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Financialization, Shareholder Orientation and the Cash Holdings of US Corporations

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  • Leila Davis

Abstract

Growth in the cash holdings of US nonfinancial corporations (NFCs) has received considerable attention in recent years. These cash holdings constitute a primary component of the growth in firm-level financial asset holdings often highlighted in analyses of the ‘financialization’ of NFCs. In this article, I use a panel of US corporations to empirically analyze two links between corporate cash holdings and the literature on financialization. First, I find a small but positive relationship between cash holdings and shareholder value ideology among large corporations. I capture the growing entrenchment of shareholder ideology using average industry-level stock repurchases, to proxy for industry-level norms encouraging managers to target stock price-based indicators of firm performance. Second, I find a positive relationship between a firm's cash holdings and a measure of the differential it earns between interest income and expense. Given that cash is classified with short-term marketable (and, therefore, interest-bearing) securities on firm balance sheets, this result lends empirical support to the hypothesis that traditionally nonfinancial firms are increasingly engaged in borrowing and lending for profit.

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  • Leila Davis, 2018. "Financialization, Shareholder Orientation and the Cash Holdings of US Corporations," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 1-27, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revpoe:v:30:y:2018:i:1:p:1-27
    DOI: 10.1080/09538259.2018.1429147
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    Cited by:

    1. Yang, Baochen & Chen, Fengrui, 2023. "The financialization of nonfinancial companies in China: A macroeconomic perspective," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. Di Filippo, Gabriele, 2019. "Why is the Ratio of Debt-to-GDP so Large for Non-Financial Companies in Luxembourg?," MPRA Paper 105316, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Ewa Karwowski & Hanna Szymborska & Keagile Lesame & Tlhologelo Thoka, 2022. "Determinants of corporate cash holdings in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2022-85, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Ke Guo & Xuemeng Guo & Jun Zhang, 2023. "Financial asset allocation duality and enterprise upgrading: empirical evidence from the Chinese A-share market," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Manuel David Cruz & Daniele Tavani, 2022. "Secular Stagnation: A Classical-Marxian View," Working Papers PKWP2229, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    6. Shromona Ganguly, 2021. "Financialization of the Real Economy: New Empirical Evidence from the Non-financial Firms in India Using Conditional Logistic Model," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 19(3), pages 493-523, September.
    7. Lenore Palladino, 2022. "Economic Policies for Innovative Enterprises: Implementing Multi-Stakeholder Corporate Governance," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 5-25, March.
    8. Leila Davis & Joao Paulo A. de Souza, 2022. "Churning and profitability in the U.S. corporate sector," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 924-957, July.

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