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Do Adjustment Costs Explain Investment-Cash Flow Insensitivity?

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Sangeeta Pratap

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Abstract

In this paper, I explain two "puzzles" which have been observed in firm level data. (1) Firms which display a high sensitivity ofinvestment to cash ow (com- monly believed to be an indicator of liquidity constraints) usually have large unutilized lines of credit which, presumably, could be used to overcome the shortage of funds (2) Firms which are perceived to be extremely liquidity constrained actually show very little sensitivity ofinvestment to cash ow. I use a dynamic model of firm investment with liquidity constraints and non convex costs of adjustment of capital which can explain these facts. The fixed cost of adjustment implies that firms need to have a certain threshold level of financial resources before they can afford to invest and incur these costs. Below this level, investment will not be sensitive to increases in cash ow. Once they cross this threshold, firms' investment will be positively correlated with their financial resources until they reach their desired level of capital stock. However, even if investment is sensitive to cash ow, firms always borrow below their credit limit to guard against future bankruptcy or binding liquidity constraints. I show therefore, that a firm which displays investment cash- ow sensitivity is certainly liquidity constrained. However, the reverse is not necessarily true.

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Paper provided by Society for Computational Economics in its series Computing in Economics and Finance 2000 with number 315.

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Date of creation: 05 Jul 2000
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Handle: RePEc:sce:scecf0:315

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Postal: CEF 2000, Departament d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Ramon Trias Fargas, 25,27, 08005, Barcelona, Spain
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  2. Chirinko, Robert S, 1993. "Business Fixed Investment Spending: Modeling Strategies, Empirical Results, and Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 1875-1911, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Simon Gilchrist & Charles P. Himmelberg, 1995. "Evidence on the Role of Cash Flow for Investment," Working Papers 95-01, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
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  5. 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)
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  9. Austan Goolsbee & David B. Gross, 1997. "Estimating Adjustment Costs with Data on Heterogeneous Capital Goods," NBER Working Papers 6342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. 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.
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  17. Greenwald, Bruce & Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1984. "Informational Imperfections in the Capital Market and Macroeconomic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 194-99, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Schaller, Huntley, 1990. "A Re-examination of the Q Theory of Investment Using U.S. Firm Data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 5(4), pages 309-25, Oct.-Dec.. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. Hayashi, Fumio, 1982. "Tobin's Marginal q and Average q: A Neoclassical Interpretation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 213-24, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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. Junlu Ma & Zeguang Li & Qunyong Wang, 2009. "Financial constraints, agency cost and firm’s investment behavior: Evidence from listed companies of China," Frontiers of Economics in China, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 384-405, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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