Government Subsidy Dependence and Stock Price Crash Risk

Abstract

We evaluate the association between government subsidy dependence and stock price crash risk for a large sample of Chinese non-financial listed firms from 2003 to 2018. The results show that firms with high dependence on government subsidies are associated with great stock price crash risk. The decomposition of government subsidies shows that fiscal subsidies are the driving force of stock price crashes. The decomposition of government subsidies shows that fiscal subsidies are the driving force of stock price crashes. The positive association is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and firms with strong political connection and weak monitoring. Moreover, we identify financial restatement and valuation uncertainty as the two possible mechanisms through which government subsidy dependence increase crash risk. Our findings highlight the negative consequences of government subsidy on financial risk of firms and provide implications for regulatory agencies and investors.