Browsing by Author "Hao W"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    A leap of faith that echoes well? The value impact of Chinese firms starting up business overseas
    (Elsevier Inc, 2023-08) Lu B; Hao W; Liao J; Wongchoti U
    We investigate the impact of greenfield outward foreign direct investment (GODI) by Chinese firms on their subsequent Tobin's Q. Our findings indicate that Chinese listed companies from 2003 to 2019 generally experience a significantly positive boost in perceived firm value (or growth prospects) when engaging in overseas business start-ups (i.e., with no foreign partners) when compared to their inactive peers. The positive GODI effect is more prominent among privately owned enterprises vs. state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Our mechanism tests indicate that lowered effective tax rates and reduced illiquidity due to conducting greenfield ODI serve as the value-enhancing channels. Possibly driven by political objectives, SOEs tend to prioritize developing and Belt-Road countries as the destination for their greenfield overseas endeavors.
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    Dynamic connectedness in the higher moments between clean energy and oil prices
    (Elsevier B.V., 2024-10-31) Hao W; Pham L
    Focusing on clean energy stocks and oil prices, we find that connectedness between these assets not only exists in volatility, but also at higher-order moments, such as skewness and kurtosis, which have been largely under studied in the existing literature. Estimating the connectedness using intra-day data, our initial static analyses suggest that the connectedness between the clean energy and oil markets is heterogenous across the moments and the shock transmitter/recipient role played by each market varies across moments. Further dynamic analyses indicate that higher-order moment connectedness is also time varying and appears to be stronger during uncertain market conditions. In addition, we identify day-of-the-week patterns of higher-order moment connectedness during high uncertainty periods, but these patterns appear to be reversed during low uncertainty periods. The employment of Markov switching regression models further corroborates the market uncertainties as the determinants of higher-order moment connectedness. As an important extension, we provide empirical evidence that including clean energy stocks in the investment portfolio can effectively hedge oil price risks and considering higher-order moments in constructing investment strategies adds extra value to investors. Our utility-based hedging strategy and minimum connectedness portfolio can offer higher utility gains and better risk-return trade-offs to those investors who are not infinitely risk-averse.
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    Earnings quality and crash risk in China: an integrated analysis
    (Emerald Publishing Limited, 16/03/2021) Wongchoti U; Tian G; Hao W; Ding Y; Zhou H; thanh, SD
    Purpose – The authors provide a comprehensive empirical examination on the impact of earnings quality on stock price crash risk in China. Design/methodology/approach – The authors acknowledge and distinguish two-dimensional proxies for earnings quality – accounting-based (earnings management degree) and market-based (earnings transparency) known in accounting and finance literature. Findings – The authors find that both generally indicate that better earnings quality is associated with less crashes. However, extremely high earnings transparency interacted with insider trading profit can also actually exacerbate stock price crashes. Originality/value – This study is the first to highlight the pertinence of accounting-based measures to proxy for earnings quality in a fast-growing emerging market environment such as China.
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    In the radiance of enlightenment: The influence of nontheistic religions on corporate default risk
    (Elsevier B V, 2024-06) Feng Y; Hao W; Fang J; Wongchoti U
    We investigate whether religious site density around a firm's headquarters is related to corporate default risk in China. We find that public firms surrounded by a higher number of Buddhist and Taoist temples are associated with lower default risk. In contrast to the widely documented impact of Western religiosity on corporate behavior, our mechanism tests indicate that lower default risk related to religious site density is primarily driven by better corporate governance and not by a surge in corporate conservatism. Finally, we find that this default risk lowering effect is more pronounced when firms also possess greater political resources.
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    Reconstruction of gene innovation associated with major evolutionary transitions in the kingdom Fungi
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2022-12) Wu B; Hao W; Cox MP
    BACKGROUND: Fungi exhibit astonishing diversity with multiple major phenotypic transitions over the kingdom's evolutionary history. As part of this process, fungi developed hyphae, adapted to land environments (terrestrialization), and innovated their sexual structures. These changes also helped fungi establish ecological relationships with other organisms (animals and plants), but the genomic basis of these changes remains largely unknown. RESULTS: By systematically analyzing 304 genomes from all major fungal groups, together with a broad range of eukaryotic outgroups, we have identified 188 novel orthogroups associated with major changes during the evolution of fungi. Functional annotations suggest that many of these orthogroups were involved in the formation of key trait innovations in extant fungi and are functionally connected. These innovations include components for cell wall formation, functioning of the spindle pole body, polarisome formation, hyphal growth, and mating group signaling. Innovation of mitochondria-localized proteins occurred widely during fungal transitions, indicating their previously unrecognized importance. We also find that prokaryote-derived horizontal gene transfer provided a small source of evolutionary novelty with such genes involved in key metabolic pathways. CONCLUSIONS: The overall picture is one of a relatively small number of novel genes appearing at major evolutionary transitions in the phylogeny of fungi, with most arising de novo and horizontal gene transfer providing only a small additional source of evolutionary novelty. Our findings contribute to an increasingly detailed portrait of the gene families that define fungal phyla and underpin core features of extant fungi.
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    The impact of climate policy on U.S. environmentally friendly firms: A firm-level examination of stock return, volatility, volume, and connectedness
    (Elsevier B V, 2023-03) Pham L; Hao W; Truong H; Trinh HH
    This paper investigates the green stock market reaction to climate policy events associated with the Paris Agreement and the U.S. presidential elections. We document abnormal returns, volatility and volume reactions to climate policy events among green stocks. However, the magnitude of the reactions varies between the tightening and loosening of climate policy and across subgroups of the green stock markets. Our connectedness analysis further investigates the spillover patterns among individual green stocks and confirms their heterogeneous natures when responding to the occurrence of these climate policy events. By constructing a minimum connectedness portfolio based on the estimated connectedness among these green stocks, we find that investors can substantially reduce their risks. Our findings have strong implications for policy makers in designing policies to effectively promote green investments and mitigate climate change.
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    Trust and corporate debt maturity mismatch: Evidence from China
    (John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand., 2023-12-22) Wang XC; Hao W; Fang J; Wu JG; Zou L
    This study explores the relationship between social trust and firm debt maturity mismatch in the Chinese context. Additionally, we investigate the economic mechanisms through which social trust affects debt maturity mismatch, and the differential roles played by social trust among firms with different characteristics. We employ enterprise trustworthiness scores and provincial blood donation rates as our measures of regional social trust level and find a negative relationship between local trust and firm debt maturity mismatch, suggesting that social trust which promotes ethical norms acts as a restraint on firms' propensity for excessive risk. An alternative but consistent explanation is higher social trust increases debtors' willingness to lend, hence it reduces firms' funding costs and consequently the potential cost-saving motivation behind such a mismatch. We further document evidence that social trust improves the firm information environment and consequently risk-taking and/or the ability to reduce funding costs. The study also reveals variations in the role of social trust based on firm characteristics, such as leverage and profitability, and the ownership structure (state-owned enterprises vs. non-state-owned enterprises). The findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the increasing importance of social capital for policy and governance.