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. •This paper studies the impact of crude oil price uncertainty on investment for a sample of 33,075 firms across 54 countries.•Our findings suggest a negative effect of crude oil price uncertainty on corporate investment expenditure.•The effect is stronger to small firms, mature firms, growth firms, and high volatile firms.•The effect is stronger in the crude oil producing countries and industries than the crude oil consuming ones.•The effect is weaker during the global financial crisis and stronger during a volatile market.