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This paper investigates the value of corporate cash holdings during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a sample of 147,512 firm-quarter observations of 51 countries, I find that the value of cash holdings strongly increased at the start of the pandemic in 2021, but diminished again in the later part of the pandemic. Using country-level measures of the impact of the pandemic, I further document that the value of cash is higher for firms that are located in countries with higher infection rates of COVID-19. Finally, I find that the positive effect of COVID-19 on the value of cash holdings is stronger in weak corporate governance countries with high infection rates in the first year of the pandemic, which is consistent with the argument that the likelihood of cash abuse is reduced in countries with weak corporate governance where COVID-19 hits hard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the degree of financial constraints faced by Russian publicly traded companies using the two most common approaches in the literature. We find that both Russian company investment and cash holdings are sensitive to cash flows, suggesting that the average sample firm is financially constrained. State-owned companies appear less financially constrained. After 2014, when economic sanctions restricted access to foreign capital, Russian companies became more financially constrained and more dependent on accumulated cash reserves. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of financial constraints in the context of developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of geopolitical risk (GPR) on cash holdings of Korean firms. Korea's export orientation, relationship with North Korea, and weak corporate governance together form the basis for studying the relationship between GPR and Korean firms' cash holdings. Using samples of non-financial firms from 2001 to 2021, I find the GPR positively affects corporate cash holdings. This effect is more pronounced in firms with financial constraints, listed in the KOSDAQ (smaller and less regulated) market, and during cold market periods. My finding withstands various robustness tests including fixed effects, an instrument-variable analysis, and alternative measures of GPR. Overall, this study adds to the existing literature on corporate cash holdings by confirming that firms increase cash holdings with a precautionary motive to create a buffer against GPR-generated uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is a phenomenon that is not just restricted to less developed nations, but also touches developed countries like those in the European Union, often seen as one of the least corrupt economic areas in the world. Corruption practices and perceptions can seriously hinder economic growth and innovation, This can be due to lower access to corporate funding, greater cost of capital, its effects on competition, misallocation of resources, and distortions in the composition of public spending and the effectiveness of government policies. This paper first provides a short discussion and an overview of some academic literature on the link between corruption, financing decisions and economic growth. It then summarizes the findings of the five papers in this special issue on the topic of Corruption in a European context, discusses some insights from their results and finally points out at some avenues for future research in related topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature about the influence of country corruption on corporate cash holdings is not conclusive as there are studies supporting both a positive and negative relationship. To better explain this relationship, our study introduces a corporate-level mediating variable, i.e. the company's willingness to fight bribery as part of its CSR policy. Using a sample of 1,075 listed firms from 21 European Union countries for the period 2008–2019 (7,771 firm-year observations), we find a partial mediating effect of the corporate anti-bribery policy on the relationship between country corruption and corporate cash holdings. On the one hand, according to the shielding argument, country corruption negatively influences corporate cash holdings. And, on the other hand, there is a mediating effect such that firms in corrupt countries adopt less tough anti-bribery policies and, instead, they reduce their cash holdings both to protect themselves from expropriation and to signal their limit on bribe payments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between institutional fragility and corporate cash holdings. Using data from China between 2004 and 2017, we find that institutional fragility is associated with increased corporate cash holdings. The relationship is stronger for non-state-owned enterprises and stronger when firms have no relationship with banks. Furthermore, we find that institutional fragility reduces current investment opportunities, leading to an increase in corporate cash holdings. Investment opportunities play an intermediary effect; hence, institutional fragility affects corporate cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate excess savings, or gross savings in excess of fixed capital formation, can affect the real economy through the financial decisions of individual firms. Based on an unbalanced panel of more than 2,000 Korean listed companies from 2003 to 2021, this study analyses how excess savings are used in individual firms' financial activities and their consequent impact on aggregate demand at the macroeconomic level. Excess savings are most often used for debt repayment. Considering heterogeneity, the excess savings of large firms are mainly related to M&A, while the excess savings of small firms are relatively more disbursed