IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/riibaf/v50y2019icp134-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does uncertainty influence the leverage-investment association in Chinese firms?

Author

Listed:
  • Arif Khan, Muhammad
  • Qin, Xuezhi
  • Jebran, Khalil

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of firm-specific, market-based, CAPM-based, and economic policy uncertainty on the relationship between leverage and investment for firms of different nature, i.e., state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs). The study uses a panel of Chinese listed firms covering the period 1999–2016 and applies a robust two-step system Generalized Method of Moments technique to cope with the endogeneity problem. The findings show that leverage has a significant and adverse impact on non-SOEs investment behavior. The results further show that firm-specific and market uncertainties exacerbate the negative effect of leverage on investment for non-SOEs. However, economic policy uncertainty and CAPM-based uncertainty attenuate the association between leverage and investment for SOEs and non-SOEs, respectively. Overall the results suggest that the impact of leverage on investment can be mitigating or exacerbating depending on the underlying uncertainty and the nature of the enterprise.

Suggested Citation

  • Arif Khan, Muhammad & Qin, Xuezhi & Jebran, Khalil, 2019. "Does uncertainty influence the leverage-investment association in Chinese firms?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 134-152.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:50:y:2019:i:c:p:134-152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2019.04.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0275531918311103
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ribaf.2019.04.006?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. Baum, Christopher F. & Caglayan, Mustafa & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2008. "Uncertainty determinants of firm investment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 282-287, March.
    2. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    3. Rozalia Pal & Annalisa Ferrando, 2010. "Financing constraints and firms' cash policy in the euro area," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 153-171.
    4. Firth, Michael & Lin, Chen & Wong, Sonia M.L., 2008. "Leverage and investment under a state-owned bank lending environment: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 642-653, December.
    5. Baum, Christopher F. & Caglayan, Mustafa & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2010. "On the investment sensitivity of debt under uncertainty," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 25-27, January.
    6. 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.
    7. Christopher F. Baum & Andreas Stephan & Oleksandr Talavera, 2009. "The Effects Of Uncertainty On The Leverage Of Nonfinancial Firms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 216-225, April.
    8. Donadelli, Michael & Persha, Lauren, 2014. "Understanding emerging market equity risk premia: Industries, governance and macroeconomic policy uncertainty," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 284-309.
    9. Caballero, Ricardo J, 1991. "On the Sign of the Investment-Uncertainty Relationship," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(1), pages 279-288, March.
    10. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    11. Abdul-Haque & Shaoping, Wang, 2008. "Uncertainty and investment evidence from a panel of Chinese firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 237-248, September.
    12. Alessandra Guariglia & Simona Mateut, 2016. "External finance and trade credit extension in China: does political affiliation make a difference?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(4-6), pages 319-344, April.
    13. 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.
    14. Ben S. Bernanke, 1983. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Cyclical Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(1), pages 85-106.
    15. Andrew Benito & Ignacio Hernando, 2007. "Firm Behaviour And Financial Pressure: Evidence From Spanish Panel Data," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 283-311, October.
    16. Chen, Shimin & Sun, Zheng & Tang, Song & Wu, Donghui, 2011. "Government intervention and investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 259-271, April.
    17. Brandon Julio & Youngsuk Yook, 2012. "Political Uncertainty and Corporate Investment Cycles," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 45-84, February.
    18. Hui Chen, 2010. "Macroeconomic Conditions and the Puzzles of Credit Spreads and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2171-2212, December.
    19. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    20. Abdul Rashid & Muhammad Saeed, 2017. "Firms’ investment decisions – explaining the role of uncertainty," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(5), pages 833-860, October.
    21. Yongheng Deng & Randall Morck & Jing Wu & Bernard Yeung, 2011. "Monetary and Fiscal Stimuli, Ownership Structure, and China's Housing Market," NBER Working Papers 16871, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Kang, Wensheng & Lee, Kiseok & Ratti, Ronald A., 2014. "Economic policy uncertainty and firm-level investment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 42-53.
    23. Ma, Yiqun, 2015. "Uncertainty and investment: Evidence from the Australian mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P2), pages 191-201.
    24. An, Heng & Chen, Yanyan & Luo, Danglun & Zhang, Ting, 2016. "Political uncertainty and corporate investment: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 174-189.
    25. Bo, Hong & Sterken, Elmer, 2002. "Volatility of the interest rate, debt and firm investment: Dutch evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 179-193, March.
    26. Thoa, Tu Thi Kim & Uyen, Nguyen Thi Uyen, 2017. "Banking system reform and investment–cash flow relation: Case of a small transition economy," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 500-515.
