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Corporate Cash and Employment

Author

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  • Philippe BACCHETTA

    (University of Lausanne and Swiss Finance Institute)

  • Kenza BENHIMA

    (University of Lausanne and CEPR)

  • Céline POILLY

    (University of Lausanne)

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

  • Philippe BACCHETTA & Kenza BENHIMA & Céline POILLY, 2014. "Corporate Cash and Employment," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 14-01, Swiss Finance Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1401
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Pancost, N. Aaron & Robatto, Roberto, 2019. "The effects of capital requirements on good and bad risk-taking," ESRB Working Paper Series 104, European Systemic Risk Board.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Gabriel Chodorow-Reich & Antonio Falato, 2017. "The Loan Covenant Channel: How Bank Health Transmits to the Real Economy," NBER Working Papers 23879, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. Armenter, Roc & Hnatkovska, Viktoria, 2017. "Taxes and capital structure: Understanding firms’ savings," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 13-33.
    8. Melcangi, Davide, 2016. "Firms’ precautionary savings and employment during a credit crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86237, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Adão, Bernardino & Silva, André C., 2020. "The effect of firm cash holdings on monetary policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Assia Elgouacem & Riccardo Zago, 2020. "Share Buybacks, Monetary Policy and the Cost of Debt," Working papers 773, Banque de France.
    11. Dmitriy Sergeyev & Neil Mehrotra, 2015. "Financial Shocks and Job Flows," 2015 Meeting Papers 520, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. 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

    working capital; liquidity shocks; cash management;
    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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