IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jeborg/v236y2025ics0167268125002136.html

Present bias, risk management and capital structure

Author

Listed:
  • Pape, Jan

Abstract

Standard credit risk models assume entrepreneurs maximize long-term equity value, despite significant evidence that entrepreneurs overvalue short-term profits and undervalue future long-term returns. We extend a classical credit risk framework by entrepreneurial myopia and show that myopic entrepreneurs favour lower volatility, while defaulting at a higher cash flow level. Our analysis distinguishes between sophisticated and naive entrepreneurs and shows that naivety leads to lower cash flow volatility and delayed default.

Suggested Citation

  • Pape, Jan, 2025. "Present bias, risk management and capital structure," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002136
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268125002136
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107094?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cheung, Stephen L. & Tymula, Agnieszka & Wang, Xueting, 2021. "Quasi-Hyperbolic Present Bias: A Meta-Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 14625, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    3. Jeremy C. Stein, 1989. "Efficient Capital Markets, Inefficient Firms: A Model of Myopic Corporate Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 655-669.
    4. Tian, Yuan, 2016. "Optimal capital structure and investment decisions under time-inconsistent preferences," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 83-104.
    5. Thaler, Richard, 1981. "Some empirical evidence on dynamic inconsistency," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 201-207.
    6. Gan, Liu & Yang, Zhaojun, 2024. "Financial decisions involving credit default swaps over the business cycle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Supreet Kaur & Michael Kremer & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2022. "Erratum: Self-Control at Work," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 130(8), pages 2223-2224.
    8. Stephen X. Zhang & Javier Cueto, 2017. "The Study of Bias in Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(3), pages 419-454, May.
    9. Antia, Murad & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2010. "CEO decision horizon and firm performance: An empirical investigation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 288-301, June.
    10. Hennessy, Christopher A. & Tserlukevich, Yuri, 2008. "Taxation, agency conflicts, and the choice between callable and convertible debt," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 374-404, November.
    11. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    12. Grenadier, Steven R. & Wang, Neng, 2007. "Investment under uncertainty and time-inconsistent preferences," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 2-39, April.
    13. Hayne E. Leland., 1998. "Agency Costs, Risk Management, and Capital Structure," Research Program in Finance Working Papers RPF-278, University of California at Berkeley.
    14. Christopher Harris & David Laibson, 2013. "Instantaneous Gratification," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 205-248.
    15. Simon, Mark & Houghton, Susan M. & Aquino, Karl, 2000. "Cognitive biases, risk perception, and venture formation: How individuals decide to start companies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 113-134, March.
    16. Baron, Robert A., 2004. "The cognitive perspective: a valuable tool for answering entrepreneurship's basic "why" questions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 221-239, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Li, Yuan & Yang, Jinqiang & Zhao, Siqi, 2022. "Present-biased government and sovereign debt dynamics," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Agliardi, Elettra & Andergassen, Rainer, 2009. "Last resort gambles, risky debt and liquidation policy," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 142-155, August.
    3. Yanzhao Li & Ju'e Guo & Yongwu Li & Xu Zhang, 2021. "Optimal exit decision of venture capital under time-inconsistent preferences," Papers 2103.11557, arXiv.org.
    4. Zhiyao Chen & Ilya A. Strebulaev & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2021. "Strategic Risk Shifting and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle: An Empirical Investigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2751-2772, May.
    5. Niu, Yingjie & He, Linfeng & Wu, Wei, 2021. "Managerial compensation with hyperbolic discounting," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    6. Gan, Liu & Xia, Xin & Xu, Mingyu, 2023. "Entrepreneurial investment and financing with third-party guarantees under present-biased preferences," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    7. Luo, Pengfei & Tian, Yuan & Yang, Zhaojun, 2020. "Real option duopolies with quasi-hyperbolic discounting," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    8. Li, Yanzhao & Guo, Ju-e & Li, Yongwu & Zhang, Jinggong, 2024. "Intensified distortion: Investment decisions with endogenous contracts and time inconsistency," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    9. Yanzhao Li & Ju-e Guo & Shaolong Sun & Yongwu Li, 2022. "How time-inconsistent preferences influence venture capital exit decisions? A new perspective for grandstanding," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-24, December.
    10. Yingjie Niu & Zhentao Zou, 2019. "Corporate Investment, Tobin's Q and Liquidity Management under Time-Inconsistent Preferences," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 20(2), pages 721-736, November.
    11. Felix Fie{ss}inger & Mitja Stadje, 2025. "Optimal Capital Structure for Life Insurance Companies Offering Surplus Participation," Papers 2504.12851, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2026.
    12. Li, Jiangyuan & Liu, Bo & Yang, Jinqiang & Zou, Zhentao, 2020. "Hedge fund’s dynamic leverage decisions under time-inconsistent preferences," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(2), pages 779-791.
    13. Liu, Bo & Mu, Congming & Yang, Jinqiang, 2017. "Dynamic agency and investment theory with time-inconsistent preferences," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 88-95.
    14. Monda, Barbara & Giorgino, Marco & Modolin, Ileana, 2013. "Rationales for Corporate Risk Management - A Critical Literature Review," MPRA Paper 45420, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Murray Carlson & Ali Lazrak, 2006. "Leverage Choice and Credit Spread Dynamics when Managers Risk Shift," 2006 Meeting Papers 193, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    16. Chen, Shumin & Luo, Dan & Yao, Haixiang, 2024. "Optimal investor life cycle decisions with time-inconsistent preferences," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    17. An, Suwei, 2023. "Essays on incentive contracts, M&As, and firm risk," Other publications TiSEM dd97d2f5-1c9d-47c5-ba62-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Cui, Xiangyu & Li, Duan & Shi, Yun, 2017. "Self-coordination in time inconsistent stochastic decision problems: A planner–doer game framework," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 91-113.
    19. Braun, Alexander & Schmeiser, Hato & Rymaszewski, Przemysław, 2015. "Stock vs. mutual insurers: Who should and who does charge more?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(3), pages 875-889.
    20. Marín-Solano, Jesús & Navas, Jorge, 2010. "Consumption and portfolio rules for time-inconsistent investors," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 201(3), pages 860-872, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:jeborg:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125002136. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jebo .

    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.