Political uncertainty, corruption, and corporate cash holdings

Main author: Jayakody, Shashitha
Other authors: Morelli, David
Oberoi, Jaideep
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-40058
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic HG Finance
JF Political institutions (General)
description Exposure to political corruption and political uncertainty separately demands opposing risk management responses: to reduce cash to minimize expropriation and to increase cash to hedge policy risk. We study how local political corruption and political uncertainty interact in their impact on corporate cash holdings within the United States. We find robust evidence that firms located in states with higher corruption scores react to increases in local political uncertainty by increasing cash holdings more than those in less corrupt settings. This behavior suggests that firms in more corrupt settings find it expedient to raise cash to facilitate influence of officials in the face of local political risk. We find further support for this conclusion by showing that politically engaged firms respond to our measure of political risk by increasing cash and increasing spending on campaign contributions. Our findings point to a potential channel through which different jurisdictions experience the entrenchment and persistence of corruption.
format Journal Article
author Jayakody, Shashitha
author_facet Jayakody, Shashitha
Morelli, David
Oberoi, Jaideep
authorStr Jayakody, Shashitha
author_letter Jayakody, Shashitha
author2 Morelli, David
Oberoi, Jaideep
author2Str Morelli, David
Oberoi, Jaideep
title Political uncertainty, corruption, and corporate cash holdings
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2023
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/40058/