Investment inefficiency in the hospitality industry: The role of economic policy uncertainty

Abstract

Corporate investment inefficiency in the hospitality industry is an understudied topic. In this paper, we examine the effect of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on the investment inefficiency of a sample of 213 hospitality firms in the U.S. for the period 2010-2019. The results reveal that a rise in economic policy uncertainty leads to an increase in firm-level investment inefficiency in the hospitality industry. The underinvestment and the overinvestment problems are exacerbated by uncertainty. The results are robust for different variables specification and econometric techniques. Policy implications are also provided.