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Investment and the Cost of Capital: New Evidence from the Corporate Bond Market

Author

Listed:
  • Simon Gilchrist

    (Department of Economics, Boston University and NBER)

  • Fabio M. Natalucci

    (Federal Reserve Board)

  • Egon Zakrajsek

    (Federal Reserve Board)

Abstract

We study the effect of variation in interest rates on investment spending, employing a large panel data set that links yields on outstanding corporate bonds to the issuer income and balance sheet statements. The bond price data—based on trades in the secondary market—enable us to construct a firm-specific measure of the user cost of capital based on the marginal cost of external finance as determined in the market for long-term corporate debt. Our results imply a robust and quantitatively important effect of the user cost of capital on the firm-level investment decisions. According to our estimates, a 1 percentage point increase in the user cost of capital implies a reduction in the rate of investment of 50 basis points and, in the long-run, a 1 percent reduction in the stock of capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Gilchrist & Fabio M. Natalucci & Egon Zakrajsek, 2007. "Investment and the Cost of Capital: New Evidence from the Corporate Bond Market," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-027, Boston University - Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:bos:wpaper:wp2007-027
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Investment; user cost of capital; corporate bond yields;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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