IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v64y2020ics0929119920301152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The influence of economic policy uncertainty on corporate trade credit and firm value

Author

Listed:
  • Jory, Surendranath R.
  • Khieu, Hinh D.
  • Ngo, Thanh N.
  • Phan, Hieu V.

Abstract

This research investigates the relationship between government economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and trade credit and its value implication for U.S. public firms. We find that firms curtail their receivables periods and face shorter payables periods from suppliers during high EPU. The impact of trade credit policy changes on firm value is nonlinear. Tightening trade credit during periods of high EPU increases shareholder value only to a certain point, beyond which it is value-destroying since overly reducing trade credit can lead to losing customers to competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Jory, Surendranath R. & Khieu, Hinh D. & Ngo, Thanh N. & Phan, Hieu V., 2020. "The influence of economic policy uncertainty on corporate trade credit and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:64:y:2020:i:c:s0929119920301152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101671
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119920301152
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101671?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2001. "Firms as financial intermediaries - evidence from trade credit data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2696, The World Bank.
    2. Jean-Noël Barrot, 2016. "Trade Credit and Industry Dynamics: Evidence from Trucking Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(5), pages 1975-2016, October.
    3. Philippe Aghion & John Van Reenen & Luigi Zingales, 2013. "Innovation and Institutional Ownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 277-304, February.
    4. Nick Bloom & Stephen Bond & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Uncertainty and Investment Dynamics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(2), pages 391-415.
    5. William L. Sartoris & Ned C Hill, 1981. "Evaluating Credit Policy Alternatives: A Present Value Framework," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 4(1), pages 81-89, March.
    6. Bordo, Michael D. & Duca, John V. & Koch, Christoffer, 2016. "Economic policy uncertainty and the credit channel: Aggregate and bank level U.S. evidence over several decades," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 90-106.
    7. JaeBin Ahn & Mary Amiti & David E. Weinstein, 2011. "Trade Finance and the Great Trade Collapse," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 298-302, May.
    8. Gonçalves, Adalto Barbaceia & Schiozer, Rafael F. & Sheng, Hsia Hua, 2018. "Trade credit and product market power during a financial crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 308-323.
    9. John Romalis, 2007. "NAFTA's and CUSFTA's Impact on International Trade," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 416-435, August.
    10. Choi, Woon Gyu & Kim, Yungsan, 2005. "Trade Credit and the Effect of Macro-Financial Shocks: Evidence from U.S. Panel Data," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(4), pages 897-925, December.
    11. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1997. "Trade Credit: Theories and Evidence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 661-691.
    12. Jae Sim & Egon Zakrajsek & Simon Gilchrist, 2010. "Uncertainty, Financial Frictions, and Investment Dynamics," 2010 Meeting Papers 1285, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Xinjie Wang & Weike Xu & Zhaodong (Ken) Zhong, 2019. "Economic policy uncertainty, CDS spreads, and CDS liquidity provision," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(4), pages 461-480, April.
    14. Inessa Love & Rida Zaidi, 2010. "Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Financial Crisis-super-," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 10(s1), pages 125-147.
    15. Adalto Barbaceia Gonçalves & Rafael Schiozer & Hsia Hua Sheng, 2018. "Trade Credit and Product Market Power during a Financial Crisis," Working Papers CEB 18-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    16. Mike Burkart & Tore Ellingsen, 2004. "In-Kind Finance: A Theory of Trade Credit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 569-590, June.
    17. Nishant Dass & Jayant R. Kale & Vikram Nanda, 2015. "Trade Credit, Relationship-specific Investment, and Product Market Power," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(5), pages 1867-1923.
    18. Aktas, Nihat & Bodt, Eric de & Lobez, Frédéric & Statnik, Jean-Christophe, 2012. "The information content of trade credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1402-1413.
    19. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    20. Greenwald, Bruce C & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1990. "Asymmetric Information and the New Theory of the Firm: Financial Constraints and Risk Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(2), pages 160-165, May.
    21. Matthew D. Hill & G. Wayne Kelly & Michael J. Highfield, 2010. "Net Operating Working Capital Behavior: A First Look," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 783-805, June.
    22. Nguyen, Nam H. & Phan, Hieu V., 2017. "Policy Uncertainty and Mergers and Acquisitions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 613-644, April.
    23. Jeffrey W. Allen & Gordon M. Phillips, 2000. "Corporate Equity Ownership, Strategic Alliances, and Product Market Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2791-2815, December.
