We propose a new, price-based measure of information risk called abnormal idiosyncratic volatility (AIV) that captures information asymmetry faced by uninformed investors. AIV is the idiosyncratic volatility prior to information events in excess of normal levels. Using earnings announcements as information events, we show that AIV is positively associated with informed return run-ups, abnormal insider trading, short selling, and institutional trading during pre-earnings-announcement periods. We find that stocks with high AIV earn economically and statistically larger future returns than stocks with low AIV. Taken together, our findings support the notion that information risk is priced.

Motivated by the pioneering study of Morck, Yeung, and Yu (2000), this paper investigates whether and how news commonality varies according to a country׳s institutional environments. Using a unique global news data set across 41 countries for the 2000–2009 period, we document three notable findings. First, firm-level news comoves more in countries with weaker institutional environments than in those with stronger institutional environments. Second, news commonality is positively associated with both stock return comovement and stock liquidity commonality. Third, the effect of news commonality on stock return and liquidity comovement is higher in countries with stronger institutions than in those with weaker institutions. These results suggest that a country׳s institutional environments affect firm-specific information production and, more importantly, support the information-efficiency view that lower price synchronicity is caused by greater capitalization of firm-specific information.

We examine whether and how firms use connected social media outlets to counteract negative coverage in traditional media. Employing a sample of Chinese listed firms with ties to social media outlets, we find that connected outlets portray firms more favorably than unconnected ones. Following unfavorable coverage in traditional media, connected outlets shift attention toward long-term prospects and promote favorable narratives, consistent with an optimism-shifting mechanism. The effect is more pronounced when firms have stronger incentives to stabilize stock prices and when managers face heightened career concerns. Our findings highlight the role of connected social media outlets in shaping corporate narratives.

We study the role of state controlling shareholders in corporate payout policy. The State Capital Operation Program in China requires parent central state-owned enterprises (CSOEs) to contribute part of their consolidated income to a new fiscal fund. We find that listed CSOEs, partially controlled by parent CSOEs, experience significant reductions in dividend payouts as the income-contribution ratio increases. The dividend reductions are concurrent with increases in intragroup resource transfers— listed CSOEs’ loans to, and commercial trades with, group peers. The program yields adverse consequences for listed CSOEs’ investment and employment, yet being mitigated by group-level dividend reductions.

This paper examines whether dividend policy is associated with earnings management and whether the relationship varies across countries with wide-ranging degrees of institutional strength and transparency. Based on a sample of 23,429 corporations from 29 countries, we show that dividend payers manage earnings less than dividend non-payers, and that this evidence is stronger in countries with weak investor protection and high opacity. Further, we find that dividend payers manage earnings less when they issue equity following dividend payments, and that this result is more pronounced in countries with weak institutions and low transparency. Overall, our evidence suggests that firms may employ dividend policies associated with less earnings manipulation to mitigate agency concerns and to establish credible reputation, thereby facilitating access to external funds.

We examine the governance transfer effect of corporate blockholders in a sample of 892 block acquisitions across 42 countries from 1990 to 2008. Using earnings management as a proxy for corporate governance outcome, we find that target firms' earnings management is aligned with that of block acquirers after acquisitions, implying that blockholders transfer their own governance quality to investee firms. We further identify three economic mechanisms that underlie the governance transfer effect, namely, monitoring effectiveness, monitoring cost, and monitoring environment. Our findings provide new insights into the governance role of blockholders.

In order to reconcile weak evidence of supply-side determinants of commonality in liquidity in previous studies, we examine commonality in liquidity in China over the period 1995–2012. Consistent with supply-side explanations, we find that market declines and market volatility increase liquidity commonality. To identify the direct relationship between the supply-side determinants and commonality in liquidity, we provide two specific tests and show that an increase in market participants has a negative effect on liquidity commonality, while the split-share-structure reform in 2005–2007 that results in a large increase in shares supply has a positive impact on liquidity commonality. Finally, we find that commonality in liquidity also has a real impact on the economy.