This study examines the effects of economic policy uncertainty, categorical economic policy uncertainties, and pandemic uncertainty on the cash holdings of firms operating in the US healthcare industry. The SYS-GMM methodology is applied for 466 firms from 2001 to 2022. The results show that all uncertainties positively affect cash holdings contemporaneously, albeit at different magnitudes. Monetary policy, healthcare policy, and fiscal policy uncertainties are the most influential uncertainties, supporting the financial frictions and real options theories. Controlling for the severity of the pandemic over time, pandemic uncertainty has a positive contemporaneous effect and a negative lagged effect on cash holdings.

中文翻译：

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美国医疗保健行业的现金持有量：不同类型的不确定性重要吗？


本研究考察了经济政策不确定性、分类经济政策不确定性和大流行不确定性对美国医疗保健行业公司现金持有量的影响。SYS-GMM 方法适用于 466 年至 2001 年的 2022 家公司。结果表明，所有不确定性都对同期现金持有量产生积极影响，尽管幅度不同。货币政策、医疗保健政策和财政政策不确定性是影响最大的不确定性，支持金融摩擦和实物期权理论。控制疫情随时间推移的严重程度，疫情不确定性对现金持有量具有积极的同期效应和消极的滞后效应。