Cash holding and firm value: a meta-analysis

Abstract

The paper presents a meta-analysis between cash holdings and firm value. Referring to a sample of 290 studies, the results show that the holding of cash leads to an increase in firm performance. Moreover, the study finds that the relationship resulted moderated by several factors. In particular, the positive effect of cash reserves is amplified when the value of the firm is measured by a proxy of market value, when studies refer to recent years and when firms operate in specific institutional contexts. On the contrary, the effect is reduced in the firms with low growth opportunity, in published studies and in those which employ econometric techniques that control for endogeneity problems.