Judging a book by its cover: The influence of physical attractiveness on the promotion of regional leaders

We investigate the determinants of the promotion of Chinese municipal leaders and find that leaders with greater perceived attractiveness have a higher probability of promotion. Further exploration shows no correlation between a leader\u27s facial traits and local economic growth under his jurisdiction. Essentially, a senior government official\u27s look significantly affects his chance of promotion but says very little about his ability to advance the local economy. Our findings suggest that appearance-based discrimination exists when Chinese political hierarchy screens political elites

Political connections, media monitoring and long-term loans

We analyze data on Chinese non-state-listed firms and find that it is easier for firms with political connections to obtain long-term loans with extended debt maturities than it is for firms without political connections. Our investigation indicates that this phenomenon is significantly less common with increased media monitoring. Houston et al. (2011) find strong evidence that the state ownership of media is associated with higher levels of bank corruption in China, but our study shows that, to a certain extent, media monitoring can curb corruption

NEEQ Market：Institutional Characteristics and Research Opportunities

【中文摘要】多层次资本市场健康发展可以很好地增强金融服务实体的经济能力。新三板作为多层次资本市场建设的重要一环，在近些年的发展中经历了一定的起伏。本文从发行、融资、交易、摘牌、监管等维度对新三板制度进行了综合的描述性统计，发现了新三板这个独特的新兴资本市场的特征，尤其指出新三板是一个中小微企业的资本市场舞台。新三板独特的制度需求与供给为我们提供了很好的研究场景。本文从公司治理、股权结构、风险投资、税收等多个角度指出新三板为中小微企业提供的研究机会，还从新三板的分层制度、交易制度、摘牌制度等方面切入，为研究新三板在政策监管下的实施与效果、制度的有效性、管制下的融资成本、投资者行为等方面提供方向指引。本文认为，研究新三板的制度特点与沿革路径对于深化新三板改革，促进制度创新有着巨大的理论与实践意义。 【Abstract】The healthy development of multi-level capital markets can enhance financial services for the real economy. Nevertheless， as an important part of the design for multi-level capital markets in China， the National Equities Exchange and Quotations（ NEEQ） market，often known as the New Third Board， has received little attention from recent research，despite its dramatic ups and downs in recent years. In this paper， we provide comprehensive descriptive statistics for the NEEQ market of its various activities such as issuance， financing，trading， relisting， and regulations. We characterize the unique aspects of the NEEQ market as an emerging financial market for macro， small， or medium enterprises（ SMEs）. These unique aspects of the NEEQ market offer us good research opportunities. We discuss corporate governance， shareholding structure， venture capital， and taxation for businesses listed in the NEEQ market. In addition， we examine the hierarchy and trading and delisting rules of the NEEQ market so as to provide directions for assessment of financing costs， investor behavior，and the effectiveness and consequence of policy implementation. We believe that the development of the NEEQ market gives rise to distinct institutional characteristics，which have implications for subsequent institutional reforms and innovations of the NEEQ Market.本文感谢国家自然科学基金项目“会计、审计对企业经营管理与宏观经济发展的影响研究”（71790603）、国家自然科学基金项目“经济失真与企业资源配置”（71872186）、广东省自然科学基金项目“大股东股权质押动机与经济后果研究”（2019A1515011409）、广东省软科学研究计划项目“多层次资本市场建设与粤港澳大湾区实体经济发展”（2019A101002103）的资助