    24. Bougheas, Spiros & Mateut, Simona & Mizen, Paul, 2009. "Corporate trade credit and inventories: New evidence of a trade-off from accounts payable and receivable," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 300-307, February.
    25. J. Stephen Ferris, 1981. "A Transactions Theory of Trade Credit Use," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(2), pages 243-270.
    26. Nadiri, M Ishaq, 1969. "The Determinants of Trade Credit in the U.S. Total Manufacturing Sector," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 408-423, July.
    27. Garcia-Appendini, Emilia & Montoriol-Garriga, Judit, 2013. "Firms as liquidity providers: Evidence from the 2007–2008 financial crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 272-291.
    28. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    29. Shenoy, Jaideep & Williams, Ryan, 2017. "Trade credit and the joint effects of supplier and customer financial characteristics," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 68-80.
    30. Nam Sang Cheng & Richard Pike, 2003. "The trade credit decision: evidence of UK firms," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6-7), pages 419-438.
    31. Lucas F. Husted & John H. Rogers & Bo Sun, 2016. "Measuring Cross Country Monetary Policy Uncertainty," IFDP Notes 2016-11-23, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    32. Matousek, Roman & Panopoulou, Ekaterini & Papachristopoulou, Andromachi, 2020. "Policy uncertainty and the capital shortfall of global financial firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    33. José-Miguel Gaspar, 2006. "Idiosyncratic Volatility and Product Market Competition," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(6), pages 3125-3152, November.
    34. Blazenko, George W. & Vandezande, Kirk, 2003. "Corporate holding of finished goods inventories," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 255-266.
    35. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    36. Mariassunta Giannetti & Mike Burkart & Tore Ellingsen, 2011. "What You Sell Is What You Lend? Explaining Trade Credit Contracts," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 1261-1298.
    37. Ferrando, Annalisa & Mulier, Klaas, 2013. "Do firms use the trade credit channel to manage growth?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3035-3046.
    38. Lee, Yul W. & Stowe, John D., 1993. "Product Risk, Asymmetric Information, and Trade Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(2), pages 285-300, June.
    39. Carlos A. Molina & Lorenzo A. Preve, 2009. "Trade Receivables Policy of Distressed Firms and Its Effect on the Costs of Financial Distress," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(3), pages 663-686, September.
    40. Vasia Panousi & Dimitris Papanikolaou, 2012. "Investment, Idiosyncratic Risk, and Ownership," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1113-1148, June.
    41. Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Janzen, Malte, 2018. "Policy uncertainty, investment, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 28-45.
    42. Gropp, Reint & Boissay, Frédéric, 2007. "Trade credit defaults and liquidity provision by firms," Working Paper Series 753, European Central Bank.
    43. Chee K. Ng & Janet Kiholm Smith & Richard L. Smith, 1999. "Evidence on the Determinants of Credit Terms Used in Interfirm Trade," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 1109-1129, June.
    44. Schwartz, Robert A., 1974. "An Economic Model of Trade Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 643-657, September.
    45. Mian, Shehzad L & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1992. "Accounts Receivable Management Policy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(1), pages 169-200, March.
    46. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Sharma, Susan Sunila & Tran, Vuong Thao, 2018. "Can economic policy uncertainty predict stock returns? Global evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 134-150.
    47. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:5:p:1127-41 is not listed on IDEAS
    48. Zhang, Guangli & Han, Jianlei & Pan, Zheyao & Huang, Haozhi, 2015. "Economic policy uncertainty and capital structure choice: Evidence from China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 439-457.
    49. Box, Travis & Davis, Ryan & Hill, Matthew & Lawrey, Chris, 2018. "Operating performance and aggressive trade credit policies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 192-208.
    50. Michael S. Long & Ileen B. Malitz & S. Abraham Ravid, 1993. "Trade Credit, Quality Guarantees, and Product," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 22(4), Winter.
    51. Inessa Love & Rida Zaidi, 2010. "Trade Credit, Bank Credit and Financial Crisis," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 10(1), pages 125-147, March.
    52. Biais, Bruno & Gollier, Christian, 1997. "Trade Credit and Credit Rationing," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 903-937.
    53. Chen, Ruiyuan (Ryan) & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Nash, Robert, 2018. "State Ownership and Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(5), pages 2293-2334, October.
    54. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan, 2007. "Corporate governance and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 599-634, March.
    55. Fabbri, Daniela & Klapper, Leora F., 2016. "Bargaining power and trade credit," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 66-80.
