【欧洲央行】非金融公司的货币需求

EUROPEANCENTRALBANK

EUR○SYSTEM

LucaNocciola

WorkingPaperSeries

Moneydemandbynon-financialcorporations

No3182

Disclaimer:ThispapershouldnotbereportedasrepresentingtheviewsoftheEuropeanCentralBank(ECB).TheviewsexpressedarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflectthoseoftheECB.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31821

Abstract

WedocumentempiricallythemoneydemandbyEuropeannon-financialcorporationsbyexploitingauniqueandbrand-newsurveyontheircashusageinastressperiod.Wealsoassess:(i)therelationbetweencashheldandfirmsize;and(ii)estimatepointvaluesofcashholdingsandcarryoutstatisticalcomparisonsalongthesectoralandcountrydimensions.First,wefindthatcashholdingsareinverselyrelatedtofirmsize,providingadditionalevi-dencethatSmallandMediumEnterprises(SMEs)tendtostoremorecashrelativetotheirlargerpeers.Second,wefindthatcash-intensivesectorsand”cash-friendly”countriesdis-playright-shifteddistributionsofcashholdingswithstatistically-significantlargeraverageholdings.WearguethatinalowinterestrateandlowinflationenvironmentcashholdingsserveasastoreofvalueforEuropeanfirms,inparticularforSMEswhicharemorelikelytobefinanciallyconstrained,especiallyincrisistimes.

Keywords:Monetaryeconomics;Cashdemand;Storeofvalue;Precautionarysavings;Fi-nancialcrisis

JELclassification:D22,D25,E41,G01,G32

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31822

Non-technicalsummary

Severalarticlesandsurveysdocumentthestore-of-valuefunctionofcashforconsumersincrisisandnon-crisistimes,outliningtheinsuranceroleofcashagainstacreditsupplyshockand/orriskofbankdefaults.Otherpapersdocumentthestore-of-valueroleofcashforfirmsincrisistimesandthatcashholdingsgivefirmsacompetitiveadvantageovertheirpeersevenafteracrisisisover.Ourstudycontributesbyassessingempiricallythestore-of-valuefunctionofcash,asnarrowlydefinedbycurrency,forEuropeanfirmsduringacrisis,liketheCOVID-19pandemic.

Weexploitauniqueandbrand-newsurveyoncashusagebyEuropeancompaniesconductedbytheEuropeanCentralBank(ECB)inastressperiodto:1)assesstherelationbetweencashheldandfirmsize;and2)estimatepointvaluesofaveragecashholdingsandcarryoutstatisticalcomparisonsalongthesectoralandcountrydimensions.Thispapercontributestotheliteratureasfollows.First,itprovidesadditionalevidenceontheinverserelationbetweencashholdingsandfirmsize,suggestingthatSMEstendtostoremorecashrelativetotheirlargerpeers.Second,itprovidesanestimateofcashholdingsofEuropeanfirmsforstore-of-valuepurposes.Aggregatingcashholdingsalongthecountryandsectoraldimensions,wefindthatfirmsin”cash-friendly”countries,e.g.Austria,orincash-intensivesectors,e.g.hotels,holdmorecash.Third,itofersinsightsonthedesignofCentralBankDigitalCurrency(CBDC),e.g.thecalibrationofholdinglimitsforbusinesses.Fourth,itaddstothedebateonmonetarypolicytransmissionandthezerolowerbound.

Ourfindingspointoutthatfirmsbelongingtocertainsectors,e.g.hotels,holdmorecash,which,despitegovernmentsupport,suferedstronglythereducedincomeduringtheCOVID-19pandemic.Weprovideaggregateevidencethat1)cashincirculationacceleratedattheonsetofthepandemic;2)thisaccelerationwasdrivenbyaprecautionarydemand.However,toconfirmthelatterfinding,firms’cashholdingsatthesectorallevelareneeded.Ourhypothesisisthatprecautionaryholdingsgrewevenstrongerforhotels,whichtrytoprotectthemselvesagainstincomeshocksduetouncertaintyoverlockdowns.Another,related,explanationonwhySMEstendtoholdmorecashisthattheyhaverestrictedaccesstofinance,especiallyincrisistimes.TheSurveyonAccesstoFinanceofEnterprises(SAFE)maybeusedtoconfirmthisexplanation.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31823

1Introduction

Thefunctionsofcashhavebeenrecentlyfurtherinvestigatedbytheliterature.1Severalarticles

documentthestore-of-valuefunctionofcashforconsumersincrisistimes(see

Faella&Zamora-

P´erez

(

2025

),

Roesl&Seitz

(

2022

),

Jonkeretal.

