Does policy uncertainty affect firms' exchange rate exposure? Evidence from China11We are grateful for the insightful comments of Iftekhar Hasan, Iikka Korhonen, Zhitao Lin and Yaqi Wang for their valuable suggestions. We are also grateful for the excellent comments from participants at seminars at Bank of Finland, Jinan University, Capital University of Economics and Business, Wuhan University, and Central University of Finance and Economics, as well as the EFMA 2023 Annual Conference (Cardiff). This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72473146, 72101267), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (24XNN005). All remaining errors are ours

Analyzing data from 3616 Chinese listed firms, we find a strong positive relationship between policy uncertainty and firms' exchange rate exposure. This result remains robust after controlling for macroeconomic conditions and addressing endogeneity issues. Notably, policy uncertainty's impact is significantly stronger for firms with a higher degree of international involvement and for poorly-governed firms. Interestingly, firms use financial hedging more intensively and reduce their operational hedging in high-uncertainty periods. Our results suggest that policy uncertainty exacerbates the impact of currency movements on firms' financial performance, as firms become increasingly involved in international operations. Consequently, firms should strengthen their corporate governance and make effective use of hedging tools.