IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/intfin/v23y2020i2p324-339.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Institutional characteristics, investment sensitivity to cash flow and Tobin's q: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa region

Author

Listed:
  • Abed Al‐Nasser Abdallah
  • Wissam Abdallah
  • Mohsen Saad

Abstract

We examine the sensitivity of corporate investment to stock‐market valuations (measured by Tobin's q) and internal funds (measured by cash flow) in a setting that captures the unique country institutional characteristics of the Middle East and North Africa region. We report a higher sensitivity of investments to cash flow than Tobin's q. However, both sensitivities are unaffected by the country institutional characteristics. By examining the sensitivity of investments to cash flow and Tobin's q before and after the 2008 global financial crisis, we document that the investment‐cash flow relation has weakened over time, while the investment‐Tobin's q relation has significantly strengthened. Finally, after dividing our country sample into resource‐rich and resource‐poor countries, the importance of cash flow over Tobin's q in the determination of corporate investment levels is asserted and the role of financial markets is found to be restricted to resource‐rich countries only.

Suggested Citation

  • Abed Al‐Nasser Abdallah & Wissam Abdallah & Mohsen Saad, 2020. "Institutional characteristics, investment sensitivity to cash flow and Tobin's q: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa region," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 324-339, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:intfin:v:23:y:2020:i:2:p:324-339
    DOI: 10.1111/infi.12366
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/infi.12366
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/infi.12366?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilchrist, Simon & Himmelberg, Charles P., 1995. "Evidence on the role of cash flow for investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 541-572, December.
    2. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    3. Malcolm Baker & Jeremy C. Stein & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2003. "When Does the Market Matter? Stock Prices and the Investment of Equity-Dependent Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 969-1005.
    4. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    6. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    7. Andreano, M. Simona & Laureti, Lucio & Postiglione, Paolo, 2013. "Economic growth in MENA countries: Is there convergence of per-capita GDPs?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 669-683.
    8. Stijn Claessens & Luc Laeven, 2003. "Financial Development, Property Rights, and Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2401-2436, December.
    9. Omran, Mohammed M. & Bolbol, Ali & Fatheldin, Ayten, 2008. "Corporate governance and firm performance in Arab equity markets: Does ownership concentration matter?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 32-45, March.
    10. Sean Cleary, 1999. "The Relationship between Firm Investment and Financial Status," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 673-692, April.
    11. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    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. Hirth, Stefan & Viswanatha, Marc, 2011. "Financing constraints, cash-flow risk, and corporate investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 1496-1509.
    14. Alissa Amico, 2014. "Corporate Governance Enforcement in the Middle East and North Africa: Evidence and Priorities," OECD Corporate Governance Working Papers 15, OECD Publishing.
    15. Cao, Dan & Lorenzoni, Guido & Walentin, Karl, 2019. "Financial frictions, investment, and Tobin’s q," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 105-122.
    16. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan & Tarhan, Vefa, 2017. "The impact of liquidity crises on cash flow sensitivities," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 225-239.
    17. Chen, Huafeng (Jason) & Chen, Shaojun (Jenny), 2012. "Investment-cash flow sensitivity cannot be a good measure of financial constraints: Evidence from the time series," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(2), pages 393-410.
    18. Oliner, Stephen D & Rudebusch, Glenn D, 1992. "Sources of the Financing Hierarchy for Business Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(4), pages 643-654, November.
    19. Mulier, Klaas & Schoors, Koen & Merlevede, Bruno, 2016. "Investment-cash flow sensitivity and financial constraints: Evidence from unquoted European SMEs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 182-197.
    20. R. David Mclean & Tianyu Zhang & Mengxin Zhao, 2012. "Why Does the Law Matter? Investor Protection and Its Effects on Investment, Finance, and Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 313-350, February.
    21. International Monetary Fund, 2018. "Saudi Arabia: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2018/264, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Belkhir, Mohamed & Maghyereh, Aktham & Awartani, Basel, 2016. "Institutions and corporate capital structure in the MENA region," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 99-129.
    23. Cleary, Sean, 2006. "International corporate investment and the relationships between financial constraint measures," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 1559-1580, May.
    24. Bliss, Barbara A. & Cheng, Yingmei & Denis, David J., 2015. "Corporate payout, cash retention, and the supply of credit: Evidence from the 2008–2009 credit crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 521-540.
    25. Moshirian, Fariborz & Nanda, Vikram & Vadilyev, Alexander & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "What drives investment–cash flow sensitivity around the World? An asset tangibility Perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-17.
    26. Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Song, Liang & Waisman, Maya, 2013. "Corporate governance and investment-cash flow sensitivity: Evidence from emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 57-71.
    27. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    28. Grullon, Gustavo & Hund, John & Weston, James P., 2018. "Concentrating on q and cash flow," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-15.
    29. Mohamed, Ezzeddine & Fairchild, Richard & Bouri, Abdelfettah, 2014. "Investment cash flow sensitivity under managerial optimism: New evidence from NYSE panel data firms," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Universidad ESAN, vol. 19(36), pages 11-18.
    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. Pierre Boutros & Ali Fakih & Sara Kassab & Zeina Lizzaik, 2022. "Does the Number of Publications Matter for Academic Promotion in Higher Education? Evidence from Lebanon," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Guy Assaker & Wassim Shahin, 2022. "What Drives Faculty Publication Citations in the Business Field? Empirical Results from an AACSB Middle Eastern Institution," Publications, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-29, November.

