IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/use/tkiwps/0614.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Firm Size and Monetary Policy Transmission: A Theoretical Model on the Role of Capital Investment Expenditures

Author

Listed:
  • K. Raabe
  • I. Arnold
  • C.J.M. Kool

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic investment model that explains differences in the sensitivity of small- and large-sized firms to changes in the money market interest rate. In contrast to existing studies on the firm size effects of monetary policy, the importance of firms as monetary transmission channel does not originate from credit market imperfections, but from size-related differences in the degree of investment irreversibility. The degree of investment irreversibility is determined by sunk capital investment expenditures. We show that size-related differences in sunk investment expenditures have two interdependent effects: they (i) affect the optimal investment behavior of small- and large-sized firms and (ii) account for differences in the interest rate sensitivity of smalland large-firm investment. We illustrate that sunk investment expenditures affect the region of zero and non-zero investment activity and, hence, the frequency at which large and small firms change investment regimes. Furthermore, sunk investment costs determine the extent to which small- and large-firm investment displays discrete jumps. We find that large firms change investment regimes less frequently than small firms and that swings in investment are more accentuated for large than for small firms. We illustrate that the response of small- and large-firm investment to monetary policy actions depends on the magnitude of the monetary policy shock.

Suggested Citation

  • K. Raabe & I. Arnold & C.J.M. Kool, 2006. "Firm Size and Monetary Policy Transmission: A Theoretical Model on the Role of Capital Investment Expenditures," Working Papers 06-14, Utrecht School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:use:tkiwps:0614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/37223/06-14.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    2. Elsas, Ralf & Krahnen, Jan Pieter, 1998. "Is relationship lending special? Evidence from credit-file data in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(10-11), pages 1283-1316, October.
    3. Mark Gertler & Simon Gilchrist, 1994. "Monetary Policy, Business Cycles, and the Behavior of Small Manufacturing Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 309-340.
    4. Abel, Andrew B., 1980. "Empirical investment equations : An integrative framework," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 39-91, January.
    5. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    6. Abel, Andrew B & Eberly, Janice C, 1994. "A Unified Model of Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1369-1384, December.
    7. Andrew B. Abel & Janice C. Eberly, 1996. "Optimal Investment with Costly Reversibility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(4), pages 581-593.
    8. Abel, Andrew B. & Eberly, Janice C., 1997. "An exact solution for the investment and value of a firm facing uncertainty, adjustment costs, and irreversibility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 21(4-5), pages 831-852, May.
    9. Michael Ehrmann, 2005. "Firm Size and Monetary Policy Transmission — Evidence from German Business Survey Data," Contributions to Economics, in: Jan-Egbert Sturm & Timo Wollmershäuser (ed.), Ifo Survey Data in Business Cycle and Monetary Policy Analysis, pages 145-172, Springer.
    10. Ivo J. M. Arnold & Evert B. Vrugt, 2004. "Firm Size, Industry Mix and the Regional Transmission of Monetary Policy in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 5(1), pages 35-59, February.
    11. Stephen D. Oliner & Glenn D. Rudebusch, 1996. "Is there a broad credit channel for monetary policy?," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, pages 3-13.
    12. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    13. Cabral, Luis, 1995. "Sunk Costs, Firm Size and Firm Growth," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 161-172, June.
    14. Ricardo J. Caballero & John V. Leahy, 1996. "Fixed Costs: The Demise of Marginal q," NBER Working Papers 5508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Dedola, Luca & Lippi, Francesco, 2005. "The monetary transmission mechanism: Evidence from the industries of five OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1543-1569, August.
    16. Alan Carruth & Andy Dickerson & Andrew Henley, 2000. "What do We Know About Investment Under Uncertainty?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 119-154, April.
    17. Krishna B. Kumar & Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, "undated". "What Determines Firm Size?," CRSP working papers 496, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    18. Stephen Bond & Costas Meghir, 1994. "Dynamic Investment Models and the Firm's Financial Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 61(2), pages 197-222.
