Economic policy uncertainty (EPU) increases the cost of raising equity capital, especially when the economy is weak. A one standard deviation increase in the EPU index developed by Baker, Bloom, and Davis (2016) is associated with a 43 basis point increase in the price discount of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) during the 2000−2014 period. The cross-sectional analysis shows that the EPU effect on SEO discounts is stronger for firms with greater dependence on government spending, less informative stock price, or a smaller EPU beta. Moreover, there are fewer SEO activities in periods when there is a high degree of policy uncertainty.

经济政策不确定性（EPU）增加了筹集股本资本的成本，尤其是在经济疲软时。Baker，Bloom和Davis（2016）制定的EPU指数增加了一个标准差，这与2000-2014年期间经验丰富的股票发行（SEO）的价格折扣增加了43个基点相关。横断面分析显示，对于那些对政府支出的依赖性更大，信息量较少的股票或较小的EPU beta的公司，EPU对SEO折扣的影响更大。而且，在政策高度不确定的时期，SEO活动较少。