(

2022

),

Roesl&Seitz

(

2021

),

Zamora-P´erez

(

2021

),

Ashworth&Goodhart

(

2021

),

Ashworth&Goodhart

(

2020a

),

Stix

(

2013

),

Ramirez

(

2009

)),outliningtheinsuranceroleofcashagainsta(potential)creditsupplyshockand/orriskofbankdefaults.2Cusbert&Rohling(

2013

)showthatpartofhighercashdemandcanbeattributedtoreducedinterestrates,i.e.theopportunitycostofholdingcash,butthemajorpartmaybeduetoprecautionaryholdings.Similarly,

Rainone

(

2022

)reportsthatcashdemand(asproxiedbynetwithdrawals)increasedsubstantiallyinItalyin2010-2018afterinterestratesapproachedtheefectivelowerbound,howeverattributingthisincreasemostlytotransactionaldemand,ascashholdingsdidnotincreaseasmuch.Surveysdocumentthestore-of-valuefunctionofcashforconsumersmoregenerally(see

ECB

(

2020

)and

Esselink&

Hernandez

(

2017

)).

Assenmacheretal.

(

2019

)provideevidenceofSwisscashheldasastoreofvalueinSwitzerlandandabroadin1950-2017.Basedon70economiesover2001-2014,

Jobst&

Stix

(

2017

)conjecturethatthelevelshiftincashdemandisrelatedtoincreaseduncertainty.Incontrast,

Auer&Boehme

(

2021

)arguethatcashisoflimitedappealasstoreofvaluebutusefulintransactions,asitcarriesnointerestandiscostlyandriskytostoreinlargequantitiesoverlonghorizons.3Lookingatalooserdefinitionof”cash”,i.e.notonlybanknotesbutalsoovernightdeposits4,otherpapersdocumentthestore-of-valueroleof”cash”forfirmsincrisistimesand,moreover,that”cash”holdingsgivefirmsacompetitiveadvantageovertheirpeers

1Lessrecently,

Keynes

(

1936

)introducestheconceptofliquiditypreferenceandlinksittoaprecautionarymo-tive.

Jevons

(

1876

)and

Menger

(

1892

)elaborateontheclassicalfunctionsofmoneyconceptualizedbyAristotle,includingtheprecautionaryorstore-of-valuemotive.Morerecently,

Hull&Sattah

(

2021

)revisitthepropertiesofmoneyinthedigitalera,alsofromacomputerscienceperspective.

2Therearetwonecessaryconditionsforcashtoactasstoreofvalue(assuming,forsimplicity,aclosedeconomy):interestratesarereasonablylowandstableandinflationisboundedbynominalincomegrowth.

3Using2019data,theauthorsreportthatcashincirculation(ofwhichcashholdingsareasubset)relativetobankdepositsarelowworldwide,butwithsomeheterogeneityacrosscurrencyareas.However,

Tameleetal.

(

2021

)showthatcashincirculationincreasedabnormallyintheeuroareaduringtheCOVID-19pandemic,despitethediminisheduseofcashfortransactionsandforeigndemandforeurocash.Hence,

Tameleetal.

(

2021

)concludethatthesurgeincashincirculationduringthepandemicislikelyduetostore-of-valuedemand.Insection4werepeatasimilaranalysisandarrivetothesameconclusion.

4Overnightdepositsarebalancesthatcanimmediatelybeconvertedintocurrencyorusedforcashlesspay-ments.See

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/ecb.manualmfibalancesheetstatistics201901~d2e

bf72987.en.pdf?7387f911ffbc48fa536a5e61bbd2ce49

.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31824

evenafteracrisisisover(boostingtheirinvestmentcapacity),see

Josephetal.

(

2020

)and

Duchinetal.