    19. Gerald A. Carlino & Robert H. DeFina, 1998. "Monetary policy and the U.S. and regions: some implications for European Monetary Union," Working Papers 98-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    20. Gambacorta, Leonardo, 2008. "How do banks set interest rates?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 792-819, July.
    21. Tore Ellingsen & Ulf Soderstrom, 2001. "Monetary Policy and Market Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1594-1607, December.
    22. Joe Ganley & Chris Salmon, 1997. "The Industrial Impact of Monetary Policy Shocks: Some Stylised Facts," Bank of England working papers 68, Bank of England.
    23. von Kalckreuth, Ulf, 2001. "Monetary transmission in Germany: New Perspectives on Financial Constraints and Investment Spending," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2001,19, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    24. Bond, Stephen & Van Reenen, John, 2007. "Microeconometric Models of Investment and Employment," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 65, Elsevier.
    25. Lensink, Robert & Steen, Paul van & Sterken, Elmer, 2000. "Is size important for the investment-uncertainty relationship? : an empirical analyses for Dutch firms," Research Report 00E03, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    26. Abel, Andrew B & Blanchard, Olivier J, 1986. "The Present Value of Profits and Cyclical Movements in Investment," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(2), pages 249-273, March.
    27. repec:dgr:rugsom:00e03 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Hayashi, Fumio, 1982. "Tobin's Marginal q and Average q: A Neoclassical Interpretation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 213-224, January.
    29. Timo Baas & Mechthild Schrooten, 2006. "‘Relationship Banking and SMEs: A Theoretical Analysis’," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 127-137, October.
    30. Hans‐Michael Trautwein, 2000. "The Credit View, Old and New," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 155-190, April.
    31. Nicolas Bloom & Stephen Bond & John Van Reenen, 2001. "The dynamics of investment under uncertainty," IFS Working Papers W01/05, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    32. Gerald A. Carlino & Robert H. DeFina, 1997. "The differential regional effects of monetary policy: evidence from the U.S. States," Working Papers 97-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    33. Marisa Ramírez Alesón & Manuel Espitia Escuer, 2002. "The impact of product diversification strategy on the corporate performance of large Spanish firms," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 119-137.
    34. Angeloni,Ignazio & Kashyap,Anil K. & Mojon,Benoît (ed.), 2003. "Monetary Policy Transmission in the Euro Area," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521828642.
    35. Harhoff, Dietmar & Korting, Timm, 1998. "Lending relationships in Germany - Empirical evidence from survey data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(10-11), pages 1317-1353, October.
    36. James D Adams, 1997. "The Structure of Firm R&D and the Factor Intensity of Production," Working Papers 97-15, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    37. Barnett, Steven A. & Sakellaris, Plutarchos, 1998. "Nonlinear response of firm investment to Q:: Testing a model of convex and non-convex adjustment costs1," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 261-288, July.
    38. Evans, Charles L. & Marshall, David A., 1998. "Monetary policy and the term structure of nominal interest rates: Evidence and theory," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 53-111, December.
    39. Gerald A. Carlino & Robert H. DeFina, 1999. "Do states respond differently to changes in monetary policy?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Jul, pages 17-27.
    40. Vivek Ghosal & Prakash Loungani, 2000. "The Differential Impact of Uncertainty on Investment in Small and Large Businesses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(2), pages 338-343, May.
    41. Kashyap, Anil K. & Mojon, Benoît & Terlizzese, Daniele & Backé, Peter, 2002. "Monetary Transmission in the Euro Area : Where Do We Stand?," Working Paper Series 114, European Central Bank.
    42. Gabe J. de Bondt, 2000. "Financial Structure and Monetary Transmission in Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2015.
    43. Brunner, Karl & Meltzer, Allan H., 1980. "On the state of macroeconomics," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 1-5, January.
    44. Harhoff, Dietmar & Körting, Timm, 1998. "Lending Relationships in Germany: Empirical Results from Survey Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 1917, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    45. Carruth, Alan & Dickerson, Andrew & Henley, Andrew, 2000. "What Do We Know about Investment under Uncertainty?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 119-153, April.
