Higher Agency Costs Research Articles

Regulatory interventions in response to noncompliance with mandatory derivatives disclosure rules

We investigate regulatory actions in response to violations of mandatory derivatives disclosure rules (SFAS 161) and the outcomes of these regulatory interventions using a hand-collected sample of derivatives disclosures. Derivatives are used by nearly two-thirds of U.S. nonfinancial firms, and they are one of the most complex types of financial contracts. Consequently, inadequate derivatives disclosures could pose significant challenges to financial statement users in assessing the risk and financial health of enterprises. First, we document that firms with high proprietary and agency costs are less likely to comply with SFAS 161. Next, by examining derivatives-related SEC comment letters, we further show that this noncompliance significantly increases the likelihood of receiving a comment letter. We also find that comment letter resolution is longer for firms with strong proprietary motivations than for those with strong agency incentives. Finally, we find that compliance with regard to derivatives disclosures following comment letter resolution improves for firms with high agency costs but not for firms with high proprietary costs. Collectively, our results imply that, when derivatives-related proprietary costs are high, benefits of noncompliance likely outweigh the costs. Moreover, the SEC’s review effectiveness depends crucially on whether firms’ initial motivation for noncompliance is proprietary versus agency.

The Effects of Carbon Emissions and Agency Costs on Firm Performance

Carbon emissions and agency costs can have an impact on firms’ financial performance. However, limited attention has been paid to the combined and gradual effects of these two factors on firms’ performance. We explore the separate and combined effects of carbon emissions and agency costs on firms’ financial performance by utilizing data from 2323 US firms that disclosed their environmental information to CDP from 2007 to 2016. The results indicate that firms with higher carbon emissions experience lower performance as the market reacts negatively. Further, firms with both higher carbon emissions and higher agency costs have lower performance. We also investigated year-on-year change in firm performance and found that, keeping agency costs constant, a change in carbon emissions leads to lower performance. Overall, the findings suggest that when the market responds negatively to firms’ environmental decisions, high agency costs exacerbate the adverse effect of high carbon emissions on firm performance.

Do political connections affect corporate poverty alleviation decisions? Evidence from China

Programs to alleviate poverty by corporations are increasingly popular as a new form of corporate social responsibility. This study examines how the political connections of a firm's chairperson are associated with decisions to alleviate poverty based on a sample of listed Chinese firms from 2016 to 2018. We find that the chairperson's political connections increase the probability of participation and the amount of investment in programs to alleviate poverty. This positive relationship is mainly manifested in firms with high agency costs and low regional economic conditions. In addition, the chairperson's political connections are not related to the efficiency of the poverty alleviation program. Politically connected firms receive less government recognition with an increase in investment in poverty alleviation. Our findings are consistent with the notion that firms participate in poverty alleviation programs for reciprocal favor exchanges, but they fail to manage these programs efficiently.

The influence of network platform interaction on corporate total factor productivity: evidence from China stock exchange investor interactive platforms

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to study the impact of the questions and answers (Q&A) between investors and enterprises from the China stock exchange investor interactive platforms on the total factor productivity (TFP) of enterprises.Design/methodology/approachTo show how the interaction influences the TFP of enterprises, the authors select Q&A records from the interactive platforms related to production, R&D and technology through the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model and choose A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2019 in China as a sample. To treat the data and test the proposed hypothesis, the authors applied OLS regression and endogeneity testing methods, such as the entropy balance test, Heckman two-stage model and the two-stage least squares regression.FindingsThis paper finds that interaction between investors and enterprises is positively correlated with TFP, and that improvements in content length and the timeliness of response can promote TFP. Interactive behavior mainly improves the TFP of enterprises by alleviating financing constraints and encouraging enterprises to increase R&D investment. This positive effect is more pronounced in companies with higher agency costs, non-high-tech companies and companies not supported by industrial policy.Originality/valueThe novelty of the research stands in the application of Python's LDA topic model to screen out Q&A records that are directly related to TFP, such as production, R&D, technology, etc., and measures the degree of information interaction between investors and enterprises from multiple dimensions, such as interaction frequency, content length and the timeliness of response.

