*Article* **The Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Executives' Self-Interest Behaviors: Evidence from China**

**Hong Huang, Chang Liu and Yuqian He \***

School of Finance and Business, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China **\*** Correspondence: hanahey@shnu.edu.cn

**Abstract:** This paper empirically studies the impact of economic policy uncertainty on executives' self-interest behaviors, distinguishes explicit self-interest behaviors from implicit ones, and studies the moderating effect of internal control. The results illustrate that rising policy uncertainty will inhibit explicit self-interest behaviors of executives, yet the implicit ones will be encouraged. Internal control can regulate the above effects. Further research proves that the above-mentioned impact is more significant in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Stable institutional investors and sound market competition can play a certain role in governance. Our paper contributes to the literature on the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate governance.

**Keywords:** uncertainty of economic policy; self-interest behavior of executives; corporate governance