    46. Gerald Carlino & Robert Defina, 1998. "The Differential Regional Effects Of Monetary Policy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 572-587, November.
    47. Hjalmar Böhm & Michael Funke, 1999. "The Uncertainty-Investment Relationship," Quantitative Macroeconomics Working Papers 19903, Hamburg University, Department of Economics.
    48. Trautwein, Hans-Michael, 2000. "The Credit View, Old and New," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 155-189, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ebrahimi , Nasrin & Pedram , Mehdi & Mousavi , Mir Hossein, 2020. "The Effect of Central Bank's Monetary Policy on Unemployment and Inflation in Provinces of Iran: A GVAR Approach," Journal of Money and Economy, Monetary and Banking Research Institute, Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran, vol. 15(1), pages 55-74, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. I. Arnold & C.J.M. Kool & K. Raabe, 2005. "New evidence on the firm size effects in US monetary policy transmission," Working Papers 05-11, Utrecht School of Economics.
    2. Arnold, Ivo J. M. & Kool, Clemens J. M. & Raabe, Katharina, 2006. "Industries and the bank lending effects of bank credit demand and monetary policy in Germany," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2006,48, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    3. Oksanen, Olli-Pekka, 2006. "Are Foreign Investments Replacing Domestic Investments? - Evidence from Finnish Manufacturing," Discussion Papers 1001, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    4. Klaus Gugler & Mario Liebensteiner & Adhurim Haxhimusa & Nora Schindler, 2016. "Investment under Uncertainty in Electricity Generation," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp234, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    5. Marina Riem, 2016. "Corporate investment decisions under political uncertainty," ifo Working Paper Series 221, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    6. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October.
    7. Dedola, Luca & Lippi, Francesco, 2005. "The monetary transmission mechanism: Evidence from the industries of five OECD countries," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 1543-1569, August.
    8. Lin, Xiaoji & Wang, Chong & Wang, Neng & Yang, Jinqiang, 2018. "Investment, Tobin’s q, and interest rates," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 620-640.
    9. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    10. Paul Mizen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "Monetary Policy, Corporate Financial Composition and Real Activity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo, vol. 52(1), pages 177-213, March.
    11. Simon Gilchrist & Charles Himmelberg, 1999. "Investment: Fundamentals and Finance," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1998, volume 13, pages 223-274, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    13. Jean-Bernard Chatelain, 2003. "Structural modelling of financial constraints on investment: where do we stand?," Chapters, in: Paul Butzen & Catherine Fuss (ed.), Firms’ Investment and Finance Decisions, chapter 2, pages 40-58, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Ivo J. M. Arnold & Evert B. Vrugt, 2004. "Firm Size, Industry Mix and the Regional Transmission of Monetary Policy in Germany," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 5(1), pages 35-59, February.
    15. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1998. "Capital-Market Imperfections and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(1), pages 193-225, March.
    16. Jason G. Cummins & Kevin A. Hassett & Stephen D. Oliner, 2006. "Investment Behavior, Observable Expectations, and Internal Funds," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(3), pages 796-810, June.
    17. Russell Cooper & Joao Ejarque, 2000. "Exhuming Q: Market Power vs. Capital Market Imperfections," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0528, Econometric Society.
    18. I. Arnold & C.J.M. Kool & K. Raabe, 2011. "Industry Effects of Bank Lending in Germany," Working Papers 11-21, Utrecht School of Economics.
    19. Ulf von Kalckreuth, 2003. "Exploring the role of uncertainty for corporate investment decisions in Germany," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 139(II), pages 173-206, June.
    20. Del Boca, Alessandra & Galeotti, Marzio & Rota, Paola, 2008. "Non-convexities in the adjustment of different capital inputs: A firm-level investigation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 315-337, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Monetary Policy Transmission; Market Structure; Investment; Investment Irreversibility;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:use:tkiwps:0614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Marina Muilwijk (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eiruunl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.