Innovation information disclosure and stock price crash risk‐based supervision and insurance effect path analysis

AbstractBecause of the long cycle of innovation, more investment, high risk and other characteristics, Chinese innovative firms tend to have a higher degree of information asymmetry, leading to frequent stock price ‘flash crashes’. This study investigates the impact of innovation information disclosure on stock price crash risk by examining the supervisory effect and insurance effect of innovation information disclosure for Growth Enterprises Market(GEM)‐listed firms in China from 2015 to 2019. We find that innovation information disclosure helps reduce firms' future stock price crash risk. The mechanism test finds that innovation information disclosure can exert both supervisory and insurance effects to reduce stock price crash risk. Specifically, after dividing innovation information disclosure into three categories: innovation advantage, content and risk disclosure, a vertical comparison reveals that the insurance effect of innovation advantage disclosure is more significant than the supervisory effect, while the opposite is true for innovation risk disclosure; a horizontal comparison reveals that the supervisory effect of innovation advantage, content and risk disclosure increases and the insurance effect decreases in order. The more types of innovation information disclosure, the more significant the effect of reducing stock price crash risk. Further analysis finds that the inhibitory effect of innovation information disclosure on stock price crash risk is stronger in firms with higher agency costs and higher innovation intensity in the industry. Our research has some insights into how to reduce the stock price crash risk of innovative companies in China.

The Influence of Family Governance on the Value of Chinese Family Businesses: Signal Transmission Effect of Financial Performance

The phenomenon of family governance in Chinese family businesses may not only signal a high second-party agency cost that infringes on the interests of small and medium shareholders, but it may also signal this as a stable governance structure. Based on the theory of signal transmission, this paper studies the degree of influence of Chinese family governance on the corporate value of Chinese family businesses and the signaling role played by corporate financial performance in this process. This paper also analyzes a sample of Chinese A-share listed family businesses from 2011 to 2020. The results show that the family governance of Chinese family enterprises can promote the improvement of enterprise value, because operating capacity, solvency, profitability, and development capacity can improve the credibility of family governance signals.

Does environmental regulation affect labor investment Efficiency?Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Applying the sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission trading system (ETS) as an exogenous shock to environmental regulation, we conduct a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the impact of environmental regulation on labor investment efficiency. Our results indicate that SO2 ETS impedes a firm's labor investment efficiency. This effect is driven by the firm's over-firing or under-hiring behaviors, not by the lower total investment efficiency. Moreover, we show that the impact of SO2 ETS is more pronounced in firms with higher agency costs and high labor adjusting costs. Besides, the low labor investment efficiency is not substantial for state-owned enterprises.

CDS Trading Initiation, Information Asymmetry, and Dividend Payout

This study uses an information-asymmetry framework to examine the effect of initiation of credit default swaps (CDS) trading on firm dividend payout policy. We find evidence that CDS initiation is associated with increasing dividends, which is consistent with firms distributing excess free cash flow to mitigate exacerbated manager-equityholder agency conflicts resulting from reduced monitoring by banks following CDS initiation. Additional findings support this explanation by showing that the dividend increases are concentrated among borrowing firms with higher agency cost before CDS initiation, among firms whose lead arranger banks have a relatively less strong reputation in the loan-syndication market, and among firms whose loans are subject to less intense monitoring features—that is, less restrictive loan covenants—following CDS initiation. Additional analyses also suggest that inferences are robust to controlling for the potential effects of CDS initiation on capital structure. This paper was accepted by Brain Bushee, accounting. Funding: Financial support from the Goizueta Business School, the Kenan-Flagler Business School, and the Business School UNSW Sydney is gratefully acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The data and internet appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4337 .

The drivers of the financial integration of microfinance Institutions: Do financial development, agency costs and microfinance performance matter?

The aim of this paper is to identify the drivers that could increase the financial integration of microfinance institutions with commercial banks. Importantly, financial integration ensures the sustainable growth of microfinance institutions through the provision of more financial resources, if needed. To identify these drivers, we used a panel dataset of 953 microfinance institutions (MFIs) from the MIX market dataset and country-level data from the World Bank for the 2003–2016 period. We applied a panel quantile approach with nonadditive fixed effects. Our results reveal that an increase in financial development slows the financial integration of MFIs. However, considering the transitory aspect of financial integration by each quantile, it appears that financial development positively impacts the financial integration of MFIs. The impact of financial development increases as the financial integration level increases. Similar results show a positive link between agency costs and financial integration. More financial interconnections with commercial banks justify the appearance of high agency costs due to an increased interest of commercial banks. There is a significant and negative link between the profitability of MFIs and their financial integration. Moreover, the results reveal that financial integration is a significant determinant of mission drift occurrence in client portfolios.

Corporate governance, excess-cash and firm value: Evidence from ASEAN-5

This study investigates the role of the country- and firm-level governance practices on the relationship between excess-cash and firm value in ASEAN-5 markets. Using the Generalized Method of Moment models and a sample of 578 firms from 2010 to 2020 the study finds that excess-cash reduces firm value, indicating high agency costs and low firm value. However, excess-cash motivated by managerial ownership, founder CEO, board independence, shareholder rights and creditor rights increase firm value while excess-cash due to managerial entrenchment and CEODuality reduce firm value. In the sub-sample analyses the study finds that entrenched managers and board size play a less effective role in wasting excess-cash in low-excess-cash firms while independent directors play a higher monitoring role in high-excess-cash firms. In addition, governance at the country-level is more effective than at the firm-level in improving the value of excess-cash in large firms. The study offers unique evidence on the relationship between excess-cash and firm value by integrating corporate governance practices at the firm- and country-levels. The research aids practitioners, academics, policymakers and investors in developing the best liquidity policies to enhance business performance.

