Date of Award

2024

Degree Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Department

Jack Welch College of Business & Technology

Comments

Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration in Finance Sacred Heart University, Jack Welch College of Business and Technology, Sacred Heart University

Dissertation Number DBA04/2024

Dissertation Supervisor

Dr. Mahfuja Malik

Committee Member

Dr. Abu Shonchoy

Committee Member

Dr. Michael Gorman

Abstract

In this research, we use panel data regression analysis to investigate the impact of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies on firm performance in pre (2017 to 2019), during (2020 to 2021), and post COVID-19 (2022 to 2023) periods. We combine quarterly data sourced from the Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)-Compustat and the St Louis Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) databases. After combining all data, our final sample consists of 3,226 publicly listed firms in the United States. We test the hypothesis that the economic and fiscal policy interventions instituted by the Federal Reserve (Fed) significantly affected firm performance during and after the pandemic. Our hypothesis stems from prior studies indicating that expansionary monetary and fiscal policy increase the amount of cash flow into the economy, both to individuals and businesses. As cash flow increases, there is a stimulation of economic activity which directly result in increased firm performance. The empirical findings support the alternate hypothesis that the interventions discussed positively influence firm performance, particularly in the post-COVID period. The findings support the importance of adaptive economic and fiscal policies in navigating economic crises. The study also expands existing literature on macroeconomic policy interventions as they relate to firm performance from the COVID-19 perspective. It also provides insights into implications for policymakers, investors and firm management decision makers.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.


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