IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v87y2024ics0927538x24002609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Buffer or substitute? Corporate financialization and leverage manipulation

Author

Listed:
  • Liao, Yinchao
  • Wang, Jun
  • Liao, Wenru
  • Shu, Xiaoyang
  • Li, Zhiyong

Abstract

This study examines the impact of financialization on leverage manipulation for nonfinancial companies in China from 2011 to 2021. Using the XLT-LEVM measurement method, we find that corporate financialization can inhibit leverage manipulation. Mechanism analysis suggests that corporate financialization deters leverage manipulation by crowding out debt financing in a substantive way. According to heterogeneity analysis, the inhibitory effect is less pronounced in firms with short-term solvency pressure and intensive external attention. Our findings extend the literature on corporate financialization and demonstrate its role in mitigating leverage manipulation, with implications for both financial practice and public policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Liao, Yinchao & Wang, Jun & Liao, Wenru & Shu, Xiaoyang & Li, Zhiyong, 2024. "Buffer or substitute? Corporate financialization and leverage manipulation," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:87:y:2024:i:c:s0927538x24002609
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2024.102508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X24002609
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2024.102508?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. Ozgür Orhangazi, 2008. "Financialisation and capital accumulation in the non-financial corporate sector:," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 32(6), pages 863-886, November.
    2. Demir, FIrat, 2009. "Financial liberalization, private investment and portfolio choice: Financialization of real sectors in emerging markets," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 314-324, March.
    3. Ken-Hou Lin, 2016. "The Rise of Finance and Firm Employment Dynamics," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 972-988, August.
    4. Daley, Lane A. & Vigeland, Robert L., 1983. "The effects of debt covenants and political costs on the choice of accounting methods : The case of accounting for R&D costs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 195-211, April.
    5. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    6. David J. Denis & Valeriy Sibilkov, 2010. "Financial Constraints, Investment, and the Value of Cash Holdings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 247-269, January.
    7. Ding, Sai & Guariglia, Alessandra & Knight, John, 2013. "Investment and financing constraints in China: Does working capital management make a difference?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1490-1507.
    8. Engelbert Stockhammer, 2004. "Financialisation and the slowdown of accumulation," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 28(5), pages 719-741, September.
    9. Viral Acharya & Sergei A. Davydenko & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2012. "Cash Holdings and Credit Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3572-3609.
    10. Shu, Jiaxian & Zhang, Chengsi & Zheng, Ning, 2020. "Financialization and sluggish fixed investment in Chinese real sector firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1106-1116.
    11. Jin, Xiao Meng & Mai, Yong & Cheung, Adrian Wai Kong, 2022. "Corporate financialization and fixed investment rate: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    12. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    13. Guo, Huitao & Ye, Binghui & Chen, Yuxuan & Lin, Weizhen & Guan, Xinle & Mao, Ruoyu, 2024. "Investor attention and corporate leverage manipulation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Daniele Tori & Özlem Onaran, 2018. "The effects of financialization on investment: evidence from firm-level data for the UK," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 42(5), pages 1393-1416.
    15. Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Atif Mian, 2005. "Do Lenders Favor Politically Connected Firms? Rent Provision in an Emerging Financial Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(4), pages 1371-1411.
    16. Hou, Qingsong & Tang, Xiaofang & Teng, Min, 2021. "Labor costs and financialization of real sectors in emerging markets," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Tang, Huoqing & Zhang, Chengsi, 2019. "Investment risk, return gap, and financialization of non-listed non-financial firms in China⁎," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    18. Thomas W. Scott & Christine I. Wiedman & Heather A. Wier, 2011. "Transaction Structuring and Canadian Convertible Debt," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(3), pages 1046-1071, September.
    19. Ran Duchin, 2010. "Cash Holdings and Corporate Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 955-992, June.
    20. Jackson, Scott B. & (Kelvin) Liu, Xiaotao & Cecchini, Mark, 2009. "Economic consequences of firms' depreciation method choice: Evidence from capital investments," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 54-68, October.
    21. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1777-1804 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Chen, Yan & Sun, Ruiqi, 2023. "Corporate financialization and the long-term use of short-term debt: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    23. Leila E. Davis, 2016. "Identifying the “financialization” of the nonfinancial corporation in the U.S. economy: A decomposition of firm-level balance sheets," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 115-141, January.
    24. Gong, Cynthia M. & Gong, Pu & Jiang, Mengting, 2023. "Corporate financialization and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    25. Xin Chang & Sudipto Dasgupta & George Wong & Jiaquan Yao, 2014. "Cash-Flow Sensitivities and the Allocation of Internal Cash Flow," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(12), pages 3628-3657.
    26. Su, Shiwei & Jia, Songbo & Shi, Guangping, 2023. "Leverage adjustment behaviors and stock price crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    27. Zhu, Ruoyu & Xin, Xiaohui & Tan, Kehu, 2024. "Reverse mixed ownership reform: Does state-owned capital injection inhibit corporate leverage manipulation?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    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. Huang, Jing & Guo, Jiaxuan & Chen, Yongheng, 2025. "Environmental, social, and governance performance and leverage manipulation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

