Management Review ›› 2021, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (1): 201-214.

• Organization and Strategic Management • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Agency Costs

Luo Jingbo1, Li Xiaorong2,3   

  1. 1. School of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000;
    2. School of Public Finance and Taxation, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 102206;
    3. Zhongcai-zhongzhenpengyuan Institute of Local Finance Investment and Financing, Beijing 102206
  • Received:2017-08-23 Online:2021-01-28 Published:2021-02-03

Abstract: Policy uncertainty is an important factor affecting the operating activities of listed companies. Based on the policy uncertainty caused by the change of local officials, and we studies the impact of policy uncertainty on agency costs and reach the following conclusions. The external policy uncertainty faced by an enterprise will significantly increase its agency costs, and it is more so for enterprises in a low-level marketization environment and state-owned enterprises. Especially, when the new official is transferred from a non-local regions and the enterprise operates in a regulated industry, such uncertainty play a more significant role in increasing the enterprise's agency cost. The economic consequence inspection shows that the impact of policy uncertainty on an enterprise's agency cost directly impairs its enterprise value. This paper enriches the research literature regarding the influencing factors of policy uncertainty and agency cost.

Key words: policy uncertainty, marketization level, property rights of enterprises, agency costs