Journal of Forest Economics > Vol 39 > Issue

The Impact of Forest Policy Modernization in British Columbia: A Stock Market Perspective

Kurt Niquidet, Vice President and Chief Economist, BC Council of Forest Industries, and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Canada, niquidet@cofi.org , Kyle Sia-Chan, Manager, Economics and Finance, BC Council of Forest Industries, Canada, Jonathan Kan, Manager, Data Analytics, BC Council of Forest Industries, Canada, Daowei Zhang, Associate Dean, College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment, Auburn University, USA
 
Suggested Citation
Kurt Niquidet, Kyle Sia-Chan, Jonathan Kan and Daowei Zhang (2024), "The Impact of Forest Policy Modernization in British Columbia: A Stock Market Perspective", Journal of Forest Economics: Vol. 39: No. . http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/112.00000579

Forthcoming: 30 Sep 2024
© 2024 K. Niquidet, K. Sia-Chan, J. Kan and D. Zhang
 
Subjects
Forestry,  Government programs and public policy,  Event studies/market efficiency studies,  Asset pricing,  Financial markets,  Political economy,  Regulation
 
Keywords
Forest policyforest tenureevent studyseemingly unrelated regressionforest products companies
 

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In this article:
1. Introduction 
2. Literature Review and Historical Overview of Forest Policy in British Columbia 
3. Methodology 
4. Results and Discussion 
5. Conclusion 
References 

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of a modernized forest policy change in 2021 on the stock prices of forest products firms that operate and hold tenure in British Columbia. Our results suggest that the announcement of new forest policies led to substantial losses in the stock prices of five major publicly traded forest products firms that operate in the province. As a control, we also found that another public company that operated in another Canadian province and was not subject to the policy changes experienced an insignificant impact on their stock price. The impact on market capitalization is related to the harvesting rights held by these companies within British Columbia under various forest tenures. The results highlight that, for a variety of reasons, investors thought the proposed policy changes would adversely impact each firm’s future financial performance.

DOI:10.1561/112.00000579