Date & Time: Oct 29th, 2019 (Tuesday) & 1:30pm-3:00pm

Location: Room 106, College of Business, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics (100 Wudong Road)

Location in Chinese:武东路100号上海财经大学中欧平台大楼114室

Speaker: 姬俊抗(清华大学)

Abstract：

This study builds on imprinting research to advance a new mechanism whereby governments influence firms’ political ties: when experiencing the impact of significant policy changes at founding, firms are likely to form lasting beliefs in governments’ erraticism in policies and adapt by forming political ties to acquire timely information about policy changes. The analyses test this mechanism using the surveys of private firms by capitalizing on the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOE) as an epic policy change in China. The results provide evidence consistent

with the mechanism. Private firms experiencing the stronger negative impact of the SOE reform on employment at founding are more likely to form political ties via their leaders’ assuming positions in the People’s Congress (PC) or People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPCC) contemporarily. This effect is weaker when (1) firm founders withstood less status loss during the SOE reform; (2) firm founders were more likely to sympathize the SOE reform due to their CCP membership, the communist legacy in their provinces, and CCP patriotic propagandas in their provinces at the founding of their firms; (3) there are more legal cases involving  governments and the degree of marketization is higher in firms’ provinces contemporarily.