Joint Board-Management Meetings and Firm Performance

Are joint meetings between boards of directors and top management teams associated with better decision making or higher agency costs? We examine formally scheduled joint board-management meetings as a channel for closer interaction between boards of directors and top management teams. Using publicly disclosed data from Indonesian firms, we find that about half of our sample firms hold joint board-management meetings and more meetings are associated with higher firm performance. This suggests that the benefits from information sharing at joint meetings are greater than the agency costs. This relationship is most significant when companies hold 10-12 joint board-management meetings per year, in companies with good governance and when companies are experiencing poor performance. For policymakers and practitioners, we highlight a formal channel for closer interaction between directors and management that benefits shareholders.

A heterogeneidade da estrutura de dívida reduz o custo de capital?

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to investigate the relationship between the level of debt structure heterogeneity and the cost of debt of publicly and privately held Brazilian companies in the period from 2020 to 2019. Debt structure heterogeneity is a relatively recent topic in the financial literature related to capital structure. As far as is known, the direct relationship between debt heterogeneity and the cost of debt has not yet been addressed in previous studies in the national and international literature. Research that broadens the knowledge regarding factors that attenuate the cost of debt is pertinent, especially in a context such as that of Brazil, in which high funding cost spreads end up compromising the economic viability of many projects and, consequently, the capacity for companies to generate value. The research results have impacts over the financial decision-making process, given the association identified between heterogeneity and debt cost, leading to reflections on the definition of a company’s capital structure. Thus, it is closely related with firm value, whose maximization is the object of interest of managers and shareholders. Panel data regression models were estimated in which the dependent variable is represented by the cost of debt and the explanatory variables are represented by the heterogeneity level of companies’ debt structure, which in turn is represented by two different proxies, aiming to give greater robustness to the results. The results are original and highlight the role of the debt structure in reducing the cost of debt. It is verified that the greater the debt heterogeneity, the lower companies’ cost of debt. This relationship is even more intense for companies that are more susceptible to high agency costs.

The pricing and performance of IPOs in China’s poor counties

In the context of China’s drive to alleviate poverty, we focus on the initial public offering (IPO) firms located in China’s poor counties and investigate their IPO pricing and post-IPO performance. Contrary to the findings reported for the U.S., we find that the problem of information asymmetry between Chinese firms located in rural areas and their investors is so severe that these IPO firms are associated with significantly higher underpricing. This effect is more pronounced for firms located in rural areas with poor traffic systems. We do not find significant market performance differences between rural and urban firms after their IPOs, but the operating performance of rural firms improves in the short term. Our additional analyses indicate that rural IPO firms have significantly lower investor attention and higher agency costs than urban firms. Overall, we enrich the literature on IPO pricing and the economic effects of geographic location.

The role of social capital in private placement: evidence from Rule 144A debt issuances

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social capital in the issuances of Rule 144A debt. Using a sample of 1,378 debt offerings from 1997 to 2015 in the US, this paper provides empirical evidence on whether and to what extent social capital affects the cost of Rule 144A debt.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs a county-level measure of social capital and links social capital to the yield spreads of Rule 144A debt. A Heckman selection model is sued to address the sample selection bias, and an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching methodology are implemented to deal with the potential endogeneity issue. The authors check for robustness using an alternative measure of social capital.FindingsThe results of the analysis provide evidence that issuers headquartered in the counties with higher levels of social capital experience lower yield spreads in their Rule 144A debt offerings. The findings are robust to a Heckman selection model, an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching. Furthermore, the analysis reveals the marginal effect of social capital that the effect of social capital is more pronounced for the issuing firms with higher agency cost of debt and lower institutional ownership. The effect of social capital is more prominent after financial crisis.Originality/valueThis paper provides novel evidence of the effect of social capital on the cost of privately placed debt. The issuances of Rule 144A debt are subject to significant information asymmetry and are targeted at sophisticated institutional investors. This paper sheds further light on how institutional investors incorporate the regional social capital in their pricing scheme of private placement of Rule 144A debt.

