Financial Constraints and Future Stock Price Crash Risk

Abstract

This study investigates whether and how financial constraints on firms affect the risk of their stock prices crashing. We find strong evidence that financial constraints increase future stock price crash risk. This finding is robust to using a dynamic panel generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator and two quasi-natural experiments to control for potential endogeneity. Cross-sectional analyses reveal that the positive relation between financial constraints and future crash risk is more prominent for firms with high abnormal accruals or with weak corporate governance and less pronounced for firms that commit tax avoidance or have a high credit rating. Our study provides the implications of financial constraints on future extreme negative stock returns and is of interest to investors as well as other stakeholders concerned about firms’ creditworthiness and viability.