Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v48y2018icp261-274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employees' risk attitude and corporate risk taking: Evidence from pension asset allocations

Author

Listed:
  • Guan, Yanling
  • Tang, Dragon Yongjun
Abstract
Do labor characteristics matter to corporate decisions? We answer this question by examining whether firms consider the risk attitude of rank-and-file employees in investing the pension assets of defined benefit plans. We construct a direct measure of employees' risk attitude from their defined contribution pension portfolio allocations. We find that firms with more risk-averse employees exhibit higher sensitivity to their own default risk in their defined benefit pension investment. The reduction in pension risk taking induced by sponsor risk is more pronounced for low R&D firms, and in the period with stringent pension regulation. We further show that sponsors consider employees' risk aversion in making pension investment decisions regardless of the power of labor union. Overall, our findings suggest that firms incorporate employees' risk attitude into corporate policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Guan, Yanling & Tang, Dragon Yongjun, 2018. "Employees' risk attitude and corporate risk taking: Evidence from pension asset allocations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 261-274.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:48:y:2018:i:c:p:261-274
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.11.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119917306417
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.11.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agrawal, Ashwini K. & Matsa, David A., 2013. "Labor unemployment risk and corporate financing decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 449-470.
    2. Gustavo Manso, 2011. "Motivating Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1823-1860, October.
    3. Anil Shivdasani & Irina Stefanescu, 2010. "How Do Pensions Affect Corporate Capital Structure Decisions?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 1287-1323, March.
    4. John Y. Campbell & Jens Hilscher & Jan Szilagyi, 2008. "In Search of Distress Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2899-2939, December.
    5. Jacobson, Louis S & LaLonde, Robert J & Sullivan, Daniel G, 1993. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 685-709, September.
    6. Kenneth A. Couch & Dana W. Placzek, 2010. "Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers Revisited," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(1), pages 572-589, March.
    7. Francisco J. Gomes & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Luis M. Viceira, 2008. "Optimal Life-Cycle Investing with Flexible Labor Supply: A Welfare Analysis of Life-Cycle Funds," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 297-303, May.
    8. Phan, Hieu V. & Hegde, Shantaram P., 2013. "Corporate Governance and Risk Taking in Pension Plans: Evidence from Defined Benefit Asset Allocations," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(3), pages 919-946, June.
    9. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-1284, December.
    10. Louis S. Jacobson & Robert J. LaLonde & Daniel G. Sullivan, 1993. "Long-term earnings losses of high-seniority displaced workers," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 17(Nov), pages 2-20.
    11. Efraim Benmelech & Nittai K. Bergman & Ricardo J. Enriquez, 2012. "Negotiating with Labor under Financial Distress," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 1(1), pages 28-67.
    12. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    13. Sharpe, William F., 1976. "Corporate pension funding policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 183-193, June.
    14. Duan, Jin-Chuan & Sun, Jie & Wang, Tao, 2012. "Multiperiod corporate default prediction—A forward intensity approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 170(1), pages 191-209.
    15. Stephen G. Bronars & Donald R. Deere, 1991. "The Threat of Unionization, the Use of Debt, and the Preservation of Shareholder Wealth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 231-254.
    16. Faleye, Olubunmi & Mehrotra, Vikas & Morck, Randall, 2006. "When Labor Has a Voice in Corporate Governance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 489-510, September.
    17. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    18. Klasa, Sandy & Maxwell, William F. & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán, 2009. "The strategic use of corporate cash holdings in collective bargaining with labor unions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(3), pages 421-442, June.
    19. Bodie, Zvi & Merton, Robert C. & Samuelson, William F., 1992. "Labor supply flexibility and portfolio choice in a life cycle model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 427-449.
    20. Steffen Huck & Andrew J. Seltzer & Brian Wallace, 2011. "Deferred Compensation in Multiperiod Labor Contracts: An Experimental Test of Lazear's Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 819-843, April.
    21. Bae, Kee-Hong & Kang, Jun-Koo & Wang, Jin, 2011. "Employee treatment and firm leverage: A test of the stakeholder theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 130-153, April.
    22. John L. Campbell & Dan S. Dhaliwal & William C. Schwartz, 2012. "Financing Constraints and the Cost of Capital: Evidence from the Funding of Corporate Pension Plans," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 868-912.
    23. Verwijmeren, Patrick & Derwall, Jeroen, 2010. "Employee well-being, firm leverage, and bankruptcy risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 956-964, May.
    24. Jeffrey R. Brown, 2008. "Guaranteed Trouble: The Economic Effects of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 177-198, Winter.
    25. Yanling Guan & Daphne Lui, 2016. "The Effect of Regulations on Pension Risk Shifting: Evidence from the US and Europe," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5-6), pages 765-799, May.
    26. David A. Matsa, 2010. "Capital Structure as a Strategic Variable: Evidence from Collective Bargaining," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1197-1232, June.
    27. Anantharaman, Divya & Lee, Yong Gyu, 2014. "Managerial risk taking incentives and corporate pension policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(2), pages 328-351.
    28. Chen, Huafeng Jason & Kacperczyk, Marcin & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán, 2011. "Labor Unions, Operating Flexibility, and the Cost of Equity," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 25-58, February.
    29. Irwin Tepper, 1981. "Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy," NBER Working Papers 0661, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Gilles Hilary, 2006. "Organized Labor and Information Asymmetry in the Financial Markets," Post-Print hal-00482326, HAL.
    31. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard Stanton & Josef Zechner, 2010. "Human Capital, Bankruptcy, and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 891-926, June.
