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The Financing of Innovation: Learning and Stopping

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Author Info
Dirk Bergemann () (Yale University)
Ulrich Hege (ESSEC Business School, CEPR)

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Abstract

This paper considers the financing of a research project under uncertainty about the time of completion and the probability of eventual success. The uncertainty about future success gradually diminishes with the arrival of addtional funding. The entrepreneur controls the funds and can divert them. We distinguish between relationship financing, meaning that the entrepreneur's allocation of the funds is observable, and arm's length financing, where it is unobservable. We find that equilibrium funding stops altogether too early relative to the efficient stopping time in both financing modes. We characterize the optimal contracts and equilibrium funding decisions. The financial constraints will typically become tighter over time under relationship finance, and looser under arm's length financing. The trade-off is that while relationship financing may require smaller information rents, arm's length financing amounts to an implicit commitment to a finite funding horizon. The lack of such a commitment under relationship financing implies that the sustainable release of funds eventually slows down. We obtain the surprising result that arm's length contracts are preferable in a Pareto sense.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Cowles Foundation, Yale University in its series Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers with number 1292.

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Length: 41 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2001
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Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1292

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Related research
Keywords: Innovation; venture capital; relationship financing; arm's length financing; learning; time-consistency; stopping; renegotiation; Markov perfect equilibrium;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search, Learning, and Information
D92 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice and Growth, Investment, or Financing
G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Investment Policy

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. Chan, Yuk-Shee & Siegel, Daniel R & Thakor, Anjan V, 1990. "Learning, Corporate Control and Performance Requirements in Venture Capital Contracts," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(2), pages 365-81, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Fudenberg, Drew & Tirole, Jean, 1990. "Moral Hazard and Renegotiation in Agency Contracts," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(6), pages 1279-1319, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Qian, Yingyi & Xu, Chenggang, 1998. "Innovation and Bureaucracy under Soft and Hard Budget Constraints," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 65(1), pages 151-64, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Kaplan, Steven & Strömberg, Per Johan, 2000. "Financial Contracting Theory Meets The Real World: An Empirical Analysis Of Venture Capital Contracts," CEPR Discussion Papers 2421, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1994. "A Theory of Debt Based on the Inalienability of Human Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(4), pages 841-79, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Bergemann, Dirk & Hege, Ulrich, 1998. "Venture capital financing, moral hazard, and learning," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 703-735, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  7. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  8. Christopher B. Barry, 1994. "New Directions in Research on Venture Capital Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
  9. Stefan Ambec & Michel Poitevin, 2001. "Organizational Design of R&D activities," CSEF Working Papers 60, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Neher, Darwin V, 1999. "Staged Financing: An Agency Perspective," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 66(2), pages 255-74, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Repullo, R. & Suarez, J., 1998. "Venture Capital Finance: a Security Design Approach," Papers 9804, Centro de Estudios Monetarios Y Financieros-.
    Other versions:
  12. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-81, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Maskin, Eric & Tirole, Jean, 1990. "The Principal-Agent Relationship with an Informed Principal: The Case of Private Values," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 58(2), pages 379-409, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Fluck, Zsuzsanna, 1998. "Optimal Financial Contracting: Debt versus Outside Equity," Review of Financial Studies, Oxford University Press for Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(2), pages 383-418.
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    Other versions:
  19. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. " The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Sahlman, William A., 1990. "The structure and governance of venture-capital organizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 473-521, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Dirk Bergemann & Ulrich Hege & Liang Peng, 2009. "Venture Capital and Sequential Investments," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000046, David K. Levine. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Cripps, Martin & Keller, Godfrey & Rady, Sven, 2003. "Strategic Experimentation with Exponential Bandits," Discussion Papers in Economics 4, University of Munich, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Sorensen, Morten, 2007. "Learning by Investing: Evidence from Venture Capital," SIFR Research Report Series 53, Institute for Financial Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. HEGE, Ulrich & BERGEMANN, Dirk, 2002. "The value of benchmarking," Les Cahiers de Recherche 752, HEC Paris. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Levent Koçkesen & Saltuk Ozerturk, 2007. "Bargaining and exclusivity in a borrower–lender relationship," Review of Economic Design, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 53-68, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Boyan Jovanovic & Balà zs Szentes, 2007. "On the Return to Venture Capital," NBER Working Papers 12874, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Cripps, Martin W. & Keller, Godfrey & Rady, Sven, 2002. "Strategic Experimentation: The Case of Poisson Bandits," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
  8. Dino Gerardi & Lucas Maestri, 2008. "A Principal-Agent Model of Sequential Testing," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1680, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  9. Bruno Strulovici, 2008. "Learning while voting: determinants of collective experimentation," Economics Papers 2008-W08, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  10. Josepa Miquel-Florensa, 2007. "Optimal Incentives in Dynamic Multiple Project Contracts," Working Papers 2007_2, York University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  11. Dino Gerardi & Lucas Maestri, 2009. "A Principal-Agent Model of Sequential Testing," Levine's Working Paper Archive 814577000000000076, David K. Levine. [Downloadable!]
  12. Georg Gebhardt, 2006. "A Soft Budget Constraint Explanation for the Venture Capital Cycle," Discussion Papers 173, SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich. [Downloadable!]
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