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Corporate Cash and Employment

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  • Bacchetta, Philippe
  • Poilly, Céline
  • Benhima, Kenza

Abstract

In the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis, both a sharp drop in employment and a surge in corporate cash have been observed. In this paper, based on U.S. data, we document that the negative relationship between the corporate cash ratio and employment is systematic, both over time and across firms. We develop a dynamic general equilibrium model where heterogenous firms need cash in their production process and where financial shocks are made of both credit and liquidity shocks. We show that external liquidity shocks generate a negative comovement between the cash ratio and employment. We analyze the dynamic impact of aggregate shocks and the cross-firm impact of idiosyncratic shocks. With a calibrated version of the model, the model yields a negative comovement that is close to the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Bacchetta, Philippe & Poilly, Céline & Benhima, Kenza, 2014. "Corporate Cash and Employment," CEPR Discussion Papers 10309, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10309
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    Cited by:

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    2. Görtz, Christoph & Sakellaris, Plutarchos & Tsoukalas, John D., 2023. "Firms’ financing dynamics around lumpy capacity adjustments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Falk Bräuning & José Fillat & Gustavo Joaquim, 2021. "Corporate Finance and the Transmission of Shocks to the Real Economy," Working Papers 21-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    4. Moser, Christian & Saidi, Farzad & Wirth, Benjamin & Wolter, Stefanie, 2020. "Credit Supply, Firms, and Earnings Inequality," MPRA Paper 100371, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Curtis, Chadwick C. & Garín, Julio & Saif Mehkari, M., 2017. "Inflation and the evolution of firm-level liquid assets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 24-35.
    6. Flora Lutz & Leopold Zessner-Spitzenberg, 2019. "Sudden Stops and Reserve Accumulation in the Presence of International Liquidity Risk," Vienna Economics Papers vie1907, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    7. Joseph, Andreas & Kneer, Christiane & van Horen, Neeltje & Saleheen, Jumana, 2019. "All you need is cash: corporate cash holdings and investment after the financial crisis," Bank of England working papers 843, Bank of England.
    8. Gabriel Chodorow‐Reich & Antonio Falato, 2022. "The Loan Covenant Channel: How Bank Health Transmits to the Real Economy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 85-128, February.
    9. Cheng, Chak Hung Jack & Chiu, Ching-Wai (Jeremy) & Hankins, William B. & Stone, Anna-Leigh, 2018. "Partisan conflict, policy uncertainty and aggregate corporate cash holdings," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 78-90.
    10. Flora Lutz & Leopold Zessner-Spitzenberg, 2019. "Sudden Stops and Reserve Accumulation in the Presence of International Liquidity Risk," Vienna Economics Papers 1907, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
    11. Lutz, Flora & Zessner-Spitzenberg, Leopold, 2023. "Sudden stops and reserve accumulation in the presence of international liquidity risk," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    12. Brianti, Marco, 2021. "Financial Shocks, Uncertainty Shocks, and Monetary Policy Trade-Offs," Working Papers 2021-5, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    13. Lutz, Flora & Zessner-Spitzenberg, Leopold, 2020. "Sudden Stops and Reserve Accumulation in the Presence of International Liquidity Risk," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224520, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Armenter, Roc & Hnatkovska, Viktoria, 2017. "Taxes and capital structure: Understanding firms’ savings," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 13-33.
    15. Kellard, Neil M. & Kontonikas, Alexandros & Lamla, Michael J. & Maiani, Stefano & Wood, Geoffrey, 2022. "Risk, financial stability and FDI," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Davide Melcangi, 2024. "Firms' Precautionary Savings and Employment during a Credit Crisis," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 356-386, January.
    17. Priit Jeenas, 2023. "Firm balance sheet liquidity, monetary policy shocks, and investment dynamics," Economics Working Papers 1872, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    18. Mehrotra, Neil & Sergeyev, Dmitriy, 2021. "Financial shocks, firm credit and the Great Recession," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 296-315.
    19. Adão, Bernardino & Silva, André C., 2020. "The effect of firm cash holdings on monetary policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    20. Assia Elgouacem & Riccardo Zago, 2020. "Share Buybacks, Monetary Policy and the Cost of Debt," Working papers 773, Banque de France.
    21. Andreas Joseph & Christiane Kneer & Neeltje van Horen, 2021. "All You Need Is Cash: Corporate Cash Holdings and Investment after the Global Financial Crisis," CESifo Working Paper Series 9053, CESifo.
    22. Caggese, Andrea & Pérez-Orive, Ander, 2022. "How stimulative are low real interest rates for intangible capital?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    23. Dmitriy Sergeyev & Neil Mehrotra, 2015. "Financial Shocks and Job Flows," 2015 Meeting Papers 520, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    24. Minetti, Raoul & Moreland, Timothy & Kokas, Sotirios, 2021. "Financial Consolidation and the Cyclicality of Corporate Financing," Working Papers 2021-1, Michigan State University, Department of Economics.
    25. Christoph Görtz & Plutarchos Sakellaris & John D. Tsoukalas, 2017. "Financing Lumpy Adjustment," Working Papers 2017_06, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial shocks; Liquidity; Working capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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