Financing Constraints and Workplace Safety

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cohn, Jonathan B.; Wardlaw, Malcolm I.
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12430
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2017-2057
• 关键词: capital structure; product quality; airline safety; cash flow; INVESTMENT; debt; determinants; performance; COSTS

摘要

We present evidence that financing frictions adversely impact investment in work-place safety, with implications for worker welfare and firm value. Using several identification strategies, we find that injury rates increase with leverage and negative cash flow shocks, and decrease with positive cash flow shocks. We show that firm value decreases substantially with injury rates. Our findings suggest that investment in worker safety is an economically important margin on which firms respond to financing constraints.