    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. Chen, Lirong & Long, Yuxuan & Tang, Xuemei & Wang, Jiani, 2025. "Can accounts receivable factoring restrain corporate financialization? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Liu, Xing & Liu, Fengzhong, 2022. "Environmental regulation and corporate financial asset allocation: A natural experiment from the new environmental protection law in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PA).
    3. Xue, Lixing & Chen, Chong & Wang, Na & Zhang, Lirong, 2023. "Gambling culture and corporate financialization: Evidence from China's welfare lottery sales," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    4. Tudi, Tayier & Wu, Ji & Chen, Minghua & Jeon, Bang Nam, 2025. "Does foreign demand affect corporate financialization? Some evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Fu, Xiaoxia & Wang, Shanshan & Jia, Jia, 2024. "Equity incentives and dynamic adjustments to corporate financialization: Evidence from Chinese A-share listed companies," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 948-966.
    6. Gong, Cynthia M. & Gong, Pu & Jiang, Mengting, 2023. "Corporate financialization and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Tian, Erxia & Zhong, Meihua & Sun, Mengna & Ma, Dong, 2024. "CEO “anomaly” compensation incentives and financial investment: Evidence from the SOEs of China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 359-377.
    8. Shi, Wenxiang & Fang, Peijie, 2023. "Delisting regulation and corporate financialization: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    9. Qi, Minhao & Liu, Yuxin & Hu, Changlong & Yang, Zhijiu, 2024. "The unintended consequence of environmental centralization: Evidence from firm financialization," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    10. Ma, Sichao & Shen, Ji & Wang, Fanzhi & Wu, Wanting, 2022. "A tale of two Us: Corporate leverage and financial asset allocation in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    11. Shuxia Zhang & Xiangyang Yin & Liping Xu & Ziyu Li & Deyue Kong, 2022. "Effect of Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance on Corporate Financialization: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    12. Shuanglian Chen & Benhuan Nie & Xiaohua Huang, 2024. "Nonlinear Impact of Corporate Financialization on Sustainable Development Ability: Evidence from Listed Companies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    13. Liu, Xiangsheng & Lv, Lingli, 2023. "The effect of China's low carbon city pilot policy on corporate financialization," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    14. Ke Guo & Xuemeng Guo & Jun Zhang, 2023. "Financial asset allocation duality and enterprise upgrading: empirical evidence from the Chinese A-share market," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Zhang, Xiaoliang & Zheng, Xiaojia, 2024. "Does carbon emission trading policy induce financialization of non-financial firms? Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Tori, Daniele & Onaran, Özlem, 2018. "Financialisation, financial development, and investment: evidence from European non-financial corporations," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 22196, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    17. Leila Davis & Shane McCormack, 2021. "Industrial stagnation and the financialization of nonfinancial corporations," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 459-491, December.
    18. Gu, Leilei & Liu, Zhongyang & Ma, Sichao & Wang, Hongyu, 2022. "Social trust and corporate financial asset holdings: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    19. Zheng, Di & Yang, Guang & Lei, Lei & Li, Pinghua, 2025. "Feed-back effect or crowding-out effect: The influence of financialization on the main business performance of real enterprises," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    20. Xu, Xingmei & Xuan, Chao, 2021. "A study on the motivation of financialization in emerging markets: The case of Chinese nonfinancial corporations," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 606-623.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:pacfin:v:87:y:2024:i:c:s0927538x24002609. 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/pacfin .

    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.