We provide a novel explanation for the geographic dispersion of borrower-lender relationships based on information frictions rather than competition. Firms may strategically select distant banks to increase lenders’ information production costs, securing larger loans under information-insensitive contracts. Our model predicts that higher-quality firms prefer distant lenders for information-insensitive contracts, while lower-quality firms use local lenders with information-sensitive terms. Using transaction-level data from a major Chinese bank, we find strong empirical support: higher-rated firms exhibit greater propensity for distant borrowing; local loans show stronger negative correlation between amounts and interest rates; and distant loan pricing demonstrates weaker sensitivity to defaults.

We develop an information choice model where information costs are sticky and co-move with firm-level intrinsic uncertainty as opposed to temporal variations in uncertainty. Incorporating analysts' forecasts, we predict a negative relationship between information costs and information acquisition, as proxied by the predictability of analysts' forecast biases. Finally, the model shows a contrasting pattern between information acquisition and intrinsic and temporal uncertainty, where intrinsic uncertainty strengthens return predictability of analysts' biases through the information cost channel, while temporal uncertainty weakens it through the information benefit channel. We empirically confirm these opposing relationships that existing theories struggle to explain.

Why is price momentum absent in China? Since momentum is commonly considered arising from investors’ under-reaction to fundamental news, we decompose monthly stock returns into news- and non-news-driven components and document a news day return continuation along with an offsetting non-news day reversal in China. The non-news day reversal is particularly strong for stocks with high retail ownership, relatively less recent positive news articles, and limits to arbitrage. Evidence on order imbalance suggests that stock returns overshoot on news days due to retail investors' excessive attention-driven buying demands, and mispricing gets corrected by institutional investors on subsequent non-news days. To avoid this tug-of-war in stock price, we use a signal that directly captures the recent news performance and re-document a momentum-like underreaction to fundamental news in China.

Reputation is widely regarded as a stabilizing factor in financial institutions, reducing capital constraints and enhancing firm resilience. However, in the insurance industry, where capital requirements are shaped by solvency regulations and policyholder behavior, the effects of reputation on capital management remain unclear. This paper examines the unintended consequences of reputation in insurance asset-liability management, focusing on its impact on capital allocation. Using a novel reputation risk measure based on large language models (LLMs) and actuarial models, we show that reputation shifts influence surrender rates, altering capital requirements. While higher reputation reduces surrender risk, it increases capital demand for investment-oriented insurance products, whereas protection products remain largely unaffected. These findings challenge the conventional wisdom that reputation always eases capital constraints, highlighting the need for insurers to integrate reputation management with capital planning to avoid unintended capital strain.

Using “the Measures for the Administration of Bank Wealth Management (henceforth BWM) Funds Sales” as an exogenous shock in fund distribution channels in Chinese BWM industry, we investigate the impact of non-affiliated distribution on fund performance. We find that the adoption of non-affiliated distribution brokers has a positive effect on BWM fund performance. We further find that the effect is more pronounced when the non-affiliated distribution broker has more market power and when the fund issuer has better governance. We interpret our findings to indicate that non-affiliated distribution brokers alleviate the agency problems of fund managers by introducing both ex-ante and ex-post monitoring, highlighting the role of non-affiliated distribution brokers as an external governance mechanism in wealth management industry.

This study empirically investigates the impact of supply chain network centrality on corporate greenwashing behavior. By constructing supply chain networks of Chinese A-share listed companies, we find a strong positive correlation between supply chain network centrality and corporate greenwashing behavior, with an increase of approximately 6.20%. The paper identifies the underlying mechanism as the contagion of the green bandwagon effect within the supply chain, which is observed specifically in the downstream network, particularly among corporate-customers. Additionally, we observe that the positive effects are more pronounced in companies with lower information asymmetry, as well as in labor- and capital-intensive industries and regions with disadvantaged economic conditions. These findings offer important insights for improving corporate environmental responsibility and curbing greenwashing practices.

气候信息披露对于实现“双碳”目标，促进供应链可持续发展至关重要。本文通过合并中国上市公司和海关数据，基于各国强制性ESG披露政策的自然实验，考察其对中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露的影响。研究发现，出口目的国强制性ESG披露政策对中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露具有增进效应，供应商企业的主动模仿和客户倒逼是重要的实现机制。异质性检验发现，当中国出口供应商为污染型企业、面临较高的外部环境关注度，及目的国强制性ESG披露政策执行更为严格时，政策效果更为显著。进一步分析发现，中国出口供应商企业气候信息披露的完善不仅有助于增加企业对实行强制性ESG披露政策国家的出口，而且能够提升供应商企业未来的经营绩效。本文丰富了气候信息披露影响因素与实现机制的研究，增强了对强制性ESG披露政策的理解，对构建可持续供应链和提升企业国际竞争力具有重要启示。

股票发行注册制改革是证券市场走向成熟、完善与市场化的重要举措。近年来，实体企业金融化趋势日益明显。本文基于创业板与主板上市企业数据，构建倾向得分匹配-双重差分（PSM-DID）与RDD-DID模型，研究注册制改革对企业金融化水平的影响，并从多个角度剖析其作用机制。两种模型的估计结果均表明，注册制改革显著提升了企业的金融化程度。此外，研究结论经过一系列稳健性检验得到验证。机制分析表明，注册制改革通过降低上市门槛、缓解融资约束以及增强市场竞争，推动企业金融化水平提升；与此同时，其信息披露机制在一定程度上抑制了企业金融化。进一步的异质性分析发现，改革的促进效应在非国有企业、成长性较低企业以及企业社会责任履行较弱的企业中更加显著。本文丰富了关于注册制改革的政策影响文献，为理解研究注册制改革如何影响企业金融化提供了新视角，并对抑制实体企业过度金融化、深化注册制改革并进一步完善资本市场具有重要启示。

This study examines the relationship between industry litigation risk and corporate misconduct using China's A-share listed companies’ data from 2007 to 2022. The findings indicate a significant and negative association, where companies in industries with higher median litigation amounts relative to their assets exhibit reduced incidents of misconduct. This suggests that businesses in high-risk litigation sectors may adopt more cautious practices to mitigate legal challenges and protect their reputations. The robustness of these findings is confirmed through a variety of tests, including a quasi-experimental setting of the chief judges rotation implemented in 2008. Furthermore, the study finds that external monitors including financial analysts’ site visits and local law firms moderate the negative relationship between litigation risk and misconduct. We further show that legal enforcement and moral capital are the two channels through which industry litigation risk impacts corporate misconduct. Our findings underscore the role of litigation risk in shaping peer firms' behavior.

本文基于2000-2024年手工收集的IPO公司上市前的现金分红数据，系统考察了上市前现金分红与公司长期市场表现的关系。研究发现，（1）上市前实施高额现金分红的公司，其IPO后长期市场表现显著较差，这一负面效应在成长型公司和融资约束较高的公司中尤为突出；（2）通过构建考虑公司盈利能力、成长性、规模及杠杆水平的超额分红指标，发现超额分红公司的IPO前分红水平与上市后长期表现呈显著负相关，而分红不足公司则呈现微弱的正相关关系；（3）IPO前超额分红行为通过挤占公司资本性支出、降低投资效率等渠道削弱了企业的增长潜力。本研究不仅丰富了公司股利政策的经济后果研究，也为完善新股发行监管制度提供了重要的经验证据。