(

2010

).5

Inthispaper,weaddtothisliteratureandassessempiricallythemoneydemandbyEuropeannon-financialcorporations,inparticulartheircashdemand,i.e.,currency(banknotesandcoins)demand,todatetheonlyavailablecentralbankmoneyattheretaillevel,inastressperiod,liketheCOVID-19pandemic.Weexploitauniqueandbrand-newsurveyoncashusagebyEuropeancompaniesconductedbytheECB(

ECB

(

2022

))to:1)assesstherelationbetweencashholdingsandfirmsize,asmeasuredbythenumberofemployees;and2)estimatepointvaluesofaveragecashholdingsandcarryoutstatisticalcomparisonsalongthesectoralandcountrydimensions.6ThesurveyoncashusagebyEuropeancompaniesisconductedforpurposesthatgobeyondthescopeofthisarticle.Itprovides,forthefirsttimeinEurope,anoverviewoncompanies’strategicviewonthecurrentandfutureuseandacceptanceofcash.Themainobjectivesofthesurveyare:1)understandingacceptanceofandsatisfactionwithcash(versusothermeansofpayments);2)understandingcompanies’viewsonthefutureofcashandtheirwillingnesstoacceptitgoingforward;and3)estimatingthecashreceivedthroughpaymentsandheldbycompanies.Inthispaperwefocuson3).Assumingthattheportionofcashusefulforstore-of-valuepurposesisnotdepositedinthefirstplace,theaverageamountofcashholdingsprovidesareliableestimateofcashphysicallyhoardedforstore-of-valuereasons.7

Thispapercontributestotheliteratureinseveralways.First,itprovidesadditionalevidenceontheinverserelationbetweencashholdingsandfirmsize,suggestingthatSMEstendtostore

5Otherimportantpaperswithintherichliteratureonmoneydemandbynon-financialfirmsareby

Meltzer

(

1963

),

Miller&Orr

(

1966

),

Miller&Orr

(

1968

),

Marquis&Witte

(

1989

),

Bover&Watson

(

2005

),

Gaoetal.

(

2021

),

Kiarsi

(

2024

),

Almeidaetal.

(

2002

),

vonLandesberger&Mart´ınez-Carrascal

(

2010

),

vonLandesberger

(

2007

).

6TheECBconductedanothersimilarsurveyin2008,whoseresultsaresummarizedat

https://www.ecb.

europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/art2_mb201104en_pp79-90en.pdf

,howeveritconcernsonlyasubsetofEuropeancountries(inturnasubsetofeuro-areacountries).Inindividualeuro-areacountries,anothersimilarsurveywasruninFinlandin1996andintheNetherlandsin1992,i.e.priortotheintroductionoftheeuro(

https://held

a.helsinki.fi/bof/bitstream/handle/123456789/10131/Bofbul_1996-03.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

and

Boeschoten&Fase

(

1992

)).

7Inthesurvey,firmsareaskedthemaintransactionalreasonswhytheywithdrawtheirdepositedcash,asweassumethatwithdrawalbehaviourisduetoatransactionalmotiveonly.Thisassumptionrestsonthefactthatmostlyhigh-denominationbanknotesserveastore-of-valuefunction(

/statistics/payme

nt_stats/commentary2112.htm

),whilethereareusuallywithdrawallimits.Seee.g.

Amronin&Chakravorti

(

2009

).Thereareonlyfewfirmsnotstatingthattheywithdrawcashfortransactionalpurposes(i.e.fallingintothe’other’category),ca.7%,confirmingthevalidityofthisassumption.Also,thereasonsreadoutmaynotcovertheentiretransactionalmotiveset,hencethispercentagemaybeoverestimated.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31825

morecashrelativetotheirlargerpeers.8Second,itprovidesanestimateofcashholdingsofEuropeanfirmsforstore-of-valuepurposes.Cashholdingsmaybeseenasaprudentialinstrumentprovidingfirmswithaprotectionagainsta(potential)creditsupplyshock.Third,itaddstothediscussiononthedesignofaCBDC.Somefeaturesofcashmakeituniqueuntilnow,e.g.anonymity,real-timesettlementandalsophysicality/offlineproperty(see,e.g.,

Tarlin

(

2021

),

Nocciola&Zamora-P´erez

(

2024

)).Firmsarestillholdingphysicalcashforstore-of-valuepurposesandthisfactmaybeimportantforCBDCdesign,inparticularwithrespecttoholdinglimitsforbusinessesandmerchants.Finally,itaddstotheliteratureonthemonetarypolicytransmissionandtheefectivelowerbound(seee.g.

Rogof

(

2017

),

Assenmacher&Krogstrup

(

2021

)).Whilecashconstrainsmonetarypolicy,itactsasastoreofvalue,too.

