We study how secular culture affects firm behavior when formal institutions fall short. We find that firms more exposed to alcohol-related sin culture exhibit more earnings management and lean their operations more toward local business partners. Tests using latitude and snow/temperature as...

We examine whether information manipulation by firms may reflect fundamental cooperation conventions induced by social norms in China. Consistent with this notion, we find that China’s leading social norms related to alcohol consumption and social drinking enhance earnings manipulation. An...

Inspired by the recent health science findings that air pollution affects mental health and cognition, we examine whether air pollution can intensify the cognitive bias observed in the financial markets. Based on a proprietary data set obtained from a large Chinese mutual fund family consisting...

This paper introduces and critically analyzes an emerging form of global infrastructure development by China's infrastructure construction companies, known as "integrated investment, construction, and operation" (IICO). This model has been promoted by the Chinese infrastructure industry,...