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The impact of political connections and business groups on cash holdings: Evidence from Chinese listed firms

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  • Lin, Tsui-Jung
  • Chang, Hai-Yen
  • Yu, Hui-Fun
  • Kao, Ching-Pao

Abstract

We investigated the impact of political connections and business group affiliation on the cash holdings of firms listed on two main Chinese stock exchanges. We applied panel data regression analysis on a dataset comprising 10,832 observations for these companies from 2008 to 2015. We found political connections to be positively correlated with cash holdings, while business group affiliation is negatively correlated. Firms with both political connections and business group affiliations hold more cash. These findings are consistent with the tenets of agency theory and the speculative motives of corporate managers.

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  • Lin, Tsui-Jung & Chang, Hai-Yen & Yu, Hui-Fun & Kao, Ching-Pao, 2019. "The impact of political connections and business groups on cash holdings: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 65-73.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:glofin:v:40:y:2019:i:c:p:65-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.gfj.2018.10.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Togan Egrican, Aslı, 2021. "Overlapping board connections with banker directors and corporate loan terms: Evidence from syndicated loans," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    3. Ganguly, Kousik & Mishra, Ajay Kumar & Parikh, Bhavik, 2023. "Do Political connections influence investment decisions? Evidence from India," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    4. Nejadmalayeri, Ali, 2021. "Asset liquidity, business risk, and beta," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    5. Xiaojie Qu & Bao Zhu, 2023. "Digital Finance and Corporate Cash-Holding Strategy: Organizational Heterogeneity and Strategic Transmission Channels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Gonenc, Halit & Polten, Marc-Oliver & Westerman, Wim, 2022. "U.S., Anglo-Saxon European, and non-Anglo-Saxon European cash holdings around the financial crisis," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Yang, Hefan & Liu, Xilu & Meng, Yao & Feng, Baoyi & Chen, Zhijun, 2024. "Digital transformation and the allocation of decision-making rights within business groups – Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    8. Gupta, C.P. & Bedi, Prateek, 2020. "Corporate cash holdings and promoter ownership," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political connections; Cash holdings; Business groups;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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