    56. Bonaime, Alice & Gulen, Huseyin & Ion, Mihai, 2018. "Does policy uncertainty affect mergers and acquisitions?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(3), pages 531-558.
    57. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    58. Emery, Gary W., 1984. "A Pure Financial Explanation for Trade Credit," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 271-285, September.
    59. Bernanke, Ben S, 1983. "Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in Propagation of the Great Depression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(3), pages 257-276, June.
    60. Kale, Jayant R. & Loon, Yee Cheng, 2011. "Product market power and stock market liquidity," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 376-410, May.
    61. Kim, Yong H & Atkins, Joseph C, 1978. "Evaluating Investments in Accounts Receivable: A Wealth Maximizing Framework," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(2), pages 403-412, May.
    62. Sanjiv Sabherwal & Salil K. Sarkar & Mohammad Riaz Uddin, 2017. "Political Party Affiliation of the President, Majority in Congress, and Sin Stock Returns," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 46(1), pages 3-31, March.
    63. Jonathan Brogaard & Andrew Detzel, 2015. "The Asset-Pricing Implications of Government Economic Policy Uncertainty," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(1), pages 3-18, January.
    64. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 523-564.
    65. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D'Mello, Ranjan & Toscano, Francesca, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and short-term financing: The case of trade credit," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Abdulla, Yomna & Dang, Viet Anh & Khurshed, Arif, 2020. "Suppliers' listing status and trade credit provision," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Altunok, Fatih & Mitchell, Karlyn & Pearce, Douglas K., 2020. "The trade credit channel and monetary policy transmission: Empirical evidence from U.S. panel data," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 226-250.
    4. Cao, Zhangfan & Chen, Steven Xianglong & Lee, Edward, 2022. "Does business strategy influence interfirm financing? Evidence from trade credit," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 495-511.
    5. Tarkom, Augustine & Yang, Lukai, 2024. "Presidential economic approval rating and trade credit," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Vo, Hong & Phan, Anh & Trinh, Quoc-Dat & Vu, Linh Nhat, 2022. "Does economic policy uncertainty affect trade credit and firm value in Korea? A comparison of chaebol vs. non-chaebol firms," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 474-491.
    7. Box, Travis & Davis, Ryan & Hill, Matthew & Lawrey, Chris, 2018. "Operating performance and aggressive trade credit policies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 192-208.
    8. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Alam, Nurul, 2022. "Asset redeployability and trade credit," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    9. Li, Tongxia & Ang, Tze Chuan ‘Chewie’ & Lu, Chun, 2023. "Employment protection and the provision of trade credit," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Abdulla, Yomna & Dang, Viet Anh & Khurshed, Arif, 2017. "Stock market listing and the use of trade credit: Evidence from public and private firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 391-410.
    11. Singh, Amanjot, 2022. "Hedge fund activism and trade credit," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    12. Li, Tongxia & Lu, Chun & Wang, Hui, 2023. "Stakeholder orientation and trade credit: Evidence from a natural experiment," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 15-34.
    13. James, Hui Liang & Ngo, Thanh & Wang, Hongxia, 2023. "The impact of more able managers on corporate trade credit," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    14. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Habib, Ahsan, 2019. "Social capital and trade credit," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 158-174.
    15. Afrifa, Godfred Adjapong & Gyapong, Ernest & Monem, Reza M., 2018. "Product differentiation, market dynamics and the value relevance of trade payables: Evidence from UK listed firms," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 235-253.
    16. Cristina Martínez-Sola & Pedro García-Teruel & Pedro Martínez-Solano, 2014. "Trade credit and SME profitability," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 561-577, March.
    17. Gyimah, Daniel & Machokoto, Michael & Sikochi, Anywhere (Siko), 2020. "Peer influence on trade credit," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Joye Khoo & Adrian (Wai Kong) Cheung, 2023. "Does skilled labor risk matter to suppliers? Evidence from trade credit," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 423-447, May.
    19. Tsuruta, Daisuke & Uchida, Hirofumi, 2019. "The real driver of trade credit," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    20. Abudu Braimah & Yinping Mu & Isaac Quaye & Alhassan Abubakar Ibrahim, 2021. "Working Capital Management and SMEs Profitability in Emerging Economies: The Ghanaian Case," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Trade credit; Economic policy uncertainty; Firm value;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:64:y:2020:i:c:s0929119920301152. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.