Economic policy uncertainty and investment of Russian companies

Abstract

This paper is devoted to determining the impact of economic policy uncertainty on corporate investment of Russian manufacturing companies. By applying fixed effects models on panel data, it was found that under increasing level of economic policy uncertainty, the companies reduce their investment activity. The effect is most pronounced for large companies. It is important to note that public companies are not affected by the uncertainty of Russian economic policy, however, the European and global economic policy uncertainty has a negative impact on their investments. Testing the robustness by applying the methods of instrumental variables confirms the results. The study suggests that maintaining transparency and stability of economic policy can increase the level of corporate investment.