Topic: Is the Stock Market Just a Side-Show?
Evidence from the Split-Share Reform in China
Presenter：Yan (Albert) Wang, Assistant Professor of Finance，Chinese University of Hong Kong
Time: October 29, 2010（Friday）3:00—4:30PM
Venue: Room 501, Jiageng Bld 2
Chair： Zhe Shen, assistant professor in finance, IFAS
Abstract：
The 2005 split-share reform in China mandates the conversion of previously non-tradable shares into tradable status. The mandatory conversion is swift and a¤ects a large fraction of corporate shares in the country, with shareholders compensating each other with stock transfers. This reform is unique in allowing for insights into the importance on secondary share transactions: it provides for exogenous variation in stock liquidity and ownership. This paper investigates the impact of the 2005 split-share reform on Chinese .rms.real and .nancial performance. To sharpen our identi.cation, we take advantage of the subtleties of the reform in a number of ways. We explore, for example, the pilot program that took place at the beginning of the reform, as well as the staggered nature of the conversion process (with .rms converting in at di¤erent times). These various wrinkles are key in producing counterfactuals against which to test reform-led changes in performance. Using a time-varying treatment approach, we .nd that there are marked improvements in .rms.pro.tability, productivity, and investments after the .rms. stocks are allowed to be freely traded in the stock market. Importantly, we show that the reform presents distinct impacts in the short and long runs. Our .ndings speak to the success of reforms towards stock market liberalization; but more generally, they speak to the role of the stock market in the economy.
Presenter Introduction：
Dr. Wang is assistant professor of finance in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He got BA from Shanghai Jiaotong University and MS and PHD from Arizona State University.