    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. Gül, Selçuk & Taştan, Hüseyin, 2020. "The impact of monetary policy stance, financial conditions, and the GFC on investment-cash flow sensitivity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 692-707.
    2. Gaurav Gupta & Jitendra Mahakud, 2019. "Alternative measure of financial development and investment-cash flow sensitivity: evidence from an emerging economy," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    3. Ilker Yilmaz, 2022. "Leverage and Investment Cash Flow Sensitivity: Evidence from Muscat Securities Market in Oman," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.
    4. Gaurav Gupta & Jitendra Mahakud & Vivek Verma, 2020. "CEO's education and investment–cash flow sensitivity: an empirical investigation," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(4), pages 589-618, December.
    5. Aydin Ozkan & Roberto J. Santillán‐Salgado & Yilmaz Yildiz & María del Rocío Vega Zavala, 2020. "What Happened To The Willingness Of Companies To Invest After The Financial Crisis? Evidence From Latin American Countries," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(2), pages 231-262, May.
    6. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Annalisa Croce, 2010. "The Effect of Venture Capital Financing on the Sensitivity to Cash Flow of Firm's Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 528-551, September.
    7. Théo Nicolas, 2019. "How Do Short-term Financial Constraints Affect SMEs’ Long-Term Investment: Evidence from the Working Capital Channel," Working papers 731, Banque de France.
    8. Laeven, Luc, 2000. "Does financial liberalization relax financing constraints on firms ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2467, The World Bank.
    9. Théo Nicolas, 2022. "Short-term financial constraints and SMEs’ investment decision: evidence from the working capital channel," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1885-1914, April.
    10. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan & Tarhan, Vefa, 2017. "The impact of liquidity crises on cash flow sensitivities," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 225-239.
    11. Vijayakumaran, Ratnam, 2021. "Impact of managerial ownership on investment and liquidity constraints: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    12. Carpenter, Robert E. & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2008. "Cash flow, investment, and investment opportunities: New tests using UK panel data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 1894-1906, September.
    13. Schauer, Catharina & Elsas, Ralf & Breitkopf, Nikolas, 2019. "A new measure of financial constraints applicable to private and public firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 270-295.
    14. Saira Qasim, 2021. "Financial Constraints across Pakistani Listed Firms," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 57-69, April.
    15. Cafer Kaplan & Erdal Ozmen & Cihan Yalcin, 2006. "The Determinants and Implications of Financial Asset Holdings of Non-Financial Firms in Turkey : An Emprical Investigation," Working Papers 0606, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    16. Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- & Teruel, Mercedes, 2010. "Are small firms more sensitive to financial variables?," Working Papers 2072/151623, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    17. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    18. Annalisa Croce & José Martí, 2017. "Financial constraints in family firms and the role of venture capital," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(1), pages 119-144, March.
    19. Moshirian, Fariborz & Nanda, Vikram & Vadilyev, Alexander & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "What drives investment–cash flow sensitivity around the World? An asset tangibility Perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-17.
    20. Döring, Simon & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Janzen, Malte & Meier, Iwan, 2018. "Global cash flow sensitivities," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 16-22.

    More about this item

    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:bla:intfin:v:23:y:2020:i:2:p:324-339. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1367-0271 .

    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.