Events

PEGFA Research Seminars 2023: Tian & Galanis

6th Apr 2023 5pm - 6:30pm

Campus

The Institute of Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability invites you to its Research Seminar Series 2023.

Our second Research Seminar will take place on 6 April at 5pm in QA220. Siyang Tian will present "Political Connections and Corporate Litigation: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment".

Abstract: This paper studies the causal impacts of political connections on corporate litigation. Specifically, by exploiting an unanticipated depoliticization reform in China which forces all politically connected directors to resign from listed firms, we investigate how political connections impair the effectiveness and fairness of the judicial system. We show that fi rms’ government connections deter disadvantaged groups from taking legal action to resolve disputes, and that the weakening of the political ties results in greater litigation risk for connected firms in forms of higher likelihood of and larger monetary amounts involved in litigation as defendants. The effects are stronger for non-state-owned firms, financially distressed firms, and firms in regions with weak legal institutions. We also find that plaintiffs fare better in litigation against those previously connected firms after the reform. Overall, our analysis highlights the social costs of judicial corruption, and demonstrates that curbing firms’ abusive political power in judicial affairs can effectively mitigate the biases rooted in the judiciary.

Giorgos Galanis will talk about his paper "The Global Political Economy of a Green Transition", co-authored with Giorgio Ricchiuti and Ben Tippet. Please find the abstract here:

By building a simple discrete choice model, we study possible paths regarding country participation in international environmental agreements (IEAs) on climate change. Preferences for action are influenced by (i) the growth rate of emissions, (ii) participation of others in IEAs, and (iii) heterogeneous costs and preferences for action. We find a variety of outcomes depending on the relative strength of effects, where sustained high level of cooperation is just one possibility. More specifically, we find that a short run increase in climate action may be followed by a decline later, while non trivial dynamics that make the evolution less predictable are another possibility. Our results indicate that a reduction in global inequalities related to low carbon transition costs are a necessary condition for sustained high levels of cooperation.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Please find the entire programme for this year's Research Seminar Series here.

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