to cash holdings for the precautionary motive. Since 2010, the extent of its use in M&A has become stronger; M&A in large firms appears to crowd out fixed capital formation for a certain period of time. When this analysis is applied at the industry level, it is also consistent with the results of individual firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychological factors of senior executives have an important impact on the firm's financial policies. In this paper, we investigate the association between CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit and firm cash holdings, and find that firms with higher CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit have less cash holdings. Further, we find that financing constraints can mitigate the negative association between CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit and firm cash holdings, whereas financing needs enhances the association between them. Mechanism test illustrates that CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit affects firm cash holdings through corporate investment. Finally, the results reveal that CEO risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit not only promotes the value of cash holdings, but also is significantly positively associated with both accounting performance and market performance. Our findings shed lights on the impact of executive psychological factors on financial decisions and have important implications for cash-holding decisions of listed firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate finance data, such as cash holdings and dividend payments, are simultaneously determined. In this study, new endogeneity was introduced into a simultaneous equation model. The proposed model features a correlation between the explanatory variable in the first equation and the disturbance term in the second equation. The necessity of this endogeneity can be derived from a theoretical requirement and/or model identification requirement. Covariance structure analysis was performed to estimate this model using the maximum likelihood method. The efficacy of the proposed model is assessed by comparing it with conventional estimation methods, such as two-stage least squares. Finally, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to determine the bias conventional estimation methods produce in the case of this new endogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study examines the mediating role of cash holdings between the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and corporate leverage relationship. Using stepwise regression analysis and annual firm-level data of 2,534 U.S. firms listed at NYSE over 1995–2018, we provide novel evidence that cash holdings significantly and partially mediate the EPU-leverage relationship, accounting for a 10.72% increase in the corporate leverage during EPU. We discover that the mediating role of cash holdings between EPU and leverage is sensitive to firm-level heterogeneity. Also, the mediating effect of cash holdings remains significant based on long- and short-term leverage. Finally, our findings are robust to outliers' effect, alternate EPU measurement, endogeneity concerns and sample-selection bias. The findings of this study highlighted the role of firm cash holdings in a firm's leverage decision during economic uncertainty and recommends increasing debt financing to incentivize value-increasing decisions and mitigate agency problems by reducing the cost of free cash flows. Policymakers should be aware of public and private firms' challenges during high EPU. As we showed in this study, firms have to adjust their financial decisions during high economic uncertainty. Also, the study suggests that policymakers should maintain economic policies to avoid external shocks that may force firms to adjust their financial decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the motives of corporations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to hold cash with a focus on institutional characteristics related to the threat of political extraction. Using firm-level financial data and macro-level and institutional data and applying the GMM estimation method, the study finds that corruption (a proxy of the threat of political extraction) is positively related to cash holdings which suggests that the risk of political extraction induces GCC firms to accumulate cash to make political payoffs and preserve their financial flexibility. In terms of firm-level characteristics, GCC firms follow a pecking order as they deplete more cash the larger their capital expenditures. In addition, GCC firms save cash for transaction and precautionary purposes as indicated by the negative relation between cash and cash substitutes. This is the first study to examine the threat of political extraction on cash holdings using the context of the GCC, a cash-rich region with unique institutional settings. The findings on the GCC countries contribute to the ongoing debate regarding the political extraction-cash holdings relationship by examining a context under which corruption is likely to exert a positive impact on the level of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how a firm's employment stability affects the level of its cash holdings. We find that firms with high employment stability (as measured by one minus a firm's employment elasticity with respect to its sales) maintain large cash holdings. The positive effect of employment stability on cash holdings is stronger for R&D intensive firms and firms with high firm-specific human capital. These results are consistent with theories predicting that firms hold cash to signal the credibility of their employment policies regarding job security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the moderating effect of