IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i9p3735-d354092.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Enterprise Sustainability: Economic Policy Uncertainty, Enterprise Investment, and Profitability

Author

Listed:
  • Aijun Guo

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Haiqi Wei

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Fanglei Zhong

    (School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Shuangshuang Liu

    (School of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Chunlin Huang

    (Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
    Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

Under economic fluctuations, the sustainable development of enterprises is crucial. Currently, there are few studies on the interaction between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and the sustainable development behavior of enterprises. Based on a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model, this paper explores the static and dynamic interactions among EPU, enterprise investment, and enterprise profitability and then analyzes regional heterogeneity in these factors. It finds that EPU has an inhibitory effect on the investment and profitability of enterprises, while the investment and profitability of enterprises also have an inhibitory effect on EPU. In addition, there are contribution differences and regional differences in the degrees of influence of the three factors. In the long run, EPU and the inhibition of enterprise investment and profitability are strongest in China’s central region. The results show that the stronger the certainty of economic policy, the more conducive this policy is to promoting enterprise investment behavior and improving enterprise profitability. Therefore, to ensure normal economic development, the government should limit changes in economic policy as much as possible; doing so is critical for promoting investment behavior and improving the profitability of enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Aijun Guo & Haiqi Wei & Fanglei Zhong & Shuangshuang Liu & Chunlin Huang, 2020. "Enterprise Sustainability: Economic Policy Uncertainty, Enterprise Investment, and Profitability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3735-:d:354092
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3735/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3735/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Segal, Gill & Shaliastovich, Ivan & Yaron, Amir, 2015. "Good and bad uncertainty: Macroeconomic and financial market implications," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 369-397.
    2. Martha Amram, & Nalin Kulatilaka,, 1998. "Real Options:: Managing Strategic Investment in an Uncertain World," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780875848457.
    3. Michael R.M. Abrigo & Inessa Love, 2016. "Estimation of Panel Vector Autoregression in Stata: a Package of Programs," Working Papers 201602, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    4. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    5. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Newey, Whitney & Rosen, Harvey S, 1988. "Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1371-1395, November.
    6. Roberto Motto & Massimo Rostagno & Lawrence J. Christiano, 2010. "Financial Factors in Economic Fluctuations," 2010 Meeting Papers 141, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Wang, Yizhong & Chen, Carl R. & Huang, Ying Sophie, 2014. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 227-243.
    8. Christopher D. Carroll & Andrew A. Samwick, 1998. "How Important Is Precautionary Saving?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 410-419, August.
    9. Love, Inessa & Zicchino, Lea, 2006. "Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 190-210, May.
    10. repec:bla:ecnote:v:33:y:2004:i:1:p:23-54 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Hartman, Richard, 1972. "The effects of price and cost uncertainty on investment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 258-266, October.
    12. Michael R. M. Abrigo & Inessa Love, 2016. "Estimation of panel vector autoregression in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 16(3), pages 778-804, September.
    13. Abel, Andrew B, 1983. "Optimal Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 228-233, March.
    14. Brandon Julio & Youngsuk Yook, 2012. "Political Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Cycles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 45-84, February.
    15. 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.
    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. Xiahui Che & Minxing Jiang, 2021. "Economic Policy Uncertainty, Financial Expenditure and Energy Poverty: Evidence Based on a Panel Threshold Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Ganwen Zheng & Songping Zhu, 2021. "Research on the Effectiveness of China’s Macro Control Policy on Output and Technological Progress under Economic Policy Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Nataliya Rekova & Hanna Telnova & Oleh Kachur & Iryna Golubkova & Tomas Baležentis & Dalia Streimikiene, 2020. "Financial Sustainability Evaluation and Forecasting Using the Markov Chain: The Case of the Wine Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Carmen Orden‐Cruz & Jessica Paule‐Vianez & Júlio Lobão, 2023. "The effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on the credit risk of US commercial banks," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 3420-3436, July.
    5. Huafang Huang & Sharafat Ali & Yasir Ahmed Solangi, 2023. "Analysis of the Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Environmental Sustainability in Developed and Developing Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Xuan Yang & Shihao Mao & Luxuan Sun & Chao Feng & Yinshuang Xia, 2022. "The Effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Green Technology Innovation: Evidence from China’s Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. Lin Chuan & Stavros Sindakis & Panagiotis Theodorou, 2024. "Examining the Impact of Political Stability on Stock Price Crash Risk: Evidence from China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 8179-8208, June.
    8. John Oliver, 2020. "The Economic Policy Uncertainty and Firm Investment in Germany," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 10(1), pages 34-41.

