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Girls will be girls? The gendered effect of economic policy uncertainty on corporate investment

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  • Caroline Perrin
  • Laurent Weill

Abstract

We examine the effect of CEO gender on the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and corporate investment. Using the newspaper-based EPU index developed by Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2016), we perform an empirical investigation on firm-level data of more than 38,000 firms from eight European countries for 2010–2019. We find evidence that higher EPU is associated with higher corporate investment. However, we show that this beneficial effect of economic policy uncertainty is lower when the firm CEO is a woman. We explain this finding by the higher risk aversion of women relative to men. Our work contributes to the debate on the impact of EPU on firm corporate decisions by bringing upfront the influence of CEO gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Caroline Perrin & Laurent Weill, 2024. "Girls will be girls? The gendered effect of economic policy uncertainty on corporate investment," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 997-1011, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:56:y:2024:i:9:p:997-1011
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2023.2174935
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    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
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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