social capital on the association between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and cash holdings. Using a sample of US-listed firms from 1990 to 2018, social capital is found to have a positive moderating effect on the association between EPU and cash holdings. Our finding is robust even if we use alternative measures of cash, EPU, and social capital. Based on these outcomes, we suggest that firms located in a county with a high level of social capital endure high EPU by raising cash easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether CEO-CFO tenure consistency impacts corporate cash holdings. We find that a company's cash holdings increase when CEO and CFO have the same tenure. The positive relationship between CEO-CFO tenure consistency and cash holdings is more obvious in companies with CEO duality, a smaller proportion of independent directors, and more serious agency problems. Further evidence shows that CEO-CFO tenure consistency decreases the value of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of A-share listed central state-owned enterprises (CSOEs) and non-state-owned listed companies in China from 2003 to 2019, we use propensity score matching and the difference-in-difference method to examine the impact of CSOEs' income distribution policy on corporate cash holding decisions. The results show that the policy implementation improves corporate cash holding levels. Further analysis found that: (1) corporate financial flexibility can alleviate the policy effect; (2) when the control distance is shorter, and environmental uncertainty is higher, the policy effect is stronger; and (3) the policy has a lagged effect. This study theoretically expands the research on the economic consequences of income distribution policy and the influencing factors of cash holdings. It further aids policymakers in improving the state-owned capital gains distribution system, deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises, and providing empirical evidence at firm level for investors to understand the real impact of the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of political risk on corporate cash holdings in Vietnam from 2009 to 2018. We show that political risk is positively associated with cash holdings. Our findings are robust to other advanced estimation methods when alternative measures of political risk are considered and after addressing endogeneity caveats by two-stage least square estimation. Further analyses reveal that the positive impact of political risk on cash holdings is more pronounced for financially constrained firms and firms with high institutional ownership. Overall, the findings contribute to the literature on how political risk exposure increases firm cash holdings, which is consistent with the precautionary savings motive of cash. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine the relation between corruption and corporate cash holding policy using data from 35,288 firms in 44 countries. The results indicate a non-linear relation between corruption and corporate cash holdings with a negative coefficient of the cubic term of corruption. Specifically, in developed (frontier) countries with low (high) level of corruption, we find a negative relation, whereas in emerging countries with moderate level of economic development and corruption, we find a positive relation. Thus, we suggest that corruption is an important variable that affects corporate cash holding policy by the level of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the impact of firm characteristics and ownership structure on the firm efficiency of listed non-financial firms in Pakistan from 2012 to 2017. Firm characteristics include market capitalization, cash holdings, book-to-market ratio and negative book-to-market ratio and ownership structure includes insider ownership, institutional ownership and concentration ownership while controlling for firm size, profitability, leverage and age. Data related to firm efficiency, cash holdings, book-to-market ratio and negative book-to-market ratio was collected from Financial Statement Analysis published by SBP whereas data related to market capitalization and ownership structure (insider ownership, institutional ownership and concentration ownership) was collected from business recorder and published annual reports respectively. At first stage the firm efficiency is reported by using DEA CRS approach and results show that the year 2014 was the best year because 24% firms were efficient and 2015 was the worst because only 18% firms were efficient. The results also show that textile, sugar, food, manufacturing, chemical & pharmaceuticals, cement, motor vehicle, information communication & transportation are the poor performing sectors of Pakistan. This inefficiency might be due to the inefficient use of resources as agency theory advocates. Then at second stage, the correlation and variance inflation factor did not show any multicollinearity. Tobit model is used to find the regression results. The regression results show that market capitalization, cash holdings and concentration ownership positively and significantly influence the firm efficiency. Negative book-to-market ratio, insider ownership and institutional ownership negatively and significantly influence the firm efficiency whereas the book-to-market ratio is insignificant with the firm efficiency. It might be due to the self-interest by the insider and institutional ownership. This study is also helpful for the investors. They can choose the efficient firm for investment and to avoid the inefficient firms to stay away from the losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows how the relationship between cash holdings and firm performance is moderated by several firm-specific factors such as