaker, Sabri & Saffar, Walid & Sassi, Syrine, 2018. "Product market competition and debt choice," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 204-224.
    18. Bayar, Tumennasan & Cornett, Marcia Millon & Erhemjamts, Otgontsetseg & Leverty, Ty & Tehranian, Hassan, 2018. "An examination of the relation between strategic interaction among industry firms and firm performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 248-263.
    19. Huang, Hsing-Hua & Lee, Han-Hsing, 2013. "Product market competition and credit risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 324-340.
    20. Kong, Dongmin & Kong, Gaowen & Liu, Shasha & Zhu, Ling, 2022. "Does competition cause government decentralization? The case of state-owned enterprises," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 1103-1122.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Product market competition; Free trade agreement; Difference-in-differences; Tariff elimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General

    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:finlet:v:35:y:2020:i:c:s1544612319304647. 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/frl .

    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.