This study examines the role of negative peer events, specifically initial bond defaults, in driving leverage manipulation of non-defaulting firms within the same region. Controlling for firm-specific time-varying characteristics, we find that initial bond defaults within a province are associated with an increase in leverage manipulation among non-defaulting firms. Two potential mechanisms underlying this relationship include increased financial constraints for these firms and elevated investor risk perception of the local bond market. The positive impact of bond defaults on leverage manipulation is more pronounced for financially constrained firms, firms with severe information asymmetry, and those affected by high-rated bond and principal defaults. We further show that companies that manipulate their debt ratios experience higher default risk. Our findings have important implications for transparent disclosure and highlight the negative effect of regional bond defaults on corporate financial reporting practices.

In China, inadequate levels of cross-regional investment represent a challenge. Our study uses the bailout reform initiated in China in 2014 to test whether market-oriented reforms of this type can help stimulate national economic integration. We observed that following a bond default event, nonlocal listed firms tend to establish a higher proportion of subsidiaries in the province where the default occurred. This phenomenon can be attributed to China’s bailout reform signaling a reduction in local protectionism in financial and product markets. Meanwhile, we found that the effects of bond defaults on cross-regional investment are more pronounced under the following conditions: when the impact of the bond default is greater; when the economic and fiscal conditions of the province where default occurs are better; when local protectionism in the home province is higher; and when the degree of asset specificity of the listed firms is lower. Finally, we found that China’s bailout reform has led to positive economic consequences, including reduced operational risks and improved total factor productivity (TFP) of firms. Overall, our paper supplements the literature on bond defaults and cross-regional investment.

Using the staggered introduction of regional specialized debt recovery courts as a quasi-natural experiment, we estimate the causal effect of law enforcement on financing cost of corporate bonds in China. With primary market issuing data, we show that the introduction of specialized courts reduces issuers’bond financing cost by 15%. The analysis of secondary market trading data confirms the results that the yield spreads of existing bonds reduce significantly. Exploring regional-, firm- and bond-level heterogeneity, we find the effects to be much stronger when ex-ante default risk is high. Our case-level analyses further support that enforcement cost reduction in debt dispute resolution is a channel for the reduction of cost of bond. Our paper has important policy implications in light of the recent bond default wave in China, suggesting that creditors protection through highly efficient law enforcement is important for bond market development and will eventually benefit bond issuers as well.

This study documents a pervasive inverse relationship between asset growth rates and bond performance among non-investment and low-investment grade bonds. We argue such inverse relation holds ex ante considering a high growth rate in firm total assets results in growth in tangible assets and lowers bond default probabilities. Our empirical finding supports this hypothesis. Tangible asset growth of poorly rated bonds is negatively associated with contemporaneous bond performance and expected default probability. The finding is robust to different economic conditions and investment sentiments.