IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/pacfin/v75y2022ics0927538x22001548.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise investment decision: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Tingli
  • Chen, Xiao
  • Yang, Songling

Abstract

We empirically examine the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the investment decision of China's high-tech manufacturing industry based on the company's investment structure. There are several findings. First, innovation investment and maintenance investment are mutually exclusive. However, enterprise prefers innovation investment when facing higher EPU. Second, excess return, asset irreversibility and external market demand are three important mechanisms of the impact of EPU on the corporate investment decision. Finally, higher financing constraints weaken the impact of EPU on investment decision. Firms with higher capital intensity tend to reduce both innovation investment and maintenance investment when EPU rises. The research shows that when the EPU increases, enterprises in China's high-tech manufacturing industry are more inclined to choose innovation investment.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Tingli & Chen, Xiao & Yang, Songling, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise investment decision: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22001548
    DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101859
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927538X22001548
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.pacfin.2022.101859?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. N. Bloom, 2016. "Fluctuations in uncertainty," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 4.
    2. Susanto Basu & Brent Bundick, 2017. "Uncertainty Shocks in a Model of Effective Demand," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 937-958, May.
    3. Ma, Huanyu & Hao, Dapeng, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty, financial development, and financial constraints: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 368-386.
    4. 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.
    5. Pástor, Ľuboš & Veronesi, Pietro, 2013. "Political uncertainty and risk premia," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 520-545.
    6. Huang, Jialin & Luo, Yu & Peng, Yuchao, 2021. "Corporate financial asset holdings under economic policy uncertainty: Precautionary saving or speculating?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1359-1378.
    7. Cui, Xin & Wang, Chunfeng & Liao, Jing & Fang, Zhenming & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and corporate innovation investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Woo‐Jong Lee & Jeffrey Pittman & Walid Saffar, 2020. "Political Uncertainty and Cost Stickiness: Evidence from National Elections around the World," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(2), pages 1107-1139, June.
    9. Scott R. Baker & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2016. "Measuring Economic Policy Uncertainty," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1593-1636.
    10. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    11. Nick Bloom, 2007. "Uncertainty and the Dynamics of R&D," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 250-255, May.
    12. Drew D. Creal & Jing Cynthia Wu, 2017. "Monetary Policy Uncertainty And Economic Fluctuations," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1317-1354, November.
    13. Brandon Julio & Youngsuk Yook, 2012. "Political Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Cycles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 45-84, February.
    14. Russell W. Cooper & John C. Haltiwanger, 2006. "On the Nature of Capital Adjustment Costs," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 611-633.
    15. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    16. Jianyu Zeng & Teng Zhong & Fan He, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate inventory holdings: evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1727-1757, June.
    17. Nick Bloom & Stephen Bond & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Uncertainty and Investment Dynamics," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(2), pages 391-415.
    18. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    19. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    20. Li, Kaifeng & Guo, Zhaoxuan & Chen, Qi, 2021. "The effect of economic policy uncertainty on enterprise total factor productivity based on financial mismatch: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    21. Li, Kaifeng & Xia, Bobo & Chen, Yun & Ding, Ning & Wang, Jie, 2021. "Environmental uncertainty, financing constraints and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    22. Timothy B. Folta & Jonathan P. O'Brien, 2004. "Entry in the presence of dueling options," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 121-138, February.
    23. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    24. Xiang, Jingjie & Li, Li, 2022. "Monetary policy uncertainty, debt financing cost and real economic activities: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1025-1044.
    25. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    26. Brown, James R. & Petersen, Bruce C., 2015. "Which investments do firms protect? Liquidity management and real adjustments when access to finance falls sharply," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 441-465.
    27. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    28. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    29. Tran, Quoc Trung, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and cost of debt financing: International evidence," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    30. Zongxin Zhang & Ying Chen & Weijie Hou & Ning Cai, 2021. "Asymmetric Risk Spillover Networks and Risk Contagion Driver in Chinese Financial Markets: The Perspective of Economic Policy Uncertainty," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-10, September.
