Loan financing and investment in princeling-backed firms

摘要

This study investigates the role of princelings in Chinese listed firms. Our findings suggest that princelings ensure better access to bank loans for non-SOEs but bring no significant benefits to SOEs. Our empirical results further indicate that bank lending decisions are distorted for princeling-backed firms due to the privileges and protections they can obtain from the higher levels of the government through princelings' family ties. Moreover, we find that, due to excess long-term bank loans, princeling-backed non-SOEs tend to overinvest, which ultimately results in lower investment efficiency. Furthermore, we use the difference-in-difference method to capture the effect of the exogenous shock of the recent anti-corruption campaign in China on princelings and corporate finance and investment. We demonstrate that the anti-corruption campaign launched by the Chinese government in 2012 effectively weakened the power of princeling connections. Overall, our study suggests that by distorting bank lending decisions and encouraging over-investment, the involvement of princelings in firms causes resource misallocation which favours princeling-backed firms and discourages investment in non-princeling-backed firms.