This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The Role of Debt and Equity Finance over the Business Cycle

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Francisco Covas
Wouter J. den Haan

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The authors show that debt and equity issuance are procyclical for most listed U.S. firms. The procyclicality of equity issuance decreases monotonically with firm size. At the aggregate level, however, the authors' results are not conclusive: issuance is countercyclical for very large firms that, although few in number, have a large effect on the aggregate because of their enormous size. If firms use the standard one-period contract, then the shadow price of external funds is procyclical and the cyclicality decreases with firm size. This property generates equity to be procyclical and--as in the data--the procyclicality decreases with firm size. Other factors that cause equity to be procyclical in the model are a countercyclical price of risk and a countercyclical cost of equity issuance. The model (i) generates a countercyclical default rate, (ii) magnifies shocks, and (iii) generates a stronger cyclical response for small firms, whereas the model without equity does the exact opposite.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/res/wp/2006/wp06-45.pdf
File Format:
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Bank of Canada in its series Working Papers with number 06-45.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 65 pages
Date of creation: 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:bca:bocawp:06-45

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 234 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G9, Canada
Phone: 613 782-8899
Fax: 613 782-8874
Web page: http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/

Order Information:
Postal: Publications Distribution, Bank of Canada, 234 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0G9, Canada
Email:
Web: http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/en/publication/pub_res.html

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords: Financial stability; Business fluctuations and cycles;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

This item is featured on the following reading lists:
  1. Canadian Macro Study Group
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. Den Haan, Wouter J, 1996. "Heterogeneity, Aggregate Uncertainty, and the Short-Term Interest Rate," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 14(4), pages 399-411, October.
    Other versions:
  2. repec:cup:macdyn:v:1:y:1997:i:2:p:387-422 is not listed on IDEAS
  3. Charles T. Carlstrom & Timothy S. Fuerst, 1996. "Agency costs, net worth, and business fluctuations: a computable general equilibrium analysis," Working Paper 9602, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. 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)
    Other versions:
  5. João F. Gomes & Amir Yaron & Lu Zhang, 2006. "Asset Pricing Implications of Firms' Financing Constraints," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 1321-1356. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Sangeeta Pratap & Silvio Rendon, 2003. "Firm Investment in Imperfect Capital Markets: A Structural Estimation," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(3), pages 513-545, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. Gabriel Perez-Quiros & Allan Timmermann, 2000. "Firm Size and Cyclical Variations in Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1229-1262, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Russell Cooper & Joao Ejarque, 2003. "Financial Frictions and Investment: Requiem in Q," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(4), pages 710-728, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Francisco Covas, 2004. "Risk-Taking Executives, The Value of the Firm and Economic Performance," 2004 Meeting Papers 80, Society for Economic Dynamics. [Downloadable!]
  10. Tim Loughran & Jay R. Ritter, 2002. "Why Don't Issuers Get Upset About Leaving Money on the Table in IPOs?," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 413-444, March.
  11. Per Krusell & Anthony A. Smith, Jr., . "Income and Wealth Heterogeneity, Portfolio Choice, and Equilibrium Asset Returns," GSIA Working Papers 1997-45, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    Other versions:
  12. Altinkilic, Oya & Hansen, Robert S, 2000. "Are There Economies of Scale in Underwriting Fees? Evidence of Rising External Financing Costs," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(1), pages 191-218.
  13. Jermann, Urban & Quadrini, Vincenzo, 2006. "Financial Innovations and Macroeconomic Volatility," CEPR Discussion Papers 5727, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Allen N. Berger & Gregory F. Udell, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: the roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1998-15, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Hansen, Robert S & Torregrosa, Paul, 1992. " Underwriter Compensation and Corporate Monitoring," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1537-55, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Christopher A. Hennessy & Toni M. Whited, 2005. "Debt Dynamics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1129-1165, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  17. Urban Jermann & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2006. "Financial innovations and macroeconomic volatility," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue Nov. [Downloadable!]
  18. Lu Zhang, 2005. "The Value Premium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 67-103, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Dmitry Livdan & Horacio Sapriza & Lu Zhang, 2006. "Financially Constrained Stock Returns," NBER Working Papers 12555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  20. Thomas F. Cooley & Vincenzo Quadrini, 2001. "Financial Markets and Firm Dynamics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1286-1310, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  21. (Kim | Lopez-Salido | Swanson) & Andrew Levin, 2004. "The magnitude and Cyclical Behavior of Financial Market Frictions," Computing in Economics and Finance 2004 224, Society for Computational Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  22. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1989. "Business conditions and expected returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 23-49, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Michele Boldrin & Lawrence J. Christiano & Jonas D. M. Fisher, 2000. "Habit persistence, asset returns and the business cycle," Staff Report 280, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  24. Yann Algan & Olivier Allais & Wouter J. Den Haan, 2006. "Solving heterogeneous-agent models with parameterized cross-sectional distributions," PSE Working Papers 2006-46, PSE (Ecole normale supérieure). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  25. Schwert, G William, 1989. " Why Does Stock Market Volatility Change over Time?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 44(5), pages 1115-53, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Robert Townsend, 1979. "Optimal contracts and competitive markets with costly state verification," Staff Report 45, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  27. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  28. V. V. Chari & Patrick J. Kehoe & Ellen R. McGrattan, 2002. "Business cycle accounting," Working Papers 625, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    Other versions:
  29. Francis A. Longstaff & Sanjay Mithal & Eric Neis, 2005. "Corporate Yield Spreads: Default Risk or Liquidity? New Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2213-2253, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2000. "The Equity Share in New Issues and Aggregate Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(5), pages 2219-2257, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  31. Korajczyk, Robert A. & Levy, Amnon, 2003. "Capital structure choice: macroeconomic conditions and financial constraints," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 75-109, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  32. Biais, Bruno & Mariotti, Thomas & Plantin, Guillaume & Rochet, Jean Charles, 2004. "Dynamic Security Design," CEPR Discussion Papers 4753, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  33. Kevin D. Salyer & Gabriel Lee, 2002. "Time Varying Uncertainty and the Credit Channel," Computing in Economics and Finance 2002 137, Society for Computational Economics.
    Other versions:
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. Francisco Covas & Yahong Zhang, 2008. "Price-Level versus Inflation Targeting with Financial Market Imperfections," Working Papers 08-26, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  2. André Kurmann & Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau, 2007. "Search Frictions in Physical Capital Markets as a Propagation Mechanism," Cahiers de recherche 0712, CIRPEE. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. David Amdur, 2008. "Capital Structure Over The Business Cycle," Working Papers gueconwpa~08-08-03, Georgetown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? A few items listed on IDEAS are over 2000 years old!

This page was last updated on 2009-11-16.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.