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Corporate Financial Asset Holdings Under Economic Policy Uncertainty: Precautionary Saving or Speculating?

Abstract Non-financial corporations invest heavily in financial assets nowadays, raising questions about the traditional boundaries of non-financial firms. We investigate how economic policy uncertainty affects firms’ holdings of non-currency financial assets and portfolios in China. We find that economic policy uncertainty has a negative effect on firms’ non-currency financial asset allocation, especially for less financially constrained firms. This result implies that other than precautionary saving, speculation is the underlying motive that drives firms to increase their non-currency financial asset holdings. Furthermore, economic policy uncertainty has a negative but weaker impact on financial asset holdings for firms in industries/regions with intensive competition.