The Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Corporate Investment Decisions

Abstract

The purpose of this research work is to explore the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate investment across developed and developing economies. The study also investigates the impact on investment of firms having different ownership arrangements, financial system development, leadership status and capital intensity. The study employs Generalised Method of Moments technique to analyse a comprehensive dataset of 25 countries for the period from 2008 to 2021, comprising 11,718 firm-level observations. The results show that EPU has a significant negative effect on corporate investment, particularly in developed countries, developed financial systems, nonstate-owned enterprises, capital-intensive entities, and firms with CEO duality and dispersed ownership structures. On the other hand, EPU has an insignificant impact on investment made by firms in developing economies, underdeveloped financial markets, firms with state and concentrated ownership, and non-CEO duality. The results accentuate the complex interaction between EPU and firms’ investment, indicating the need for customised policy approaches to mitigate the negative effects across diverse economies, markets, ownership, and leadership structure. JEL Classification : E22 , G18 , G30

Keywords

• Economic policy uncertainty
• corporate investments
• developed and developing economies
• ownership structure
• capital intensity

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