Crude oil price uncertainty and corporate investment: new global evidence

Using a comprehensive dataset of more than 33,000 firms from 54 countries in the period 1984–2015, we show that crude oil price uncertainty negatively influences corporate investment. More importantly, the effect is dependent on the market and stock characteristics of the firms. In addition, we discover that the effect is stronger in the crude oil producers group than for crude consumers. Our analysis reveals that the global financial crisis and market volatility phases significantly affect this relationship. Our results survive a range of robustness tests.