Centralization or decentralization? the impact of different distributions of authority on China's environmental regulation

How to balance the central government and local governments’ political authority relating to environmental governance has long been a topic of intense debate in China. Since both environmental and economic regulations are regulatory tools of governments, political authority and systems must be considered in deciding to what extent to empower local governments. Central government needs to find a tradeoff point when being placed under the dual pressure of environmental protection and maintaining the economic growth rate. Based on a two-level principal–agent model, our research compares the effects of centralized and decentralized governance on the efficiency of environmental regulation. Our results suggest that under decentralized environmental governance, the local governments’ incentives increase, which results in either “race to the top” or “race to the bottom” competition in environmental regulation. Moreover, such governance prompts local governments to reduce their investment in economic development and environmental protection. However, decentralization in environmental governance will become more beneficial to the central government if the benefits of reducing information asymmetry surpass enhanced agency costs; otherwise, centralized environmental governance is preferred. Our research proposes a hybrid model of centralized and decentralized environmental governance to help cushion firms against high agency costs and local government–firm collusion.

Abnormal investment and firm performance

We find a negative relation between abnormal investment and future stock performance. Such a negative relation is mainly driven by under-investment, not over-investment. Our results are robust to various estimation methods and investment models. Both delayed market reaction and agency issues may lead to the apparently anomalous return predictability of under-investment. First, market investors may not react promptly to the fundamental information contained in under-investment about a firm’s future profitability, asset growth, and financial distress probability. Second, the negative relation between under-investment and future stock returns is more pronounced for firms with lower investor monitoring and higher agency costs.

The Association between Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Investment Efficiency

We investigate the relationship between board with female outside directors (FODs) and firms’ investment efficiencies using the firms listed in KOSPI from 2015 to 2019. We find that the association between firms with FODs and their investment efficiencies is generally insignificant although we find a weak negative association with under-investment. Then, we conduct the additional analyses to see if the association between them would be different in firms with high agency costs arising from excess free cash flow. Interestingly, we find that firms with FODs are negatively associated with over-investment as well as under-investment but the association is only pronounced in firms with higher level of free cash flow. The results of this study continue to maintain when we employ propensity score matching approach to address self-selection bias. Overall, our evidence supports the prior studies suggesting the positive aspect of gender-diverse boards in corporate decision-making process. That is, gender diversity may enhance board‘s governance roles, providing implication that female outside directors in boards can add a value to a firm needing a strong governance mechanism. This could be of interest of regulators and policy makers while considering the adoption of female quota system in the board of directors in listed firms.

How Do Tax Incentives Lead to Investment Shifting? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Corporate VAT planning, though difficult to observe, has become more prominent. By considering the Chinese VAT transition as an external policy shock, this article adopts a difference-in-difference model to study this issue for the period 2006–2009. The results indicate that companies, in particular companies with high financing constraints and low type I agency costs, had investment-shifting behavior, so as to reduce the tax burden. Compared with agency costs, financing constraints have a greater influence on firms’ shifting. Further, the market has a positive attitude toward shifting of high financing constraints companies, but a negative attitude toward that of high agency costs companies.

Stakeholder orientation and the value of cash holdings: Evidence from a natural experiment

We investigate whether and, if so, how stakeholder orientation affects the value of cash holdings by disciplining inefficient management and reducing agency costs. In so doing, we exploit the staggered enactment of constituency statutes across different states as an exogenous shock that increases the degree of stakeholder orientation substantially. Specifically, we gauge the monitoring effect of stakeholders by using the market value of cash framework of Faulkender and Wang (2006). We find that on average the marginal value of cash holdings increases significantly, both statistically and economically, after the passage of constituency statutes. The effect of constituency statutes on the value of cash holdings is stronger for firms with relatively weaker stakeholder power, high agency costs, and high information asymmetry. In subsequent tests, we show that investment efficiency in M&As and capital expenditures has improved significantly after the adoption of constituency statutes suggesting that heightened stakeholder monitoring over investments is a potential channel to enhance the value of cash holdings. Overall, our results suggest that stakeholder orientation increases the value of cash holdings by mitigating agency problems.

Does stock market liberalization mitigate litigation risk? Evidence from Stock Connect in China

Prior studies have examined the economic consequences of stock market liberalization. However, the literature overlooks the relationship between stock market liberalization and litigation risk. We fill this research gap using a dataset of 19,696 Chinese firms over 2009–2018 and study how an important reform of stock market liberalization—Stock Connect—affects corporate litigation risk and the underlying channels through which this effect occurs. We find that Stock Connect has a positive effect on litigation risk in China, which is the result of a firm's improved information transparency after market liberalization. Finally, we find that the benefits of Stock Connect are more pronounced in non-state-owned enterprises; in firms with higher leverage, higher agency costs, lower investor concern, and firms without overseas operations or fierce market competition. This study provides new insights into understanding the positive effect of stock market liberalization in emerging markets.