This paper examines distortions in corporate investment decisions when a new project changes firm risk. It presents a dynamic model in which a self-interested, risk-averse manager makes investment decisions at a levered firm. The model, calibrated using data from public firms, is used to estimate the magnitude of distortions in investment decisions. Despite potential wealth transfers from debtholders, managers compensated with equity prefer safe projects to risky ones. Important factors in this decision are the expected changes in the values of future tax shields and bankruptcy costs when firm risk changes. We also evaluate the extent to which this effect varies with firm leverage, managerial risk aversion, managerial non-firm wealth, project size, debt duration, and the structure of management compensation packages.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
8763.
Length: Date of creation: Jan 2002 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:8763
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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.:
John R. Graham & Clifford W. Smith, 1999.
"Tax Incentives to Hedge,"
Journal of Finance,
American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2241-2262, December.
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