IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/23434.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Price Risk, Production Flexibility, and Liquidity Management: Evidence from Electricity Generating Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Lin
  • Thomas Schmid
  • Michael S. Weisbach

Abstract

Production inflexibility together with product price uncertainty creates price risk, which is a potentially important factor for firms’ liquidity management. One industry for which price risk can be measured is the electricity producing industry. We use data on hourly electricity prices in 41 markets to measure fluctuations in output prices and information on over 60,000 power plants to approximate firms’ flexibilty to vary output quantities. Our results suggest that higher electricity price volatility leads to increased cash holdings, but only in firms using inflexible production technologies. This effect is robust to a number of specification choices including instrumenting for volatility in electricity prices using weather forecast data. After deregulation, firms hold 20-25% more cash, suggesting that the process of deregulation increases the risk firms’ face. Price risk affects cash holdings most in financially constrained firms, and in firms that cannot easily hedge the electricity price through derivative markets. Capital market liquidity and balance sheet liquidity appear to be substitutes for one another.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Lin & Thomas Schmid & Michael S. Weisbach, 2017. "Price Risk, Production Flexibility, and Liquidity Management: Evidence from Electricity Generating Firms," NBER Working Papers 23434, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23434
    Note: CF IO
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23434.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Igor Cunha & Michael S. Weisbach, 2014. "Corporate Liquidity Management: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 135-162, December.
    2. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    3. Murillo Campello & Erasmo Giambona & John R. Graham & Campbell R. Harvey, 2011. "Liquidity Management and Corporate Investment During a Financial Crisis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(6), pages 1944-1979.
    4. Acharya, Viral V. & Almeida, Heitor & Campello, Murillo, 2007. "Is cash negative debt? A hedging perspective on corporate financial policies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 515-554, October.
    5. Turnovsky, Stephen J, 1973. "Production Flexibility, Price Uncertainty and the Behavior of the Competitive Firm," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(2), pages 395-413, June.
    6. Kira R. Fabrizio & Nancy L. Rose & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2007. "Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on US Electric Generation Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1250-1277, September.
    7. Larry Epstein, 1978. "Production Flexibility and the Behaviour of the Competitive Firm under Price Uncertainty," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 45(2), pages 251-261.
    8. Rettl, Daniel A. & Stomper, Alex & Zechner, Josef, 2016. "The stability of dividends and wages: Effects of competitor inflexibility," CFS Working Paper Series 549, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    9. Francisco Pérez-González & Hayong Yun, 2013. "Risk Management and Firm Value: Evidence from Weather Derivatives," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(5), pages 2143-2176, October.
    10. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1777-1804 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Sebastian J. Reinartz & Thomas Schmid, 2016. "Production Flexibility, Product Markets, and Capital Structure Decisions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(6), pages 1501-1548.
    12. Sandmo, Agnar, 1971. "On the Theory of the Competitive Firm under Price Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(1), pages 65-73, March.
    13. Ran Duchin & Thomas Gilbert & Jarrad Harford & Christopher Hrdlicka, 2017. "Precautionary Savings with Risky Assets: When Cash Is Not Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 793-852, April.
    14. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips & Nagpurnanand Prabhala, 2014. "Product Market Threats, Payouts, and Financial Flexibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 293-324, February.
    15. Becher, David A. & Mulherin, J. Harold & Walkling, Ralph A., 2012. "Sources of Gains in Corporate Mergers: Refined Tests from a Neglected Industry," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 57-89, February.
    16. Lins, Karl V. & Servaes, Henri & Tufano, Peter, 2010. "What drives corporate liquidity? An international survey of cash holdings and lines of credit," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 160-176, October.
    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. Erel, Isil & Jang, Yeejin & Minton, Bernadette A. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2021. "Corporate Liquidity, Acquisitions, and Macroeconomic Conditions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 443-474, March.

    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. Erel, Isil & Jang, Yeejin & Minton, Bernadette A. & Weisbach, Michael S., 2021. "Corporate Liquidity, Acquisitions, and Macroeconomic Conditions," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 443-474, March.
    2. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    3. Chang, Ching-Hung & Chen, Sheng-Syan & Chen, Yan-Shing & Peng, Shu-Cing, 2019. "Commitment to build trust by socially responsible firms: Evidence from cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 364-387.
    4. Saleh F. A. Khatib & Dewi Fariha Abdullah & Ernie Hendrawaty & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2022. "A bibliometric analysis of cash holdings literature: current status, development, and agenda for future research," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 707-744, September.
    5. Ghada Tayem, 2017. "To Bank or Not to Bank: The Determination of Cash Holdings and Lines of Credit," Working Papers 1130, Economic Research Forum, revised 08 2017.
    6. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Igor Cunha & Michael S. Weisbach, 2014. "Corporate Liquidity Management: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 135-162, December.
    7. Quoc Trung Tran, 2020. "Corporate cash holdings and financial crisis: new evidence from an emerging market," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(2), pages 271-285, June.
    8. Moritzen, Mark Raun & Schandlbauer, Alexander, 2020. "The impact of competition and time-to-finance on corporate cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Honda, Tomohito, 2023. "The effects of credit lines on cash holdings and capital investment: Evidence from Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    10. Acharya, Viral & Almeida, Heitor & Ippolito, Filippo & Perez, Ander, 2014. "Credit lines as monitored liquidity insurance: Theory and evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(3), pages 287-319.
    11. Kohei Aono & Keiichi Hori, 2020. "Measuring the Value of Corporate Cash Holdings against Predictable and Unpredictable Negative Shocks," Discussion Paper Series 214-2, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University, revised Apr 2021.
    12. Nyborg, Kjell & Wang, Zexi, 2019. "Corporate cash holdings: Stock liquidity and the repurchase motive," CEPR Discussion Papers 13791, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Honda, Tomohito, 2022. "The Effects of Credit Lines on Cash Holdings and Capital Investment: Evidence from Japan," RCESR Discussion Paper Series DP22-2, Research Center for Economic and Social Risks, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    14. Tut, Daniel, 2021. "Cash Holdings and Firm-Level Exposure to Epidemic Diseases," MPRA Paper 109704, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Kohei Aono & Keiichi Hori, 2020. "Can Cash Be a Ventilator for Firms Suffering from COVID-19? Evidence from Stock Market in Japan," Discussion Paper Series 214, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University.
    16. Tommaso Oliviero & Min Park & Hong Zou, 2024. "Liquidity Effects of Litigation Risk: Evidence from a Legal Shock," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 67(1), pages 103-141.
    17. Nyborg, Kjell G. & Wang, Zexi, 2021. "The effect of stock liquidity on cash holdings: The repurchase motive," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 905-927.
    18. Davide Dottori & Giacinto Micucci, 2018. "Corporate liquidity in Italy and its increase in the long recession," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 981-1014, December.
    19. Giorgio Calcagnini & Laura Gardini & Germana Giombini & Edgar S. Carrera, 2022. "Does too much liquidity generate instability?," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 17(1), pages 191-208, January.
    20. Ma, Liang & Mello, Antonio S. & Wu, Youchang, 2020. "First-mover advantage, time to finance, and cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:nbr:nberwo:23434. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    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.