ABSTRACT

The literature is largely silent on questions pertaining to the long-term physical asset investment behavior of Shariah-compliant (SC) firms. In this paper, using a unique dataset of SC firms constructed from the S&P’s Compustat Global database, we examine the investment patterns of Shariah-compliant (SC) versus non-Shariah-compliant (NSC) firms in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries during the period of 2000 to 2014. We show that SC firms invest significantly less than NSC firms and the effect of reduced investment is stronger among firms with higher investment opportunities. This investment behavior is partly attributable to SC firms’ relatively limited access to capital given the tendency to keep leverage at a low level. This robust empirical finding continues to hold when we use various model specifications, alternative definitions of long-term physical investment, and different subsamples, and even when we factor in the endogenous nature of the choice to comply with Shariah.

摘要

文献对与符合伊斯兰教法(SC) 公司的长期实物资产投资行为有关的问题基本保持沉默。在本文中，使用从标准普尔的全球普数据库构建的数据库厂商SC一个独特的数据集，我们研究的投资模式教法兼容（SC）与非教法2000 年至 2014 年期间六个海湾合作委员会 (GCC) 国家的合规 (NSC) 公司。我们表明，SC 公司的投资明显少于 NSC 公司，并且在投资机会较高的公司中，减少投资的影响更大。这种投资行为部分归因于 SC 公司获得资本的机会相对有限，因为倾向于将杠杆保持在较低水平。当我们使用各种模型规范、长期实物投资的替代定义和不同的子样本时，甚至当我们考虑遵守伊斯兰教法的选择的内生性时，这一强有力的实证结果仍然成立。