Topic: The Freedom of Information Act and Government Financing Costs
Speaker: SU Nancy, Head and Professor at the School of Accounting and Finance, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Host: ZHONG Yuxiang, Lecturer at the Department of Accounting and Taxation
Time and Date: 9:00-11:00, 29 Mar. 2024
Location: SOM 119
Abstract:
Each U.S. state has implemented an information openness law, commonly known as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), granting any person or organization the right to request access to records from any government agency. However, the level of government transparency offered under the FOIA varies across states and over time. We contend that by offering access to government records, FOIA mitigates information asymmetry between municipal bond investors and the municipal government and facilitates the public monitoring of governments, reducing municipal borrowing costs. Using staggered FOIA revisions and a stacked regression design, we find that municipal bond offering yield and offering yield spread decrease (increase) following revisions that strengthen (weaken) state-level FOIA. The FOIA effect on municipal borrowing costs is more pronounced in municipalities with fewer alternative information sources, or weaker external monitoring, and riskier bonds. Collectively, the evidence suggests the significant benefits of FOIA in public finance.
Speaker’s Profile:
Professor Nancy Lixin Su is the Head and full professor at the School of Accounting and Finance, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before re-joining PolyU, she taught at Lingnan University.
Prof. Su has a broad research interest in disclosure, reporting, and auditing. She has also worked creatively across accounting, the supply chain, and social networks. Professor Su has published in prestigious accounting journals, such as the Journal of Accounting and Economics, The Accounting Review, and other business journals, including Management Science and Journal of Business Ethics. She is a co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics and has served as the executive editor of China Accounting and Finance Review as well as a special issue editor of Accounting Horizons. She has also served as an examiner for other Hong Kong universities as well as the investigation panel of the HKICPA.
Professor Su completed her undergraduate studies at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and received her PhD in Management with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Texas at Dallas.