state-ownership, corporate governance attributes, family ownership, and ownership concentration. By considering a sample of Chinese firms, this study provides strong evidence that the cash holdings and performance association is significantly moderated by firm-specific attributes. Specifically, this study documented that cash holdings improve the performance of firms having strong corporate governance. Further, family ownership and ownership concentration negatively affect the relationship between cash and performance, while state-ownership positively moderates this relationship. Overall, the findings elaborate that firm-specific attributes are important factors influencing the association between cash holdings and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash is a very important property of an enterprise, but offers the lowest return of any asset. Nevertheless, firms do not invest all assets into higher-paying assets and hold part of their cash, especially firms in the high-tech electronics industry. Firms in this industry hold considerable amounts of cash because they have high expenses and recovery is uncertain, potentially leaving the firm without sufficient funds. It is therefore necessary to prepare a certain amount of cash. This study uses a decision tree algorithm including J48, LMT, Random Forest, REP Tree, Simple CART, Extra Tree, and BF Tree to measure the performance of predictions. This study has three experiments: (1) testing the predictive ability of the decision tree algorithm, (2) testing the decision tree algorithm with performance improvements, and (3) determining the best decision tree forecast rate comparison using the logistic regression model. The experiments indicate that the random forest has the highest and best prediction rate comparison with the logistic regression model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the relationship between IFRS adoption and firms' cash holdings in ten Arab countries in the MENA. We first show that IFRS adoption reduces the cash holdings of the firms. The effect of IFRS adoption is robust for high-income countries in the Gulf region. This result implies that high-quality financial information reduces the information asymmetries; this, in turn, lowers the cost of capital and cash holdings. We suppose that strong macroeconomic conditions in Gulf countries facilitate the proper application of IFRS by weakening the incentives for earnings management. We also show that regardless of the income level of the countries, IFRS adoption reduces the cash holdings of large firms. Furthermore, we conclude that IFRS adoption is not able to reduce cash holdings in the case of high uncertainty (in terms of cash flow volatility of the firms) in the MENA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the dynamic evolution of Chinese firms' cash holdings and their relationship with R&D investment using a sample of companies listed in the Chinese A-share market. After introducing the exogenous events of the 2008 financial crisis and China's 'four trillion yuan' monetary stimulus plan (2008–2010), we analyse the dynamic evolution of the relationship between firms' cash holdings and R&D investment in the development of external financing facilitation channel effects from the perspective of two typical financing facilitation channels, namely bank relationship and equity state-ownership. The main findings are as follows: (1) Firms with higher R&D investments tend to hold more cash reserves. This positive correlation is affected by the economic and monetary conditions, which are changing constantly. The sensitivity of cash holdings to R&D investment plays a crucial role in explaining the dynamic evolution of Chinese firms' cash holdings. (2) During the 2008 financial crisis, bank relationship and equity state-ownership significantly mitigated the positive relationship between firms' cash holdings and R&D investments, which means that external financing facilitation channels had greater and more significant effects. Moreover, those effects decreased after the completion of the 'four trillion yuan' monetary stimulus plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to examine the empirical relationship between earnings quality and financial flexibility, i.e., how information related to earnings affects firms' cash levels in the emerging economies. Design/Methodology/Approach: To attain the research objectives, we used panel data for 18 years (2000–2017) obtained from the CSMAR database. Statistical software STATA used for data analysis. Descriptive, multiple correlations, and unbalanced panel data analysis are used. Our empirical results negate the works conducted on the advanced economy showing that information related to earnings (Earnings Quality) is negatively associated with firms' Financial Flexibility irrespective of firms' characteristics, i.e., firms with profit or loss and firm's with R&D or without R&D expenditure. However, the firm's earnings quality, firm size, cash flows, financial constraints, dividends, and growth are the dominant predictor of financial flexibility. Moreover, the degree of dominance depends on the firm's specific characteristics. This research has been conducted on the emerging Chinese market. For consistent and robust results, this research excluded the financial and other firms that possess different operational and regulatory attributes than the manufacturing firms. The study is useful for policymakers and managers to design their cash levels and avoid the hurdle of external finance or to accelerate their flexibility to raise money from an external source. Previous research addressed the issue related to cost and benefit, information asymmetry, ownership concentration, and firm's propensity to cash holdings. A very little research conducted with earnings