    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. Chien-Chiang Lee & Chun-Wei Lin & Chi-Chuan Lee, 0. "The impact of peer effects and economic policy-related uncertainty on U.S. life insurers' investment decisions," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 0, pages 1-31.
    2. Sha, Yezhou & Kang, Chenlei & Wang, Zilong, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 590-600.
    3. Azimli, Asil, 2022. "The impact of policy, political and economic uncertainty on corporate capital investment in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and Turkey," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    4. Liu, Guanchun & Zhang, Chengsi, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and firms' investment and financing decisions in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Chien-Chiang Lee & Chun-Wei Lin & Chi-Chuan Lee, 2021. "The impact of peer effects and economic policy-related uncertainty on U.S. life insurers' investment decisions," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(1), pages 22-52, January.
    6. Ji (George) Wu & Jian Zhang & Yiwen Wu & Dongmin Kong, 2020. "When to go abroad: economic policy uncertainty and Chinese firms’ overseas investment," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1435-1470, June.
    7. Ilyas, Muhammad & Khan, Aamir & Nadeem, Muhammad & Suleman, Muhammad Tahir, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty, oil price shocks and corporate investment: Evidence from the oil industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    8. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    9. Nguyen, Minh Hong & Trinh, Vu Quang, 2023. "U.K. economic policy uncertainty and innovation activities: A firm-level analysis," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    10. Long, Shaobo & Pei, Hongxia & Tian, Hao & Li, Fangfang, 2021. "Asymmetric impacts of economic policy uncertainty, capital cost, and raw material cost on China’s investment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 129-144.
    11. Narayan, Paresh Kumar & Narayan, Seema & Tran, Vuong Thao & Thuraisamy, Kannan, 2021. "State-level politics: Do they influence corporate investment decisions?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Xiaoqiong Wang & Siqi Wei & Xiaoyang Zhu, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and heterogeneous institutional investor horizons," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 39-67, January.
    13. de la Horra, Luis P. & Perote, Javier & de la Fuente, Gabriel, 2021. "Monetary policy and corporate investment: A panel-data analysis of transmission mechanisms in contexts of high uncertainty," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 609-624.
    14. Xin Su & Shengshi Zhou & Rui Xue & Jinfang Tian, 2020. "Does economic policy uncertainty raise corporate precautionary cash holdings? Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(5), pages 4567-4592, December.
    15. Qureshi, Fiza & Khan, Habib Hussain & Rehman, Ijaz Ur & Ghafoor, Abdul & Qureshi, Saba, 2019. "Mutual fund flows and investors’ expectations in BRICS economies: Implications for international diversification," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 130-150.
    16. Kumeka, Terver Theophilus & Uzoma-Nwosu, Damian Chidozie & David-Wayas, Maria Onyinye, 2022. "The effects of COVID-19 on the interrelationship among oil prices, stock prices and exchange rates in selected oil exporting economies," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    17. Joan Costa-Font & Cristina Vilaplana-Prieto, 2023. "‘Investing’ in care for old age? An examination of long-term care expenditure dynamics and its spillovers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 1-30, January.
    18. Qureshi, Irfan & Liaqat, Zara, 2020. "The long-term consequences of external debt: Revisiting the evidence and inspecting the mechanism using panel VARs," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    19. Qureshi, Fiza & Kutan, Ali M. & Ismail, Izlin & Gee, Chan Sok, 2017. "Mutual funds and stock market volatility: An empirical analysis of Asian emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 176-192.
    20. Phan, Dinh Hoang Bach & Tran, Vuong Thao & Nguyen, Dat Thanh, 2019. "Crude oil price uncertainty and corporate investment: New global evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 54-65.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3735-:d:354092. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.