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Which Firms Invest Less Under Uncertainty? Evidence from Ethiopian Manufacturing

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Author Info
Admasu Shiferaw

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Abstract

This paper uses firm level panel data from Ethiopian manufacturing to investigate the investment behavior of firms under uncertainty. The paper focuses on the heterogeneity of firm level investment responses to both demand and supply side sources of uncertainty. Accordingly, the investment-uncertainty relationship is examined across groups of firms with varying degrees of investment irreversibility defined on the basis of market structures and access to secondary markets for capital goods. Consistent with theories of irreversible investment, we find evidence that uncertainty undermines the investment responses of firms in less competitive markets and in industries with limited access to secondary markets for capital goods. In comparison with small firms, investment by large firms is more responsive to changes in demand and more in-line with models of partial irreversibility.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Courant Research Centre PEG in its series Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers with number 2.

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Date of creation: 01 Apr 2009
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Handle: RePEc:got:gotcrc:002

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Related research
Keywords: Investment; Uncertainty; Irreversibility; African Manufacturing; Ethiopia;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior
D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
O16 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment

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References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
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  7. Leahy, John V & Whited, Toni M, 1996. "The Effect of Uncertainty on Investment: Some Stylized Facts," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 28(1), pages 64-83, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Mark E. Doms & Timothy Dunne, 1998. "Capital Adjustment Patterns in Manufacturing Plants," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 1(2), pages 409-429, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Andrew B. Abel & Avinash K. Dixit & Janice C. Eberly & Robert S. Pindyck, 1996. "Options, the Value of Capital, and Investment," NBER Working Papers 5227, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Carruth, Alan & Dickerson, Andrew & Henley, Andrew, 2000. " What Do We Know about Investment under Uncertainty?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 119-53, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Admasu Shiferaw, 2007. "Firm Heterogeneity and Market Selection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does It Spur Industrial Progress?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55, pages 393-423. [Downloadable!]
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  16. Bronwyn H. Hall & Jacques Mairesse & Benoît Mulkay, 1999. "Firm-Level Investment in France and the United States: An Exploration of What We Have Learned in Twenty Years," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ADRES, issue 55-56, pages 03, Juillet-D. [Downloadable!]
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  19. R. Gaston Gelos & Alberto Isgut, 2001. "Fixed Capital Adjustment: Is Latin America Different?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(4), pages 717-726, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Ricardo J. Caballero & Eduardo M. R. A. Engel & John C. Haltiwanger, 1995. "Plant-Level Adjustment and Aggregate Investment Dynamics," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 26(1995-2), pages 1-54. [Downloadable!]
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  25. Bo, Hong & Zhang, Zhihai, 2002. "The impact of uncertainty on firm investment: evidence from machinery industry in Liaoning province of China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 335-352, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-22.

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