Macroeconomic Factors and Stock Price Crash Risk: Do Managers Withhold Bad News in the Crisis-Ridden Iran Market?

Mahdi Moradi, Andrea Appolloni, Grzegorz Zimon, Hossein Tarighi and Maede Kamali
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Mahdi Moradi: Department of Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), Mashhad 9177948974, Iran
Andrea Appolloni: Department of Management and Law, Faculty of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Grzegorz Zimon: Department of Finance, Banking, and Accountancy, The Faculty of Management, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Hossein Tarighi: Department of Accounting, Attar Institute of Higher Education, Mashhad 9177939579, Iran
Maede Kamali: Department of Accounting, Khayyam University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9189747178, Iran

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: The present study aims to investigate the effects of macroeconomic variables on stock price crash risk in the economically uncertain conditions of Iran’s market. This study also seeks to examine whether there is a significant relationship between some firm characteristics and falling stock prices. The sample of the study includes 152 Iranian companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) between 2014 and 2019. Furthermore, the research model has been estimated using a fixed effect pattern, and the DUVOL (down-to-up volatility) measure is defined as a proxy for stock price crash risk. Consistent with our expectations, the results show that there is a positive association between the inflation and unemployment rates and stock price crash risk, whereas the GDP and exchange rates are correlated negatively with crash risk. In fact, with rising inflation and unemployment, on the one hand, the amount of savings and the purchasing power of the people have decreased, and on the other hand, it has reduced the sales of companies due to the increase in the pricing of manufactured products. In Iran’s economically uncertain situation due to sanctions, managers are trying to overstate financial performance and conceal bad news to have better access to financing; so, when the total amount of bad news accumulated over time reaches a tipping point, it leads to a stock crash. It also appears that when the exchange rate rises, Iranian investors prefer to buy companies’ shares to maintain the purchasing power of their money. Outcomes also confirm that larger firms and those with higher Return on Assets (ROA) are more sensitive to crash risk.

Keywords: macroeconomic factors; stock price; crash risk; economic uncertainty; TSE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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