    32. Tepper, Irwin, 1981. "Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 1-13, March.
    33. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    34. Macias, Antonio & Pirinsky, Christo, 2015. "Employees and the market for corporate control," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 33-53.
    35. Robert Novy‐Marx & Joshua Rauh, 2011. "Public Pension Promises: How Big Are They and What Are They Worth?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(4), pages 1211-1249, August.
    36. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    37. Joshua D. Rauh, 2009. "Risk Shifting versus Risk Management: Investment Policy in Corporate Pension Plans," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(7), pages 2487-2533, July.
    38. Mary Margaret Frank, 2002. "The Impact of Taxes on Corporate Defined Benefit Plan Asset Allocation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 1163-1190, September.
    39. Jin, Li & Merton, Robert C. & Bodie, Zvi, 2006. "Do a firm's equity returns reflect the risk of its pension plan?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 1-26, July.
    40. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2015. "Cash holdings and employee welfare," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 53-70.
    41. Alicia H. Munnell & Jean-Pierre Aubry & Caroline V. Crawford, 2015. "Investment Returns: Defined Benefit vs. Defined Contribution Plans," Issues in Brief ib2015-21, Center for Retirement Research.
    42. Duan, Jin-Chuan & Van Laere, Elisabeth, 2012. "A public good approach to credit ratings – From concept to reality," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3239-3247.
    43. Love, David A. & Smith, Paul A. & Wilcox, David W., 2011. "The effect of regulation on optimal corporate pension risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 18-35, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jin, Yige & Dong, Nanyan & Tian, Gaoliang & Zhang, Junrui, 2023. "Wisdom of the masses: Employee education and corporate risk taking," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Chen, Xuanjuan & Sun, Zhenzhen & Yao, Tong & Yu, Tong, 2020. "Does operating risk affect portfolio risk? Evidence from insurers' securities holding," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Brian Silverstein, 2021. "Defined benefit pension de‐risking and corporate risk‐taking," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(4), pages 1085-1111, December.
    4. Han, Feng & Qin, Qi & Peabody, S. Drew, 2022. "Does incentive conflict between CEOs and CFOs benefit firms? Implications for corporate decision-making," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Chenyu Shan & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2023. "The Value of Employee Satisfaction in Disastrous Times: Evidence from COVID-19," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1027-1076.
    6. Vural-Yavaş, Çiğdem, 2020. "Corporate risk-taking in developed countries: The influence of economic policy uncertainty and macroeconomic conditions," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Yohannes Girma & Berhanu Kuma & Amsalu Bedemo, 2023. "Risk Aversion and Perception of Farmers about Endogenous Risks: An Empirical Study for Maize Producers in Awi Zone, Amhara Region of Ethiopia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-29, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Goto, Shingo & Yanase, Noriyoshi, 2021. "Pension return assumptions and shareholder-employee risk-shifting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    2. Rauh, Joshua D. & Stefanescu, Irina & Zeldes, Stephen P., 2020. "Cost saving and the freezing of corporate pension plans," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Joshua D. Rauh & Irina Stefanescu & Stephen P. Zeldes, 2020. "Cost Saving and the Freezing of Corporate Pension Plans," NBER Working Papers 27251, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. David A. Matsa, 2018. "Capital Structure and a Firm’s Workforce," NBER Working Papers 25125, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Gill, Balbinder Singh & Choi, Jongmoo Jay & John, Kose, 2024. "Firm leverage and employee pay: The moderating role of CEO leadership style," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    6. Akyol, Ali C. & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2013. "Human capital costs, firm leverage, and unemployment rates," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 464-481.
    7. Jun Chen & Jamie Y. Tong & Wenming Wang & Feida Zhang, 2019. "The Economic Consequences of Labor Unionization: Evidence from Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 775-796, July.
    8. Schmalz, Martin, 2018. "Unionization, Cash, and Leverage," CEPR Discussion Papers 12595, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Zhu, Xiaoquan & Peng, Hongfeng & Zhang, Zijian, 2020. "The nexus of judicial efficiency, social burden and default risk: Cross-country evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. Boon, L.N. & Brière, M. & Rigot, S., 2018. "Regulation and pension fund risk-taking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 23-41.
    11. Kim, Hyunseob, 2020. "How does labor market size affect firm capital structure? Evidence from large plant openings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 277-294.
    12. Pagano, Marco, 2020. "Risk Sharing Within the Firm: A Primer," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 12(2), pages 117-198, October.
    13. Michael Kisser & John Kiff & Mauricio Soto, 2017. "Do Managers of U.S. Defined Benefit Pension Plan Sponsors Use Regulatory Freedom Strategically?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 1213-1255, December.
    14. Boubaker, Sabri & Chourou, Lamia & Haddar, Marwa & Hamza, Taher, 2019. "Does employee welfare affect corporate debt maturity?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 674-686.
    15. Di Giuli, Alberta & Matta, Rafael & Romec, Arthur, 2023. "Capital structure and reversible bargaining tools: Evidence from union-sponsored shareholder proposals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    16. Devos, Erik & Rahman, Shofiqur, 2023. "Does labor unemployment insurance affect corporate tax aggressiveness?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    17. Alderson, Michael J. & Betker, Brian L. & Halford, Joseph T., 2017. "Are managers paid for better levels of pension funding?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 25-33.
    18. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi & Zhu, Yueteng, 2021. "Social insurance law and corporate financing decisions in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 816-837.
    19. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Non‐operating risk and cash holdings: Evidence from pension risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    20. John R. Graham & Hyunseob Kim & Si Li & Jiaping Qiu, 2019. "Employee Costs of Corporate Bankruptcy," NBER Working Papers 25922, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:48:y:2018:i:c:p:261-274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.