{"title":"Does stock liquidity affect expropriation behavior by controlling shareholders? Evidence from China","authors":"Xin Xiang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecosys.2024.101217","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>When a firm is controlled by a large shareholder, the principal agency problem arises from expropriation by controlling shareholders of other shareholders. Using a sample of 3776 publicly traded firms in the Chinese A-share market over the period 2007–2020, this study investigates whether stock liquidity impedes or enhances the expropriation behavior of controlling shareholders. I demonstrate that (1) a liquid stock market generally encourages expropriation behavior by controlling shareholders, (2) the positive effect of stock liquidity on expropriation by controlling shareholders is mitigated when active investors hold a large stake in the firm, and (3) active investors’ monitoring of expropriation by controlling shareholders is mitigated at state-owned enterprises and firms that have a large gap between ownership and control. However, higher competition among blockholders strengthens the discipline of active investors with respect to expropriation. This study builds a new link between a market factor (stock liquidity) and a governance problem (expropriation by controlling shareholders) and reveals some new characteristics in the relationship between stock liquidity and corporate governance in an emerging market.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":51505,"journal":{"name":"Economic Systems","volume":"48 2","pages":"Article 101217"},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Economic Systems","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362524000396","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
When a firm is controlled by a large shareholder, the principal agency problem arises from expropriation by controlling shareholders of other shareholders. Using a sample of 3776 publicly traded firms in the Chinese A-share market over the period 2007–2020, this study investigates whether stock liquidity impedes or enhances the expropriation behavior of controlling shareholders. I demonstrate that (1) a liquid stock market generally encourages expropriation behavior by controlling shareholders, (2) the positive effect of stock liquidity on expropriation by controlling shareholders is mitigated when active investors hold a large stake in the firm, and (3) active investors’ monitoring of expropriation by controlling shareholders is mitigated at state-owned enterprises and firms that have a large gap between ownership and control. However, higher competition among blockholders strengthens the discipline of active investors with respect to expropriation. This study builds a new link between a market factor (stock liquidity) and a governance problem (expropriation by controlling shareholders) and reveals some new characteristics in the relationship between stock liquidity and corporate governance in an emerging market.
期刊介绍:
Economic Systems is a refereed journal for the analysis of causes and consequences of the significant institutional variety prevailing among developed, developing, and emerging economies, as well as attempts at and proposals for their reform. The journal is open to micro and macro contributions, theoretical as well as empirical, the latter to analyze related topics against the background of country or region-specific experiences. In this respect, Economic Systems retains its long standing interest in the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe and other former transition economies, but also encourages contributions that cover any part of the world, including Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, or Africa.