Regulatory agencies may, whether outside of set rules or within their discretion, depart from the original goals or principles set for enforcing the rules, which we term selective enforcement. Taking China, a country in transition, as an example, and using cases and large-sample tests, we...

In a changing transition economy, Chinese government regulations that adopt the relatively simple bright line rule formula are enforceable in practice. Taking the early reform-oriented policies of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) as an example, we find that the CSRC did not...

The extant literature offers extensive support for the significant role played by institutions in financial markets, but implicit regulation and monitoring have yet to be examined. This study fills this void in the literature by employing unique Chinese datasets to explore the implicit...

Firms in China have faced high political costs during China's economic transition, because they are affected by macroeconomic policies. However, research to date has offered no consistent conclusions on the relationship between political costs and earnings management in China. This study tests...

Using a sample of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during the 1999-2009 period, we investigate the effects of overemployment on executives' pay-for-performance sensitivity (PPS) and analyze how the behavior of firms with high/low PPS affects the...

This paper investigates the influence of the economic value added (EVA) performance evaluation, issued in 2010 by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, on the value of the cash holdings of central state-owned enterprises (CSOEs). We find that EVA...

An important factor influencing corporate finance and economic growth in China lies in its government sponsored industrial policies. Examining China's five-year plans during 1991-2010, we find that state-owned firms in government supported industries enjoy faster growth in initial public...