    31. Tabash, Mosab I. & Farooq, Umar & Ashfaq, Khurram & Tiwari, Aviral Kumar, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and financing structure: A new panel data evidence from selected Asian economies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    32. Jens, Candace E., 2017. "Political uncertainty and investment: Causal evidence from U.S. gubernatorial elections," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 563-579.
    33. Luo, Weijie & Wang, Yong & Zhang, Xiaoge, 2022. "Monetary policy uncertainty and firm risk-taking," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    34. Nalin Kulatilaka & Enrico C. Perotti, 1998. "Strategic Growth Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1021-1031, August.
    35. Deev, Oleg & Plíhal, Tomáš, 2022. "How to calm down the markets? The effects of COVID-19 economic policy responses on financial market uncertainty," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    36. Holger Kraft & Eduardo Schwartz & Farina Weiss, 2018. "Growth options and firm valuation," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 24(2), pages 209-238, March.
    37. Huseyin Gulen & Mihai Ion, 2016. "Editor's Choice Policy Uncertainty and Corporate Investment," 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. Zhu, Zhaobo & Lin, Hang & Chen, Min & Han, Peiwen, 2023. "The spillover effect of economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from analyst behaviors in Hong Kong," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    2. Tingli Liu & Xiao Chen & Jianing Liu, 2023. "Economic Policy Uncertainty and Enterprise Financing Efficiency: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, May.
    3. Luo, Deming & Jiang, Sainan & Yao, Zhongwei, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty and mutual fund risk shifting," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Suyi Zheng & Jiandong Wen, 2023. "How Does Firm-Level Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    5. Niu, Yuhao & Wang, Sai & Wen, Wen & Li, Sifei, 2023. "Does digital transformation speed up dynamic capital structure adjustment? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    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. Caixe, Daniel Ferreira, 2022. "Corporate governance and investment sensitivity to policy uncertainty in Brazil," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PB).
    2. Suyi Zheng & Jiandong Wen, 2023. "How Does Firm-Level Economic Policy Uncertainty Affect Corporate Innovation? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Janzen, Malte, 2018. "Policy uncertainty, investment, and the cost of capital," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 28-45.
    4. 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).
    5. Wang, Fengrong & Mbanyele, William & Muchenje, Linda, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and stock liquidity: The mitigating effect of information disclosure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    6. Daniel Dejuán & Corinna Ghirelli, 2018. "Policy uncertainty and investment in Spain," Working Papers 1848, Banco de España.
    7. Cui, Xin & Wang, Chunfeng & Liao, Jing & Fang, Zhenming & Cheng, Feiyang, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty exposure and corporate innovation investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    8. Nguyen, Thanh Cong, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty: The probability and duration of economic recessions in major European Union countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    9. Wei-Fong Pan, 2019. "Geopolitical Risk and R&D investment," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2019-11, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    10. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    11. Arbatli Saxegaard, Elif C. & Davis, Steven J. & Ito, Arata & Miake, Naoko, 2022. "Policy uncertainty in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Li, Kaifeng & Xia, Bobo & Chen, Yun & Ding, Ning & Wang, Jie, 2021. "Environmental uncertainty, financing constraints and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    14. Huang, Jin & Jin, Yong & Duan, Yang & She, Yanling, 2023. "Do Chinese firms speculate during high economic policy uncertainty? Evidence from wealth management products," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    15. Ahmed Ali & Granberg Mark & Uddin Gazi Salah & Troster Victor, 2022. "Asymmetric dynamics between uncertainty and unemployment flows in the United States," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 26(1), pages 155-172, February.
    16. 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.
    17. Iván Alfaro & Nicholas Bloom & Xiaoji Lin, 2024. "The Finance Uncertainty Multiplier," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 577-615.
    18. Guan, Jialin & Xu, Huijuan & Huo, Da & Hua, Yechun & Wang, Yunfeng, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and corporate innovation: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    19. Taylor, Mark P. & Wang, Zigan & Xu, Qi, 2021. "The real effects of exchange rate risk on corporate investment: International evidence," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    20. Marc Deloof & Jie Yang & Chaoyang Xu, 2022. "How uncertainty in industry policy affects corporate investment in China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(7-8), pages 1289-1313, July.

    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:eee:pacfin:v:75:y:2022:i:c:s0927538x22001548. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/pacfin .

    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.