Mandatory CSR disclosure and analyst forecast properties:Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

Based on a quasi-natural experiment that mandates a subset of listed firms to issue standalone corporate social responsibility(CSR)reports,we examine whether mandatory CSR disclosure improves analysts’information environment.We focus on two properties of analysts’earnings forecasts:forecast error and forecast dispersion.We find that the mandatory issuance of standalone CSR reports is related to less forecast error and less dispersed forecasts,and the effect varies with the firm-level information environment and provincelevel marketization.Additional tests show that the improvement in forecast properties is mainly driven by CSR reports that i)are of high quality and ii)contain more long-term-oriented information than other CSR reports.Our findings provide evidence that mandatory CSR disclosure plays an important informational role for financial analysts.

Mandatory information disclosure and innovation:Evidence from the disclosure of operational information

We use a quasi-natural experiment wherein the Shanghai Stock Exchange requires listed companies in certain industries to disclose operational information and a staggered difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of mandatory information disclosure on corporate innovation.We find that companies subject to mandatory operational information disclosure show significantly increased innovation.This effect is pronounced for companies classified as non-state-owned enterprises,facing severe financing constraints and a high degree of shareholder tunneling behavior and in competitive and high-tech industries.Although mandatory operational information disclosure reduces their competitive advantage,companies appear to compensate by increasing innovation.Our study highlights the positive impact of mandatory operational information disclosure,indicating that it contributes to the highquality development of both capital markets and companies.