quality and cash holdings in the developed market (in Europe and the USA), and thus, for the first time, we address the issue of earnings quality and financial flexibility in the emerging economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address an important and emerging question: Can firms' voluntary waste disclosure affect corporate cash holdings? Using a sample of S&P 500 firms, we find strong evidence for a positive relationship between waste disclosure and the cash holding policy of firms. Furthermore, we find that waste disclosure significantly increases cash holdings only for firms with strong corporate governance quality. We also find that the significant relationship between waste disclosure and cash holdings remains unchanged only for firms that operate in environmentally sensitive industries. Our paper provides novel evidence on the role of voluntary waste disclosure as an environmental dimension that influences the cash policy of firms and highlights the little-known issue of waste disclosure as a significant research topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak seriously affected all economies, especially the operations of listed companies, around the world. This article studies the impact of COVID-19 on firm-level cash holdings using the difference-in-differences method. It finds that COVID-19 has a significant positive impact on cash holdings in serious-impact industries. Goodwill and goodwill impairment can weaken this positive impact, which may be related to higher business risks in these firms. Therefore, managers should raise firms' cash holding level during the pandemic to protect firms against contingencies. Managers should also be aware of financing constraints due to risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the cash holdings behavior of listed and unlisted firms. We argue that unlisted firms, which are smaller, face a greater wedge between the cost of external and internal finance and as a result they need to rely more on the later. Relying on internal funds means that firms have a precautionary motive to hold cash. We test our theory using an unbalanced panel of mainly small medium enterprises within the euro area over the period 2003–2017 paying special attention to the role of financial pressure, financial constraints and the recent financial crisis. Our findings reveal that unlisted firms hold more cash than their listed counterparts due to precautionary motives. In addition, when considering the effect of financial pressure, the results show that the difference in cash holdings between listed and unlisted firms exhibit a 'U-shaped' relationship. Finally, unlisted firms have a higher sensitivity to save cash out of cash flow than listed firms. Our results are robust to using different specifications and different financial pressure measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese rapid economy development and financial market is not coordinated, so distortions exist in the allocation of credit resources, which often occurs via internal capital markets (ICMs). This article studies the effects of ICMs in China on the distribution of cash resources to enterprises based on operating data of ICM, finding that ICM can significantly reduce cash holdings, especially for private enterprises. Further dividing internal financial transactions by its nature, it is found that non-operating transactions with financing nature can play a significant role in reducing the level of cash holdings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While substantial evidence is emerging internationally on higher risk aversion among women than among men, there is less evidence on women's business choices. We explore some of the reasons for the relationship between gender diversity and cash holdings. Specifically, this paper focuses on the choices involving the stock of cash held by firms in which women have executive roles and can consequently exert a crucial influence on the firms themselves. We estimate our proposed empirical models using a dataset of 12,466 observations from 18 European countries. We find a positive relationship between the presence of women with executive roles in the firm and cash holdings. Women tend to make more conservative choices probably because they are more risk averse than men are. This propensity has a relevant impact on the financial choices of firms when women play a leading role. Notably, the study demonstrates that the institutional environment and industry differences moderate our baseline relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel of 1478 Chinese listed firms over the period 1998-2010, we examine the behavior of corporate cash holdings. Consistent with the trade-off theory, we document that Chinese firms tend to actively manage their cash balances toward a target level. We also observe a considerable heterogeneity in adjustment speeds of cash holdings across firms, due to the presence of different adjustment costs. Specifically, firms with a high level of excess cash, and firms that actively manage their cash balances through investment, dividend payments, and debt issuance, all display higher adjustment speeds. Finally, the institutional setting does not significantly affect adjustment speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence about how research and development (R&D) expenditures affect corporate cash holdings in European country groups that differ in their innovation capacity. In theory, one can expect intangible investments such as R&D to result in higher cash stocks than fixed investments, particularly because intangible capital is less suitable as collateral for obtaining external funds. The relationship can be expected to be particularly strong in innovative countries. These countries carry out a relatively high