Thisarticleisstructuredasfollows:section2describesthedata,section3outlinesthemethodology,section4reportstheresults,section5discussessomeanecdotalevidenceabouttheprecautionarymotiveforholdingcashandsection6concludes.

2Data

WeexploitasurveyoncashusagebyEuropeanfirmsconductedbytheECB(

ECB

(

2022

)).Thesurveyisrunforpurposesthatgobeyondthescopeofthisarticle.Itaimsatgettinganoverviewoncompanies’strategicviewonthecurrentandfutureuseandacceptanceofcash.Inparticular,itaimsat:1)understandingacceptanceofandsatisfactionwithcash(versusothermeansofpayments);2)understandingcompanies’viewsonthefutureofcashandtheirwillingnesstoacceptitgoingforward;and3)estimatingcashreceivedthroughpaymentsandheldbycompanies.TheECBinterviewed10,141firmsintheperiodOctober-December2021,atthebeginningofaCOVID-19pandemicwaveinEuropeduetotheOmicronvariantofSARS-CoV2.Thesurveydesign,size,representativeness,non-responserateandweightingschemesarediscussedandselectedquestionsarereportedinappendixA.

Ourfirstkeyvariableofinterestis”cashholdings”.Figure

1

(upperpanel)reportstheaverageamountofcashholdingsbybracketsbothforcash-richandcash-poorsectors.9There

8Similarly,

Amronin&Chakravorti

(

2009

)findthattheshareofSMEsin13advancedeconomiesin1988-2003isassociatedwithstrongercashdemand.

9Cashholdingsandothervariablesareweightedbytheemployeesizeclasstore-establishtheproportionsin

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31826

isnosubstantialdiferenceinthepercentageoffirmsstatingthattheyholdlessthan€1000orfrom€1000to€4999acrossthetwosectoralcategories.Firmsaredistributeddiferentlyacrossthebands€5000-€9999and€10000-€49999,withcash-intensivefirmshavingalargershareintheupperband.Figure

1

(lowerpanel)reportstheaverageamountofcashholdingsbybracketsbycountrybothforcash-richandcash-poorsectors.WenotethatcountrieslikeAustriatendtohavealowershareinthelowestbracketwhilelargersharesinhigherbrackets,e.g.relativetoFrance,althoughnoclearpatterncanbededucedfromthechart.Insum,littlecanbedrawnontheaverageamountofcashholdingswhenlookingat(wide)bracketanswers.Weareinterestedinpointvaluesinordertorankholdings,calculatedistributionsandcarryoutinference.10Thenextsectiondescribesamethodologytodoso.

(a)Cash-intensivesectors(b)Cash-poorsectors

Figure1:Averageamountofcashholdingsbysectors(upperpanel)andcountrybreakdown

(lowerpanel).Source:author’selaborationbasedon

ECB

(

2022

).

thepopulation.

10Forconsistency,thequestionontheaverageamountofcashholdingsisaskedonlytofirmsacceptingcash.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31827

Thesecondkeyvariableofinterestisfirmsize,asmeasuredbythenumberofemployees.Figure

2

showsdistributionsofnumberofemployeesbysectors(LHS)andcountrybreakdown(RHS).Thenumberofemployeesisright-censoredto50toimprovevisualisationoftheseex-tremelyheavy-taileddistributions.Itisstrikingtonotethesimilarityofthesedistributionsacrosssectorsandcountries.Nevertheless,theITsectorseemtohaveasteeperdistributionwithalongertailrelativetohotels,inwhichmoremassisconcentratedonlowersizes.Simi-larly,SloveniaappearstohaveasteeperdistributionrelativetoFrance,wherealargershareofbiggercompaniesreside.Therelationbetweencashholdingsandfirmsizeisinvestigatedviaamodeldescribedinthenextsection.

(a)Sectoraldistributions(b)Countrydistributions

Figure2:Distributionsofnumberofemployeesbysectors(LHS)andcountrybreakdown(RHS).Thenumberofemployeesisright-censoredto50toimprovevisualisationoftheseextremelyheavy-taileddistributions.Source:author’selaborationbasedon

ECB

(

2022

).

