This paper investigates whether initial public offering (IPO) announcements have any price impact on existing stocks in China. Using the Chinese IPO approval regime as a natural experiment, we find that IPO approval announcements have a negative price impact on stocks. This price effect appears to be a drift in equilibrium prices and is more pronounced on stocks that are more correlated with the IPO. These findings support an expectation-based downward-sloping demand curve hypothesis. We also document negative price reactions around the IPO listing day, which is consistent with the findings by previous authors. Further evidence rules out the signal effect of IPO approval announcements. In sum, IPO approvals can influence prices of other stocks by shaping the expectation of a change in the supply-demand equilibrium without actual trading of IPO shares.

China has some unique institutional features. For example, the shares of listed firms are segmented into negotiable and nonnegotiable ones. The controlling shareholders, usually connected to the government, hold nonnegotiable shares. We examine how these institutional features affected cash dividend payments in China during the period 1994–2006. We find that dividend payments are positively associated with the proportion of nonnegotiable shares in a firm and the proportion of nonnegotiable shares held by the controlling shareholder; moreover, the 2001 China Securities Regulatory Commission stipulation requiring cash dividend payments does not benefit negotiable shareholders. However, we also find that dividend payments are downside flexible, and controlling shareholders cannot force firms to pay or to pay more dividends when firms' earnings decline significantly. The conventional factors, especially profitability or the capability to pay, still play an important role in determining the dividend policy. The propensity to pay and the payout ratio in China are not high compared to those of other countries.

We examine two inconclusive issues in the IPO (initial public offering) underpricing literature. It is unclear whether private firms or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) underprice their IPOs more and how the institutional environment affects IPO underpricing. Using a much larger China IPO sample of SOEs, we conclude that SOEs underprice their IPOs more than private firms. Specifically, SOEs controlled by the central government (CSOEs) underprice their IPOs 27 percentage points more than private firms, whereas SOEs controlled by local governments (LSOEs) underprice theirs 7 percentage points more than those of private firms. Using the National Economic Research Institute Index of Marketization (NERIIM) to measure the institutional environment, we find that one index score improvement in institutional environment is associated with a two percentage-point reduction in IPO underpricing. Importantly, a better institutional environment reduces IPO underpricing most effectively for private firms, followed by LSOEs, and the least for CSOEs.

We examine sunshine-induced mood and its impacts on investors' bidding decisions in the primary market where seasoned equities are offered. Analyzing a unique database that records seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) investors' locations, identities, and bidding information, we examine the degree to which sunshine exerts an influence on investors' bidding behaviors (and subsequently SEO discounts) from two dimensions: sunshine intensity and duration. We find that investors exposed to stronger sunshine intensity or longer sunshine duration submit a higher bid price for SEOs, thus leading to lower offer discounts. We also find that mood misattribution and risk-taking act as channels to rationalize such a sunshine effect. Our moderating analyses indicate that the documented impact strengthens in the case of greater uncertainty, less-frequent bidders, retail investors, and lower levels of investment. These sunshine effects impact failed bids, SEO participation and SEOs' long-term performance. Our study provides original evidence that investors in the primary market can be influenced by a sunshine-induced mood, which, in turn, determines the cost of equity financing.