Overflowing waters, diluted investments: The enduring impact of historical Yellow River floods on enterprise fixed assets investments

Abstract

Unraveling the long shadow of historical natural disasters, this study explores how the Yellow River floods shape enterprise fixed asset investments in an institutional and cultural context. Leveraging the regression discontinuity approach, we uncover a significant negative impact of these floods on investments, primarily due to weakened property rights and increased reliance on religious coping mechanisms. Further analysis suggests that the enduring impact of floods on investment persists even after controlling for confounding short-term natural disasters, financial development level, and the Tangshan Earthquake. In addition, the impact of historical Yellow River flood arises from cumulative consequences, rather than individual flood outcomes. Overall, this study not only sheds light on the dynamics between historical natural disasters and enterprise economic behavior, but also contributes to a deeper understanding regarding the broader, long-term economic impacts of climate change.