3Methodology

Firmsareaskedwhethertheiraverageamountofcashheldfallsintocertainbrackets(figure

1

),whilepointvaluesareunobserved.Thesurveyanswersareinterval-censored,i.e.theunobservedresponsefallswithinabracketwithfixedend-points.Exceptionisthelargestbracketwhichisright-censored,i.e.theunobservedpointvaluefallswithinanintervalthathasafixedlowerendpointbutanopen-endedupperendpoint.Todealwithcensoringandestimatepointvaluesweuseintervalregression,whichisageneralizationofthetobitmodelforcornersolutions(

Tobin

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31828

(

1958

))andisaparticulartypeofcensoredregressionmodel.Intervalregressiongeneralizesthetobitmodelasitextendscensoringbeyondleft-orright-censoring.Inwhatfollows,wesummarizetheintervalregressionmodel.11

3.1Intervalregression

Letyibeaveragecashholdingsperfirmi,xibefirmsize,asmeasuredbythenumberofemployees,Dkbecategoricalvariablesandzibefirm-levelcontrols.Considerthefollowingmodel

yi=β0+β1xi+Dβ2+zβ3+ei(1)

whereβ0,β1,β2andβ3areparameterstobeestimated.Notably,yiisnotobservedandisthereforecalledalatentvariable.Ifyiwasobservedandrandomlydrawnfromthepopulationthentheleastsquareestimatorwouldyieldconsistentestimationoftheparameters.However,weobserveonlyintervalsofyi.Letrj,j∈{1,...,J},beknownintervallimitsasspecifiedinthesurveydesign,withr0=0,anddefinetheobservedquantity

(

''1if0<yi≤r1

'

'

'

'(Jifyi>rJ

Moreover,assume

ei|xi,Dk,zii..d.N(0,σ2)(3)

Undertheassumptionineq.(

3

)andcallingβ0+β1xi+Dβ2+zβ3=x′βwecanobtain

theconditionalprobabilitiesfortheobservedquantitye(wi=j|xi,Dk,zi)forj∈{1,...,J},

11Censoringdifersfromtruncation,asforthelatterthesampleisselectedbasedontheresponsevariable.Hence,truncatingthesamplegeneratesnon-randomsamplingbasedontheresponse.Thecontrolvariablesarethemselvestruncated.Instead,censoringisaproblemofincompleteinformationabouttheresponsevariable(i.e.itisamissingvalueproblem),whilethecontrolvariablesareavailableandthesamplecanstillberandom,atleastconditionalonthecontrols.Seee.g.

Wooldridge

(

2010

),

Davidson&Mackinnon

(

2003

).

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo31829

i.e.

whereΦ[]isthestandardnormalcumulativedistributionfunction.12Thelog-likelihoodforarandomdrawiis

(5)

fromwhichwecanobtainthemaximumlikelihoodestimators,2.13Weareparticularly

interestedintheefectoffirmsize,asmeasuredbythenumberofemployees,onaveragecash

holdings.14Giventhateq.(

1

)isalinearmodel,weareespeciallyinterestedin1.15Thenext

sectionclarifiesthisefect.

12Theproofbehindeq.(

4

)issubsumedin

Wooldridge

(

2010

),butitiswell-knowninprobabilitytheory.Wereportitintheappendixforconvenience.

13Ourestimationprocedureassumesnormally-distributederrorsineq.(

3

)and,accordingly,averagecashholdings.Thisisafineassumption,aswearelookingataveragecashholdingsandnotcashholdingsthemselves.Bythe

Lindeberg

(

1922

)-

Levy

(

1935

)centrallimittheoremtheaverageconvergestoanormaldistributionwiththeonlyrequirementbeingforcashholdingstobei.i.d.withfinitefirsttwomoments,i.e.wedonotrequirethattheyfollowaGaussian.Thisrequirementisquitegeneralandencompassescommonlyknownheavy-taileddistributions.Forexample,cashholdingsmaystillfollowapowerlaw-typedistributionsuchastheParetodistribution.AslongastheParetoindexislargerthantwo,i.e.thetailissufficientlyflat,i.e.thevarianceisfinite,the

Gnedenko&Kolmogorov

(

1954

)centrallimittheoremassuresthataveragecashholdingsstillconvergetoanormaldistributionatastandardrate.

14ThenumberofemployeesisimputedbytheECBbasedonthesurveyquestionD4,whichasksfirmstoreportarangefortheirnumberofemployees.Thepointvaluesarethencomparedwithexternaldatasources,likeEurostat’stwosourcesofbusinessstatistics:theStructuralBusinessStatistics(SBS)andtheBusinessDemography(BD).Exceptionally(forsectorAinallothersectors)thenumberofemployeesiscomparedagainsttheDunandBradstreetbusinessdatabase.Whenthetwosourcesdiverge,theexternaldatasourcewasused.

