Economic policy uncertainty and access to finance: An international evidence
研究了26个国家数据，发现经济政策不确定性显著加剧企业融资约束，且这一效应受董事会特征和制度环境调节。
Abstract In this study, we provide the first attempt to relate economic policy uncertainty (EPU) to firms' access to finance. Using data from 26 countries and the news‐based index from Baker et al. (2016), we provide evidence that EPU significantly increases financial constraints and decreases firms' access to finance. Our main inference is robust to alternative measures of financial constraints, alternative samples, alternative model specifications, and several approaches that control for potential endogeneity. We further show that the EPU‐financial constraint relationship is driven by both the demand and supply sides of financing. Additional analyses suggest that the impact of EPU on firms' financial constraints is moderated by board characteristics (i.e., gender diversity, independence, and duality). They also highlight the moderating roles of government effectiveness, the rule of law and control of corruption. Collectively, our findings provide novel theoretical and practical contributions in relation to EPU and the firms' setting.