Stakeholder Conflicts and Cash Flow Shocks: Evidence from Changes in ERISA Pension Funding Rules
研究了2012年MAP-21法案降低养老金强制缴款后，企业并未增加投资，而是将资金持有为流动资产或分配给股东，仅在治理薄弱的企业中投资有所增加。
ABSTRACT In 2012, Congress passed Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which changed the ERISA pension funding rules such that mandatory pension contributions decreased. Advocates for the bill argued that reducing mandatory contributions would increase firms' investment. In contrast, I do not find an average increase in investment among the firms benefiting from MAP-21. Rather, I find that firms either hold pension funding relief on their balance sheets as liquid assets or pay out pension funding relief to shareholders. To the extent that managers increase investment in response to MAP-21, it is concentrated in firms with weak governance or ineffective internal controls.