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In recent years, the financial investment level of enterprises particularly family firms has increased rapidly. This phenomenon has drawn intense attention from both government regulators and academia. In this study, we argue that the second-generation succession is an important reason for family firms' preference for financial investment. Using 9,701 firm-year observations of Chinese family listed firms from 2007 to 2018, we find that the second-generation succession has a positive effect on financial investment in family firms, while successors with professional background have less preference for financial investment. Further, the positive effect exists mainly in both preparation and epistasis stages of second-generation succession. The number of family founders' children will enhance successors' preference for financial investment. Finally, financial investment especially long-term one reduces real investment, and damages future performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effect of high-speed rails on analyst earnings forecasts in Chinese context. The results based on a difference-in-difference design show that the introduction of high-speed rail improves analyst earnings forecast accuracy. The positive association is stronger for firms located in regions with less developed institutional environments, firms with fewer intangible assets, and firms located farther away from information centers. In addition, high-speed rails increase analysts' likelihood and frequency of site visits. Overall, we extend the literature on economic geography and financial analysts, and shed lights on how transportation infrastructure facilitates information exchange in capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the role of religion in shaping corporate behaviour has drawn much attention. Unlike the more common focus on the effect of religion on corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards external stakeholders, this study investigates whether religion affects focal firms' CSR towards internal stakeholders – that is, employees. Using a unique data set from a 2008 national survey of Chinese private firms, this study finds strong evidence that firms whose CEOs have some religious affiliation engage in more labour-friendly practices than their non-religious counterparts, as measured by employees' social insurance coverage. This finding indicates that religion may motivate executives to take more responsibility for their employees. Further, the positive association between religious affiliation and labour-friendly practices is more pronounced in firms with CEO duality (one person serves as both CEO and board chair) and in firms that depend more on human than physical capital. These findings survived several robustness checks and a test for endogeneity. Overall, our findings enrich the literature on the corporate consequences of a leader's religion and the determinants of internal CSR. These findings also have important implications for policymakers and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether reputation mechanism works for celebrity independent directors in China. We find that firms with celebrity independent directors experience higher multiple agency costs and worse performance, indicating that managers and/or large shareholders take celebrityindependent directors as a shield for facilitating grabbing private benefits. In addition, this effect varies between state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]