Variable

Explanation

ret

Yearly stock return

CSR

Corporate social responsibility rating by Hexun network

median

the number of news media and newspapers report about firms to measure the reputation of firms

leverage

total liability divided by total assets

size

firm size is the log of the market value of equity

growth

beta

Annual systematic risks faced by firms

pbr

Price-to-Book Ratio

shareholding

Shareholding ratio by institutional investors

law index

The measurement index of external legal environment comes from NERI INDEX of marketization of China’s Provinces 2018 Report