Living through the Great Chinese Famine: Early-life experiences and managerial decisions

Xunan Feng and Anders Johansson

Journal of Corporate Finance, 2018, vol. 48, issue C, 638-657

Abstract: Previous studies have linked personal characteristics of business leaders to corporate decisions and outcomes. We analyze if the traumatic experience of the Chinese Famine has an impact on managerial decisions. By exploiting the exogenous variation in local severity of the famine, we find that having lived through the famine during one's younger years is associated with more conservative financial, investment, and cash holding policies, a lower likelihood of unethical behavior, and better firm performance during economic downturns.

Keywords: Managers; Corporate decisions; Fraud; Corporate governance; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 D83 D84 G11 G31 G32 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (66)

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Working Paper: Living through the Great Chinese Famine: Early-Life Experiences and Managerial Decisions (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:corfin:v:48:y:2018:i:c:p:638-657

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.11.012

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