[We study the share privatization process in China to investigate whether and how the removal of market frictions is associated with efficiency gains. Prior to the reform, domestic A-shares were divided into tradable and non-tradable shares. As a result of the reform, holders of non-tradable shares compensated holders of tradable shares in order to make their shares tradable. We show that size is positively associated with both the gain in risk sharing and the price impact of more shares coming on the market as a result of the reform. Our study highlights the role of risk sharing in China's share issue privatization process.]

We study the share privatization process in China to investigate whether and how the removal of market frictions is associated with efficiency gains. Prior to the reform, domestic A-shares were divided into tradable and non-tradable shares. As a result of the reform, holders of non-tradable shares compensated holders of tradable shares in order to make their shares tradable. We show that size is positively associated with both the gain in risk sharing and the price impact of more shares coming on the market as a result of the reform. Our study highlights the role of risk sharing in China's share issue privatization process. The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]., Oxford University Press.

Prior research shows that financial reporting quality (FRQ) is positively related to investment efficiency for large U.S. publicly traded companies. We examine the role of FRQ in private firms from emerging markets, a setting in which extant research suggests that FRQ would be less conducive to the mitigation of investment inefficiencies. Earlier studies show that private firms have lower FRQ, presumably because of lower market demand for public information. Prior research also shows that FRQ is lower in countries with low investor protection, bank-oriented financial systems, and stronger conformity between tax and financial reporting rules. Using firm-level data from the World Bank, our empirical evidence suggests that FRQ positively affects investment efficiency. We further find that the relation between FRQ and investment efficiency is increasing in bank financing and decreasing in incentives to minimize earnings for tax purposes. Such a connection between tax-minimization incentives and the informational role of earnings has often been asserted in the literature. We provide explicit evidence in this regard.