proportion of cutting-edge R&D, which tends to be particularly risky and may be associated with substantial gestation lags before becoming productive. These features tend to increase firms' precautionary cash holdings. To investigate this issue in a European context, we examine different groups of countries that are clustered based on differences in their innovative capacity. Our estimation results confirm a positive relation between changes in R&D investment and changes in cash holdings, whereas changes in fixed investment do not appear to be related to changes in cash positions. The impact of changes in R&D on cash tends to be higher for country groups characterized by a high level of innovative capacity than for countries with moderate levels of innovative capacity. However, the differences across country groups are less pronounced than expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend the line of research on the influence of financial constraint on REIT cash holdings and their market value. We measure constraint with a wide variety of traditional proxies in an effort to determine if previous results hold and provide guidance on the use of these constraint measures in REIT studies. We con- firm, consistent with both expectation and the literature, that constrained firms hold more cash than their unconstrained counterparts. However, contrary to previous works, we find little evidence that traditional measures of constraint play a role in the market value of cash. Further, our results suggest that the method of measuring constraint should be carefully considered when applying to the REIT industry. In particular, the KZ index provides results that differ substantially from those of other criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widely recognized 2007-2008 financial crisis has introduced observable shifts in cash holdings and corporate investment. We evaluate the effect of the financial crisis on cash holdings, corporate investment, and investment-cash flow sensitivity for China and Taiwan firms over the 2001-2014 period. We observe that in China and Taiwan firms increase equity financing and reduce capital expenditures to raise cash holdings after the crisis. The cash holdings for China firmsrises with operating earnings but declines with dividend payouts, and their working capital is upward overtime. On the contrary, the capital expenditures and working capital of the Taiwan firms becomes more conservative after the crisis. The empirical evidence suggests that corporate investment can be described by liquidity correlated to the state of the capital markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the direct relationship between precautionary cash holdings, cash flow volatility and the financial constraints of Pakistani firms for the period 2003–2013.The study also takes into account the 2008 financial crisis. This study seeks to discover that if a firm is financially constrained and its cash flows are highly volatile then it will increase its cash holdings and voluntarily reduce its current investment level due to the intertemporal trade-off between current and future investments. Thus, a positive relationship between cash holdings and future cash flow volatility and a negative relationship between current investments and future cash flow volatility is expected. In order to test the impact of cash flow volatility firms are classified in to constrained and unconstrained groups on the basis of four criteria, i.e., firm size, dividend payment, Kaplan-Zingales (KZ) index and group affiliation. For each criterion estimation is done by using two steps Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimator. Results show that financially constrained firms increase their cash holdings when cash flow volatility increases while financially unconstrained firms do not, except for KZ index criteria. It is also found that during the 2008 financial crisis constrained firms were more prone to saving cash than unconstrained ones. The study provides important insights into understanding the behaviour of Pakistani firms relating to cash holdings when they are financially constrained and cash flows are highly volatile. This is the first study of its kind that establishes a conclusive relationship between precautionary cash holdings, cash flow volatility and financial constraints in a Pakistani context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the real effects of the financial crisis in 2008 on corporate R&D investment by analyzing firm-level panel data from 2005 to 2011 obtained from KIS-VALUE, a Korean corporate finance database. I estimate a dynamic panel model of R&D investment that includes an after-crisis dummy to reflect the effects of the external finance supply shock after the financial crisis, an interaction term of the dummy and cash holdings to measure the marginal effect of cash holdings after the crisis, investment opportunities (sales and the q ratio) and financial positions as the debt-equity ratio. The estimation implies a negative yet relatively small impact of the credit supply shock from the financial crisis on R&D investment and the mitigation of the negative impacts by cash holdings after the onset of the financial crisis, whereas the data show decreasing R&D investment and sales for the whole period. Based on the data and the estimation, I find that firms were able to lessen the pressure from diminishing market demand before the crisis using external finance, but they had to use internal financial sources after the crisis smooth R&D investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do unionized firms use cash inflows? To answer this hitherto unexplored question, we adopt the system of equations developed by Dasgupta, Noe, and Wang (2011) to explicitly address possible interdependence of cash