    27. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Ge, Ying & Qiu, Jiaping, 2005. "The impact of leverage on firm investment: Canadian evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 277-291, March.
    28. Xiaoying Deng & Seow Eng Ong & Meijun Qian, 2018. "Real Estate Risk, Corporate Investment and Financing Choice," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 87-113, July.
    29. Kropp, Jaclyn D. & Power, Gabriel J., 2016. "Asset fixity and backward-bending investment demand functions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 151-160.
    30. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1994. "Politicians and Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 995-1025.
    31. Mustafa Caglayan & Abdul Rashid, 2014. "The Response Of Firms' Leverage To Risk: Evidence From Uk Public Versus Nonpublic Manufacturing Firms," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 341-363, January.
    32. Gebauer, Stefan & Setzer, Ralph & Westphal, Andreas, 2018. "Corporate debt and investment: A firm-level analysis for stressed euro area countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 112-130.
    33. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    34. Nicholas Bloom, 2009. "The Impact of Uncertainty Shocks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 77(3), pages 623-685, May.
    35. Sungmoon Jung & Gihyun Kwak, 2018. "Firm Characteristics, Uncertainty and Research and Development (R&D) Investment: The Role of Size and Innovation Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-14, May.
    36. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    37. Bo, Hong & Zhang, Zhihai, 2002. "The impact of uncertainty on firm investment: evidence from machinery industry in Liaoning province of China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 335-352, December.
    38. 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.
    39. Phan, Quynh Trang, 2018. "Corporate debt and investment with financial constraints: Vietnamese listed firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 268-280.
    40. Harjoat S. Bhamra & Lars-Alexander Kuehn & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2010. "The Aggregate Dynamics of Capital Structure and Macroeconomic Risk," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4187-4241, December.
    41. David Roodman, 2006. "How to Do xtabond2," North American Stata Users' Group Meetings 2006 8, Stata Users Group.
    42. Saidani, Wien & Msolli, Badreddine & Ajina, Aymen, 2017. "Research and development investment and financing constraints: The case of Japan," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1336-1342.
    43. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    44. Dibiasi, Andreas & Abberger, Klaus & Siegenthaler, Michael & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2018. "The effects of policy uncertainty on investment: Evidence from the unexpected acceptance of a far-reaching referendum in Switzerland," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 38-67.
    45. Jun‐Koo Kang & Anil Shivdasani & Takeshi Yamada, 2000. "The Effect of Bank Relations on Investment Decisions: An Investigation of Japanese Takeover Bids," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2197-2218, October.
    46. Wang, Yizhong & Wei, Yueling & Song, Frank M., 2017. "Uncertainty and corporate R&D investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 176-200.
    47. Christopher A. Hennessy, 2004. "Tobin's "Q", Debt Overhang, and Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1717-1742, August.
    48. Mehmet Umutlu, 2010. "Firm leverage and investment decisions in an emerging market," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 1005-1013, August.
    49. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    50. Abdul Rashid, 2011. "How does private firms' investment respond to uncertainty?: Some evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of Risk Finance, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 12(4), pages 339-347, August.
    51. Fan, Joseph P.H. & Huang, Jun & Zhu, Ning, 2013. "Institutions, ownership structures, and distress resolution in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 71-87.
    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. Yixuan Duan & Min Guo & Yixuan Huang, 2022. "Leverage of Local State-Owned Enterprises, Implicit Contingent Liabilities of Government and Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Arif Khan, Muhammad & Qin, Xuezhi & Jebran, Khalil & Ullah, Irfan, 2020. "Uncertainty and R&D investment: Does product market competition matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Bajaj, Yukti & Kashiramka, Smita & Singh, Shveta, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and leverage dynamics: Evidence from an emerging economy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    4. Muhammad Arif Khan & Xuezhi Qin & Khalil Jebran & Abdul Rashid, 2020. "The Sensitivity of Firms’ Investment to Uncertainty and Cash Flow: Evidence From Listed State-Owned Enterprises and Non-State-Owned Enterprises in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    5. Klayme, Tania & Gokmenoglu, Korhan K. & Rustamov, Bezhan, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty, COVID-19 and corporate investment: Evidence from the gold mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    6. Cheng, Dong & Yu, Jian & Zhang, Dayong & Zheng, Wenping, 2020. "Is heterogeneous capital depreciation important for estimating firm-level productivity? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Muhammad Arif Khan & Xuezhi Qin & Khalil Jebran, 2020. "Uncertainty and leverage nexus: does trade credit matter?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 355-389, September.
    8. Yin, Libo & Yang, Sen, 2023. "Oil price returns and firm's fixed investment: A production pattern," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    9. Ahmad, Muhammad Munir & Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Taskin, Dilvin, 2023. "Do asymmetric information and leverage affect investment decisions?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 337-345.

