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Firm-Level Financial Resources and Environmental Spills

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  • Jonathan Cohn
  • Tatyana Deryugina

Abstract

Using novel US environmental spill data, we document a robust negative relationship between the number of spills a firm experiences in a given year and its contemporaneous and lagged (but not future) cash flow. In addition, studying two natural experiments, we find an increase (decrease) in spills following negative (positive) shocks to a firm's financial resources, both in absolute terms and relative to control firms. Overall, our results suggest that firms' financial resources play an important role in their ability to mitigate environmental risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Cohn & Tatyana Deryugina, 2018. "Firm-Level Financial Resources and Environmental Spills," NBER Working Papers 24516, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24516
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    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Bihong & Punzi, Maria Teresa & Wu, Yu, 2021. "Do banks price environmental transition risks? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Garel, Alexandre & Petit-Romec, Arthur, 2022. "CEO exposure to abnormally hot temperature and corporate carbon emissions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    3. Justin Marion & Jeremy West, 2024. "Socioeconomic Disparities in Privatized Pollution Remediation: Evidence from Toxic Chemical Spills," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(3), pages 219-249, July.
    4. Jake Thomas & Wentao Yao & Frank Zhang & Wei Zhu, 2022. "Meet, beat, and pollute," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 1038-1078, September.
    5. Kakuho Furukawa & Hibiki Ichiue & Noriyuki Shiraki, 2020. "How Does Climate Change Interact with the Financial System? A Survey," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 20-E-8, Bank of Japan.
    6. Magnus Schauf & Eline Schoonjans, 2022. "Better Safe than Sorry: Toxic Waste Management after Unionization," Working Papers 220, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    7. Qian Zhang & Kuo-Jui Wu & Ming-Lang Tseng, 2019. "Exploring Carry Trade and Exchange Rate toward Sustainable Financial Resources: An application of the Artificial Intelligence UKF Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-26, June.
    8. Huang, Bihong & Punzi, Maria Teresa & Wu, Yu, 2019. "Do Banks Price Environmental Risk? Evidence from a Quasi Natural Experiment in the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 974, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    9. Goetz, Martin, 2019. "Financing conditions and toxic emissions," SAFE Working Paper Series 254, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    10. Taylor A Begley & Daniel Weagley, 2023. "Firm Finances and the Spread of COVID-19: Evidence from Nursing Homes," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(1), pages 1-35.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • Q52 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Pollution Control Adoption and Costs; Distributional Effects; Employment Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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