allocation decisions in unionized firms. Based on comprehensive firm-level unionization data for Korean companies from 1998 to 2008, we document that unionized firms allocate less cash to cash reserves and retirement of external financing than nonunionized firms do. More interestingly, inconsistent with previous findings, we also find that unionized firms utilize a greater portion of cash inflows to investment. This unexpected result of greater investment in unionized firms is in fact consistent with the view that employees are an important nonfinancial stakeholder who naturally cares about the long-term survival of the company; thus, they do not necessarily suppress value-increasing investments. Overall, our findings suggest that researchers need to consider cash flow sensitivities when examining interrelated cash allocation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examine the effect of corporate ownership structure on the market value of excess cash in Chinese listed firms. We find that state ownership has a positive effect, as the market value of excess cash is greater in state-owned firms (SOEs) than in privately controlled firms. Furthermore, we show that expropriation by controlling shareholders is significantly higher in privately controlled firms than in SOEs and increases with excess cash. The evidence is consistent with the view that the market believes private controlling shareholders are more likely to extract the private benefits associated with cash reserves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large sample of listed Chinese companies, we investigate how the equity ownership of business group insiders affects subsidiary cash holdings. We find that ownership by the largest shareholders and senior managers in the listed parent firm is negatively related to its subsidiaries’ cash holdings, whereas there is a positive relationship with minority equity in subsidiaries. We also find that the market places a more significant value discount on listed firms whose cash holdings are more located in the affiliated subsidiaries. Our evidence demonstrates how cash policy inside business groups is influenced by insider ownership, and it reveals to what extent cash allocated in subsidiaries may suffer from losses in efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we revisit the theoretical motives of corporate cash holdings while concentrating on the effect of political connections. In particular, we postulate two competing hypotheses for the effects that political connections can have on cash holdings: ‘substitution effect hypothesis’ and ‘complementary effect hypothesis’. Using the data on Pakistani firms over the period 2002–2010, we find that connected firms hold significantly larger cash reserves than their non-connected counterparts, thus confirming the ‘complementary hypothesis’, which suggests that agency problems lead connected firms to accumulate large amount of cash. Further, this effect is found to be more pronounced in dictatorial as opposed to democratic regimes indicating the presence of higher degrees of political patronage in that period. Finally, we also find differences in the complementary effect based on firm characteristics. Our results suggest that the firm size and leverage have increasing effects on the cash holdings of connected firms, contrary to the mainstream literature standpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior literature conjectures that double taxation has a negative impact on corporate liquidity. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence for the proposition. By examining small publicly-traded C corporations, we find a negative relation between long-run cash effective tax rates and cash holdings. Such a tax impact occurred before the reduction in double taxation in 2003 but not afterwards. Another unexplored issue is whether it is effective to enact double taxation reducing policies when economic conditions deteriorate. Our results reveal that such policies should be made permanent instead of being employed only when economic conditions deteriorate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study contrasts the effect of cash holding on firm value for a sample of US industrial firms during 2001-2007. The study tests empirically for the existence of an optimal cash level that maximizes firm value. Second, the study analyses whether or not deviations from the optimum cash level reduce firm value. The results show a concave relation between cash holding and firm value, verifying the existence of an optimum level of cash holding. Additionally consistent with the initial analysis, deviations above and below optimal cash holding decreases the firm value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this current moment of crisis it is very important for firms to hold a suitable amount of cash. But it is also very important to analyse how this amount of cash affects firm value. Here an in-depth study is made of the determination of firm value centring our attention on the problem of excess cash accumulation. This article adds important value to the existing literature since, employing the panel data methodology in the sample of Spanish nonfinancial firms, it identifies whether excess cash holding affects firm value in general, and investment, financing and dividend decisions in particular. The results show how asymmetric information among the economic agents of the firm affects the cash reserves. In particular, shareholders could penalize the investment made by these firms and consider the positive effect that the debt in particular and the dividend policies exert on the firm. Moreover, the results reveal the importance of financial flexibility as opposed to the arguments provided by agency theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]