    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. Muhammad Arif Khan & Xuezhi Qin & Khalil Jebran & Abdul Rashid, 2020. "The Sensitivity of Firms’ Investment to Uncertainty and Cash Flow: Evidence From Listed State-Owned Enterprises and Non-State-Owned Enterprises in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    2. Arif Khan, Muhammad & Qin, Xuezhi & Jebran, Khalil & Ullah, Irfan, 2020. "Uncertainty and R&D investment: Does product market competition matter?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    3. Muhammad Arif Khan & Xuezhi Qin & Khalil Jebran, 2020. "Uncertainty and leverage nexus: does trade credit matter?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(3), pages 355-389, September.
    4. Im, Hyun Joong & Liu, Jia & Park, Young Joon, 2021. "Policy uncertainty and peer effects: Evidence from corporate investment in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    5. Klayme, Tania & Gokmenoglu, Korhan K. & Rustamov, Bezhan, 2023. "Economic policy uncertainty, COVID-19 and corporate investment: Evidence from the gold mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    6. Caixe, Daniel Ferreira, 2022. "Corporate governance and investment sensitivity to policy uncertainty in Brazil," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PB).
    7. Quader, Syed Manzur, 2023. "The interplay between uncertainty, managerial decision making, and firm value: Evidence from Bangladesh," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    8. Alaali, Fatema, 2020. "The effect of oil and stock price volatility on firm level investment: The case of UK firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    9. Wang, Yizhong & Wei, Yueling & Song, Frank M., 2017. "Uncertainty and corporate R&D investment: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 176-200.
    10. Anh‐Tuan Doan & Anh‐Tuan Le & Quan Tran, 2020. "Economic uncertainty, ownership structure and small and medium enterprises performance," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 102-137, June.
    11. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    12. 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).
    13. 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).
    14. Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2020. "Does sub-Saharan Africa overinvest? Evidence from a panel of non-financial firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 118-130.
    15. Sha, Yezhou & Kang, Chenlei & Wang, Zilong, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty and mergers and acquisitions: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 590-600.
    16. Bajaj, Yukti & Kashiramka, Smita & Singh, Shveta, 2021. "Economic policy uncertainty and leverage dynamics: Evidence from an emerging economy," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    17. Yang, Zhenyi & Yu, Yiwei & Zhang, Yubing & Zhou, Sili, 2019. "Policy uncertainty exposure and market value: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    18. Nguyen Phuc Canh & Nguyen Thanh Binh & Su Dinh Thanh & Christophe Schinckus, 2020. "Determinants of foreign direct investment inflows: The role of economic policy uncertainty," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 161, pages 159-172.
    19. 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).
    20. Rashid, Abdul, 2013. "Risks and financing decisions in the energy sector: An empirical investigation using firm-level data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 792-799.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment; Uncertainty; Leverage; State-owned enterprises; Non-state-owned enterprises; China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:riibaf:v:50:y:2019:i:c:p:134-152. 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/ribaf .

    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.