{"title":"Information asymmetry and capital structure: Evidence from the Chinese stock market","authors":"Kung-Cheng Ho, Yujing Gong","doi":"10.1111/infi.12399","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using a unique data set of information ratings (IRs) for firms listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2018, we examine the impact of information asymmetry on capital structure decisions in China. We determine that firms with higher IRs have fewer debt issuances and lower leverage. This negative relationship is consistent for firms listed on the Main Board, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) board and Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) board. We further decompose IR into accounting-associated and nonaccounting-associated components and find that both are negatively correlated with leverage. Additional analyses reveal that for firms listed on the SME and GEM boards, the nonaccounting-associated component exhibits a stronger relationship with leverage than does the accounting-associated component. Our results suggest that information asymmetry is instrumental in capital-structure decision-making.</p>","PeriodicalId":1,"journal":{"name":"Accounts of Chemical Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":16.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Accounts of Chemical Research","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/infi.12399","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Using a unique data set of information ratings (IRs) for firms listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2001 to 2018, we examine the impact of information asymmetry on capital structure decisions in China. We determine that firms with higher IRs have fewer debt issuances and lower leverage. This negative relationship is consistent for firms listed on the Main Board, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) board and Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) board. We further decompose IR into accounting-associated and nonaccounting-associated components and find that both are negatively correlated with leverage. Additional analyses reveal that for firms listed on the SME and GEM boards, the nonaccounting-associated component exhibits a stronger relationship with leverage than does the accounting-associated component. Our results suggest that information asymmetry is instrumental in capital-structure decision-making.
期刊介绍:
Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance.
Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.