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Talent in Distressed Firms: Investigating the Labor Costs of Financial Distress

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  • Baghai, Ramin
  • Silva, Rui
  • Vig, Vikrant
  • Thell, Viktor

Abstract

The importance of skilled labor and the inalienability of human capital expose firms to the risk of losing talent in critical times. Using Swedish micro-data, we document that firms lose workers with the highest cognitive and noncognitive skills as they approach bankruptcy. In a quasi-experiment, we confirm that financial distress is driving these results: following a negative export shock caused by exogenous currency movements, talent abandons the firm, but only if the exporter is highly leveraged. Consistent with talent dependence being associated with higher labor costs of financial distress, firms that rely more on talent have more conservative capital structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Baghai, Ramin & Silva, Rui & Vig, Vikrant & Thell, Viktor, 2020. "Talent in Distressed Firms: Investigating the Labor Costs of Financial Distress," CEPR Discussion Papers 14383, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14383
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    Cited by:

    1. Pagano, Marco, 2020. "Risk Sharing Within the Firm: A Primer," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 12(2), pages 117-198, October.
    2. Bae, Jaewan & Kang, Jangkoo, 2022. "The negative hiring rate premium on stock returns in the Korean stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Filipe Correia & Gustavo S. Cortes & Thiago C. Silva, 2021. "Is Corporate Credit Risk Propagated to Employees?," Working Papers Series 551, Central Bank of Brazil, Research Department.
    4. Kretschmer, Tobias & Khashabi, Pooyan & Mohammadi, Ali & Raffiee, Joseph, 2020. "Cognitive Ability and Employee Mobility: Evidence from Swedish Microdata," CEPR Discussion Papers 15265, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Ring, Marius, 2019. "Entrepreneurial Wealth and Employment: Tracing Out the Effects of a Stock Market Crash," MPRA Paper 107020, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Apr 2021.
    6. Jaewan Bae & Jangkoo Kang, 2023. "Information of employee decisions and stock returns in the Korean stock market," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 206-224, March.

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    Keywords

    Bankruptcy; Financial distress; Employees; Talent; Capital structure;
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