IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v55y2023ipbs1544612323003252.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the Antimonopoly Law improve companies’ cash-holding management efficiency? Empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies

Author

Listed:
  • Zhao, Yiyun

Abstract

Using listed firms’ data between 2004 and 2011, we find that China's Antimonopoly Law provokes a significant increase in firms’ cash-holding management efficiency; that is, cash holdings are more aligned with firms’ investment opportunities. We show that the increase in cash-holding management efficiency is more pronounced in less competitive industries and these increases are mainly driven by unrestricted industries. Financial constraint is an important channel through which competitive pressure would impact the cash-holding management efficiency. Our results are robust to different sample period selections and proxies for cash holding and investment opportunity.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Yiyun, 2023. "Does the Antimonopoly Law improve companies’ cash-holding management efficiency? Empirical evidence from Chinese listed companies," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:55:y:2023:i:pb:s1544612323003252
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2023.103953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612323003252
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2023.103953?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. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    2. Megginson, William L. & Ullah, Barkat & Wei, Zuobao, 2014. "State ownership, soft-budget constraints, and cash holdings: Evidence from China’s privatized firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 276-291.
    3. 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.
    4. Gao, Huasheng & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2013. "Determinants of corporate cash policy: Insights from private firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 623-639.
    5. Li, Xindan & Geng, Ziyang & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Yu, Honghai, 2017. "Do wealthy investors have an informational advantage? Evidence based on account classifications of individual investors," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-18.
    6. 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.
    7. Hu, Xiaoxue & Li, Dongxu, 2022. "Do horizontal mergers affect rivals’ cash holdings?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 275-298.
    8. Chong, Terence Tai-Leung & Lu, Liping & Ongena, Steven, 2013. "Does banking competition alleviate or worsen credit constraints faced by small- and medium-sized enterprises? Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 3412-3424.
    9. Chen, Hanwen & Yang, Daoguang & Zhang, Joseph H. & Zhou, Haiyan, 2020. "Internal controls, risk management, and cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    11. Fazzari, Steven M & Hubbard, R Glenn & Petersen, Bruce C, 1988. "Investment, Financing Decisions, and Tax Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(2), pages 200-205, May.
    12. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    13. Zhao, Jing & Huang, Jingchang & Liu, Feng, 2023. "Green credit policy and investment-cash flow sensitivity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    14. Erel, Isil & Jang, Yeejin & Minton, Bernadette A. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2021. "Corporate Liquidity, Acquisitions, and Macroeconomic Conditions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 443-474, March.
    15. Cavenaile, Laurent & Celik, Murat Alp & Tian, Xu, 2021. "The Dynamic Effects of Antitrust Policy on Growth and Welfare," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 42-59.
    16. Larkin, Yelena & Ng, Lilian & Zhu, Jie, 2018. "The fading of investment-cash flow sensitivity and global development," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 294-322.
    17. Germán Gutiérrez & Thomas Philippon, 2018. "Ownership, Concentration, and Investment," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 432-437, May.
    18. Kong, Xiangyi & Xu, Jian & Zhang, Yinge, 2022. "Industry competition and firm productivity: Evidence from the antitrust policy in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    19. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hu, Xiaoxue & Li, Dongxu, 2022. "Do horizontal mergers affect rivals’ cash holdings?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 275-298.
    2. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    3. Chen, Hanwen & Yang, Daoguang & Zhang, Joseph H. & Zhou, Haiyan, 2020. "Internal controls, risk management, and cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Lijuan Xiao & Min Bai & Yafeng Qin & Lingyun Xiong & Lijuan Yang, 2021. "Financial Slack and Inefficient Investment Decisions in China," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(4), pages 920-941, June.
    5. Li, Mengzhe & Lan, Fei, 2022. "Former CEO directors and cash holdings," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 320-334.
    6. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Guo, Jie (Michael), 2019. "To what extent does corporate liquidity affect M&A decisions, method of payment and performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 128-152.
    7. Marwick, Alex & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Tianpei, 2020. "Organization capital and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Changling Sun & Ziang Lin & Marek Vochozka & Zuzana Vincúrová, 2022. "Digital transformation and corporate cash holdings in China’s A-share listed companies," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(4), pages 1081-1116, December.
    9. Liu, Yixin & Liu, Yu & Wei, Zuobao, 2022. "Property rights protection, financial constraint, and capital structure choices: Evidence from a Chinese natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    10. Xu, Meng & Yang, Zhonghai & Lin, Yu-En & Li, Gaobo, 2024. "Maturity mismatched investment, digital financial inclusion, and digital orientation: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Strauss, Ilan & Yang, Jangho, 2021. "Slowing investment rates in developing economies: Evidence from a Bayesian hierarchical model," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Ghosh, Debarati & Dutta, Meghna, 2022. "Environmental behaviour under credit constraints – Evidence from panel of Indian manufacturing firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 490-500.
    13. Huang, Shuo, 2022. "Does FinTech improve the investment efficiency of enterprises? Evidence from China’s small and medium-sized enterprises," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 571-586.
    14. Ahmad Alkhataybeh & Safaa Adnan AlSmadi & Mohammad Ziad Shakhatreh & Mohammad A. Khataybeh, 2022. "Government Ownership and Corporate Cash Holdings: Empirical Evidence from the Amman Stock Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    15. Sai Ding & Minjoo Kim & Xiao Zhang, 2021. "New Insight on Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivity," Working Papers 2021_16, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    16. Xu, Xixiong & Li, Wanli & Li, Yaoqin & Liu, Xing, 2019. "Female CFOs and corporate cash holdings: Precautionary motive or agency motive?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 434-454.
    17. Mabel D Costa & Ahsan Habib, 2023. "Cost stickiness and firm value," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 235-273, June.
    18. Li, Dongxu, 2024. "Horizontal mergers and heterogeneous firm investments: evidence from the United States," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Andrei, Daniel & Mann, William & Moyen, Nathalie, 2019. "Why did the q theory of investment start working?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 251-272.
    20. Yi Huang & Marco Pagano & Ugo Panizza, 2020. "Local Crowding‐Out in China," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(6), pages 2855-2898, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Antimonopoly law; Cash-holding management efficiency; Internal liquidity management;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • K21 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Antitrust Law

    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:55:y:2023:i:pb:s1544612323003252. 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.