IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedgfe/137.html

Interest rate spreads, credit constraints and investment fluctuations: an empirical investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Gertler
  • R. Glenn Hubbard
  • Anil K. Kashyap

Abstract

We present a simple framework that incorporates a role for "interest rate spreads" in models of investment fluctuations. Formally, we develop a simple model of investment and financial contracting under asymmetric information that can he used to generate an Euler equation describing firms' intertemporal decisions about investment. The Euler equation is than estimated using data on U.S. producers' durable equipment investment. We find that during certain periods -- owing to agency-cost problems -- the basic Euler equation is violated, and shifts in interest rate differentials help predict investment. Thus, the empirical results lend support to models emphasizing how: (i) movements in agency costs of external finance can amplify investment fluctuation, and (ii) changes in the interest rate spread may signal movements in these agency costs.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Gertler & R. Glenn Hubbard & Anil K. Kashyap, 1990. "Interest rate spreads, credit constraints and investment fluctuations: an empirical investigation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 137, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:137
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/finance-economics-discussion-series-1491/interest-rate-spreads-credit-constraints-investment-fluctuations-empirical-investigation-717740
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    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:fip:fedgfe:137. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Ryan Wolfslayer ; Keisha Fournillier (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbgvus.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.