IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v116y2022ics0264999322002401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Firms’ COVID-19 Pandemic Exposure and Corporate Cash Policy: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • He, Zhongda
  • Suardi, Sandy
  • Wang, Kai
  • Zhao, Yang

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted economic activity, decreased corporate revenues, and magnified cash flow fluctuations. We study how Chinese listed firms' COVID exposure influences their cash holdings. A firm's COVID exposure is measured by its excess stock return responses to globally newly infected cases while controlling for market return. Firms increase (decrease) cash balances when their stock returns fall (increase) with COVID severity due to precautionary motives. Firms cannot predict the evolution of the pandemic, which impacts demand and supply and the cash conversion cycle. The deteriorating business condition also increases external financing costs with non-state-owned, low-growth, small, and firms without overseas businesses facing higher financial frictions. Furthermore, firms with good corporate governance tend to pre-empt operational uncertainty by increasing cash holdings. The increased cash holdings translate to more R&D expenditure but lesser capital investment. Our results remain robust to placebo tests, using excess cash and alternative COVID exposure measures.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Zhongda & Suardi, Sandy & Wang, Kai & Zhao, Yang, 2022. "Firms’ COVID-19 Pandemic Exposure and Corporate Cash Policy: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:116:y:2022:i:c:s0264999322002401
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2022.105999
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999322002401
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2022.105999?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. Gao, Huasheng & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2013. "Determinants of corporate cash policy: Insights from private firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 623-639.
    2. Viral V. Acharya & Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello, 2013. "Aggregate Risk and the Choice between Cash and Lines of Credit," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(5), pages 2059-2116, October.
    3. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    4. Hao, Xiangchao & Sun, Qinru & Xie, Fang, 2022. "The COVID-19 pandemic, consumption and sovereign credit risk: Cross-country evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. He, Jingbin & Ma, Xinru & Wei, Qu, 2022. "Firm-level short selling and the local COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    7. Fang, Hanming & Wang, Long & Yang, Yang, 2020. "Human mobility restrictions and the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Dai, Ruochen & Feng, Hao & Hu, Junpeng & Jin, Quan & Li, Huiwen & Wang, Ranran & Wang, Ruixin & Xu, Lihe & Zhang, Xiaobo, 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Evidence from two-wave phone surveys in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Veronica Guerrieri & Guido Lorenzoni & Ludwig Straub & Iván Werning, 2022. "Macroeconomic Implications of COVID-19: Can Negative Supply Shocks Cause Demand Shortages?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(5), pages 1437-1474, May.
    11. Jarrad Harford & Sandy Klasa & William F. Maxwell, 2014. "Refinancing Risk and Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(3), pages 975-1012, June.
    12. Ding, Wenzhi & Levine, Ross & Lin, Chen & Xie, Wensi, 2021. "Corporate immunity to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 802-830.
    13. Jorion, Philippe, 1990. "The Exchange-Rate Exposure of U.S. Multinationals," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63(3), pages 331-345, July.
    14. Liu, Qigui & Luo, Tianpei & Tian, Gary Gang, 2015. "Family control and corporate cash holdings: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 220-245.
    15. Lins, Karl V. & Servaes, Henri & Tufano, Peter, 2010. "What drives corporate liquidity? An international survey of cash holdings and lines of credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 160-176, October.
    16. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chung, Hae Jin & Jhang, Hogyu & Ryu, Doojin, 2023. "Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on corporate cash holdings: Evidence from Korea," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).

    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. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    2. Javadi, Siamak & Mollagholamali, Mohsen & Nejadmalayeri, Ali & Al-Thaqeb, Saud, 2021. "Corporate cash holdings, agency problems, and economic policy uncertainty," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Igor Cunha & Michael S. Weisbach, 2014. "Corporate Liquidity Management: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 135-162, December.
    4. Corsten, Daniel & Gropp, Reint E. & Markou, Panos, 2017. "Suppliers as liquidity insurers," IWH Discussion Papers 8/2017, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    5. Elyasiani, Elyas & Zhang, Ling, 2015. "CEO entrenchment and corporate liquidity management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 115-128.
    6. Nyborg, Kjell & Wang, Zexi, 2019. "Corporate cash holdings: Stock liquidity and the repurchase motive," CEPR Discussion Papers 13791, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Alexander Kupfer & Julia Oberndorfer & Felix Kunz, 2022. "Why do corporate cash holdings differ within reunified Germany?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(2), pages 197-232, February.
    8. Favara, Giovanni & Gao, Janet & Giannetti, Mariassunta, 2021. "Uncertainty, access to debt, and firm precautionary behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 436-453.
    9. Huang, Jialin & Luo, Yu & Peng, Yuchao, 2021. "Corporate financial asset holdings under economic policy uncertainty: Precautionary saving or speculating?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1359-1378.
    10. Xu, Xixiong & Li, Wanli & Li, Yaoqin & Liu, Xing, 2019. "Female CFOs and corporate cash holdings: Precautionary motive or agency motive?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 434-454.
    11. Mortal, Sandra & Nanda, Vikram & Reisel, Natalia, 2020. "Why do private firms hold less cash than public firms? International evidence on cash holdings and borrowing costs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    12. Zhuang, Yuan & Nie, Jing & Wu, Weixing, 2022. "Peer influence and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 265-284.
    13. Deshmukh, Sanjay & Goel, Anand M. & Howe, Keith M., 2021. "Do CEO beliefs affect corporate cash holdings?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Christos Floros & Emilios Galariotis & Konstantinos Gkillas & Efstathios Magerakis & Constantin Zopounidis, 2024. "Time-varying firm cash holding and economic policy uncertainty nexus: a quantile regression approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 341(2), pages 859-895, October.
    15. Chang, Ching-Hung & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chen, Yan-Shing & Peng, Shu-Cing, 2019. "Commitment to build trust by socially responsible firms: Evidence from cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 364-387.
    16. Subrahmanyam, Marti G. & Tang, Dragon Yongjun & Wang, Sarah Qian, 2014. "Credit default swaps and corporate cash holdings," CFS Working Paper Series 462, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    17. Marwick, Alex & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Tianpei, 2020. "Organization capital and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib & Ruoyun Zhao, 2022. "Corporate reputation risk and cash holdings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 667-707, March.
    19. Duong, Huu Nhan & Nguyen, Justin Hung & Nguyen, My & Rhee, S. Ghon, 2020. "Navigating through economic policy uncertainty: The role of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Gao, Haoyu & Wen, Huiyu & Wang, Xingjian, 2022. "Pandemic effect on corporate financial asset holdings: Precautionary or return-chasing?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firms' COVID exposure; Cash holding; Excess cash; Financing friction; Corporate governance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:ecmode:v:116:y:2022:i:c:s0264999322002401. 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/inca/30411 .

    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.