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The U-Shaped Investment Curve: Theory and Evidence

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Author Info
Cleary, Sean
Povel, Paul
Raith, Michael

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Abstract

We analyze how the availability of internal funds affects a firm's investment. We show that under fairly standard assumptions, the relation is U-shaped: investment increases monotonically with internal funds if they are large but decreases if they are very low. We discuss the tradeoff that generates the U-shape, and argue that models predicting an always increasing relation are based on restrictive assumptions. Using a large data set, we find strong empirical support for our predictions. Our results qualify conventional wisdom about the effects of financial constraints on investment behavior, and help to explain seemingly conflicting findings in the empirical literature.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Cambridge University Press in its journal Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis.

Volume (Year): 42 (2007)
Issue (Month): 01 (March)
Pages: 1-39
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Handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:42:y:2007:i:01:p:1-39_00

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 2000. "Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Are Useful: A Comment On Kaplan And Zingales," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(2), pages 695-705, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Bernanke, Ben S. & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1999. "The financial accelerator in a quantitative business cycle framework," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1341-1393 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1989. "Agency Costs, Net Worth, and Business Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 14-31, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Huntley Schaller, 1993. "Asymmetric Information, Liquidity Constraints and Canadian Investment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(3), pages 552-74, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark, 1990. "Financial Fragility and Economic Performance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 87-114, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities are not Valid Measures of Financing Constraints," NBER Working Papers 7659, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Robert Townsend, 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Staff Report 45, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Paul Povel & Michael Raith, 2004. "Optimal Debt with Unobservabable Investments," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(3), pages 599-616, Autumn.
  9. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Joao F. Gomes, 2001. "Financing Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1263-1285, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Aydogan Alti, 2003. "How Sensitive Is Investment to Cash Flow When Financing Is Frictionless?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 707-722, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Steven Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," NBER Working Papers 2387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Gale, Douglas & Hellwig, Martin, 1985. "Incentive-Compatible Debt Contracts: The One-Period Problem," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 647-63, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Diamond, Douglas W, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Kaplan, Steven N & Zingales, Luigi, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215, February.
  17. Calomiris, Charles W & Hubbard, R Glenn, 1990. "Firm Heterogeneity, Internal Finance, and 'Credit Rationing.'," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(399), pages 90-104, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Chirinko, Robert S & Schaller, Huntley, 1995. "Why Does Liquidity Matter in Investment Equations?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(2), pages 527-48, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Bernanke, Ben & Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1996. "The Financial Accelerator and the Flight to Quality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 1-15, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Oliver Hart & John Moore, 1998. "Default And Renegotiation: A Dynamic Model Of Debt," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 1-41, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Michael S. Weisbach, 2004. "The Cash Flow Sensitivity of Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1777-1804, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1990. "A Theory of Predation Based on Agency Problems in Financial Contracting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 93-106, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Glenn W. Boyle & Graeme A. Guthrie, 2003. "Investment, Uncertainty, and Liquidity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(5), pages 2143-2166, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mundaca, B. Gabriela, 2007. "Corporate investment, cash flow level and market imperfections: The case of Norway," Memorandum 03/2007, Oslo University, Department of Economics, revised 23 Feb 2009. [Downloadable!]
  2. Rose Cunningham, 2004. "Finance Constraints and Inventory Investment: Empirical Tests with Panel Data," Working Papers 04-38, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  3. Giorgio Calcagnini & Germana Giombini & Enrico Saltari, 2009. "Firms’ Investment in the Presence of Labor and Financial Market Imperfections," Working Papers 0901, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, revised 2009. [Downloadable!]
  4. Rozália Pál & Roman Kozhan, 2006. "Firms' investment under financing constraints. An euro area investigation," IEHAS Discussion Papers 0606, Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, revised 21 Jul 2006. [Downloadable!]
  5. Valentina Hartarska & Denis Nadolnyak, 2007. "An Impact Analysis of Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp915, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
  6. Xavier Boutin & Giacinta Cestone & Chiara Fumagalli & Giovanni Pica & Nicolas Serrano-Velarde, 2009. "The Deep-Pocket Effect of Internal Capital Markets," CSEF Working Papers 217, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 05 Oct 2009. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Rose Cunningham, 2004. "Finance Constraints and Inventory Investment: Empirical Tests with Panel Data," Macroeconomics 0411015, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  8. Gianni La Cava, 2005. "Financial Constraints, the User Cost of Capital and Corporate Investment in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2005-12, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  9. Sun, Jianjun & Yamori, Nobuyoshi, 2009. "Regional disparities and investment-cash flow sensitivity: Evidence from Chinese listed firms," MPRA Paper 14858, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," Working Papers 0601, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Ricardo Correa, 2008. "Bank integration and financial constraints: evidence from U.S. firms," International Finance Discussion Papers 925, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  12. Filipe Silva & Carlos Carreira, 2009. "No Deep Pockets: Some stylized results on firms' financial constraints," GEMF Working Papers 2009-06, GEMF - Faculdade de Economia, Universidade de Coimbra. [Downloadable!]
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