15Ifeq.(

1

)followedacorner-solutiontobitmodel,the(average)partialefectwouldnotcoincidewith1,but1

wouldneedtobeadjustedbyascalefactorbetweenrangingfromzeroandonetodeliverthepartialefect.Eveninthatcase,thesignoftheefectwouldbeunafected.Seee.g.

Wooldridge

(

2010

).Ascashholdings,andevenmoresotheiraverageperfirm,arelikelytobenon-zeroforanon-trivialfractionofthepopulation,weconcludethatalinearmodelisagoodmodelforaveragecashholdings(i.e.thescalefactorortheestimatedprobability

ofobservingpositiveaveragecashholdingsapproachesone)andhence1approximateswelltheaveragepartial

efect.

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo318210

3.2Pointvalueestimation

Finally,usingtheestimatedparametersofmodel(

1

),includingalltheconfoundingvariablesdiscussedinthenextsection,wepredictthepointvalueofaveragecashholdings(y)undertheconstraintthatthepointvalueshouldfallwithinthebracketlimits(eq.(

6

)).

(

('bifi≥b

wherei=x′andaandb,withb>a,areanyoftheintervallimitsrj,j∈{1,...,J},

specifiedineq.(

2

).Thepointvaluescannotbecomparedwitheachotherreliably,astheyareestimatedwitherror.However,theyareusefultoconstructdistributionsoverseveraldi-mensionstocarryoutstatisticalcomparisons.Inthefollowingsection,wereporttheestimateddistributionofaveragecashheldbybracket,sectorandcountryandcarryoutinferenceperbracketforsomecountriesandsectors.

4Results

Bydesignthesamplesurveyedisnotarandomsamplefromthefirmpopulation,ascash-intensivefirmsareover-sampledwhilecash-poorfirmsareunder-sampled(seeappendixA).16Hence,toapplythemethodologydescribedaboveandmakevalidinferencewehavetocontrolforthesamplingdesignbyincludingthesamplingcategoriesinDk.Weconsiderasrelevantcontrolsthesamplingdesigncategories,i.e.thesectorofoperation,theemployeesizeclassandthecountryofresidence,andafirm-levelvariable,i.e.annualturnover.17

16ThedescriptionofthesurveydesignisrelegatedtoAppendixA.Essentially,theECBemployedquotasamplingbasedonthefirmsector,employeesizeclassandcountry.

17TurnoverisalsoimputedbytheECBbasedonthesurveyquestionQ16,whichasksfirmstoreportarangefortheirturnover.Thepointvaluesarethencomparedwithexternaldatasources,like,asforthenumberofemployees,theSBSandBD.Forfewsectors,amongwhicharts,entertainmentandrecreation(andsectorA,P,Q,Sinallothersectors),turnoveriscomparedagainsttheDunandBradstreet(DB)businessdatabaseortheSalesRock(SR)businessdatabase.ThechoiceofwhichsourcetousebetweenDBandSRineachcountryisbasedonhowcloselytheirdatamatchtheSBSandBDdata(forthesectorswhereSBSandBDdataareavailable).TurnoverisadjustedaccordingtotheratiobetweenaverageturnoverperenterprisebasedonSBS/BDdataandaverageturnoverperenterprisebasedonthepreferreddatasource(DBorSR).WhentheECBdoesnothaveturnoverfromSBS/BD,theECBcalculateditasthenumberofenterprisespersector(countedfromSBSorBD)

ECBWorkingPaperSeriesNo318211

First,forthesectorofoperationquotasamplingisbasedonspecifictargetquotaspersector(seeappendixA).Therelationbetweenaveragecashholdingsandfirmsizemaybeafectedbythesectorofoperationasfollows:afirmbelongingtoaparticularsector,e.g.retailtradeorhotels,canbeinherentlymorepronetoholdcash.Contrarily,anITfirmmayholdlesscash.Atthesametime,afirmbelongingtothefoodsectormaybeofasmallersizerelativetoafirmoperatinginthemanufacturingsector.Insum,thesectorisaconfoundingvariableinducingan

omittedvariablebiasin1.Sectoralca