One-child policy and family firms in China

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Corporate Finance
Year: 2015
Volume: 33
Issue: C
Pages: 317-329

Authors (3)

Cao, Jerry (not in RePEc) Cumming, Douglas (not in RePEc) Wang, Xiaoming (Shanghai University of Finance)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Family business plays important roles to fuel economic growth in China. Due to the one-child policy, family firms are increasingly facing human capital constraints for within-family succession. Having only one heir decreases the probability of continuing family management by over 3%, reduces the probability of adult children working in family firms by 14%, and significantly decreases founders' expectations of having young heirs for succession. Having fewer children negatively affects founder's expectation to go public, reduces family firm's reinvestment rate and R&D. Overall, the evidence suggests that the human capital constraints due to the one-child policy impose significant negative impacts on within-family succession. Dynastic management of family firms remains an important challenge for first-generation entrepreneurs in China.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:corfin:v:33:y:2015:i:c:p:317-329
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25