IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/27517.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Sensitivity of Cash Savings to the Cost of Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Viral V. Acharya
  • Soku Byoun
  • Zhaoxia Xu

Abstract

We theoretically and empirically show that in the presence of a time-varying cost of capital (COC), firms save from external capital when the firm-specific COC is low to hedge against the risk of underinvestment due to a higher COC in the future. This hedging motive drives the sensitivity of cash saving to the COC in both financially constrained and currently unconstrained firms. This sensitivity is especially pronounced among firms that tend to face a higher COC when in need of external finance. These firms with high hedging motives issue excess capital to save cash when the COC is lower. Such cash saving behavior is influenced by future investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Viral V. Acharya & Soku Byoun & Zhaoxia Xu, 2020. "The Sensitivity of Cash Savings to the Cost of Capital," NBER Working Papers 27517, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27517
    Note: CF
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27517.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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, Oxford University Press, vol. 118(3), pages 969-1005.
    2. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    3. Leigh A. Riddick & Toni M. Whited, 2009. "The Corporate Propensity to Save," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1729-1766, August.
    4. Soku Byoun, 2008. "How and When Do Firms Adjust Their Capital Structures toward Targets?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 3069-3096, December.
    5. Aydoğan Alti, 2006. "How Persistent Is the Impact of Market Timing on Capital Structure?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1681-1710, August.
    6. John Y. Campbell & Christopher Polk & Tuomo Vuolteenaho, 2010. "Growth or Glamour? Fundamentals and Systematic Risk in Stock Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(1), pages 305-344, January.
    7. João F. Gomes & Amir Yaron & Lu Zhang, 2006. "Asset Pricing Implications of Firms' Financing Constraints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(4), pages 1321-1356.
    8. Lamont, Owen & Polk, Christopher & Saa-Requejo, Jesus, 2001. "Financial Constraints and Stock Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 529-554.
    9. Opler, Tim & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Rene & Williamson, Rohan, 1999. "The determinants and implications of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 3-46, April.
    10. Acharya, Viral V. & Almeida, Heitor & Campello, Murillo, 2007. "Is cash negative debt? A hedging perspective on corporate financial policies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 515-554, October.
    11. James Claus & Jacob Thomas, 2001. "Equity Premia as Low as Three Percent? Evidence from Analysts' Earnings Forecasts for Domestic and International Stock Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1629-1666, October.
    12. Hertzel, Michael G. & Li, Zhi, 2010. "Behavioral and Rational Explanations of Stock Price Performance around SEOs: Evidence from a Decomposition of Market-to-Book Ratios," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 935-958, August.
    13. Bolton, Patrick & Chen, Hui & Wang, Neng, 2013. "Market timing, investment, and risk management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 40-62.
    14. Han, Seungjin & Qiu, Jiaping, 2007. "Corporate precautionary cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 43-57, March.
    15. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    16. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    17. Kim, Woojin & Weisbach, Michael S., 2008. "Motivations for public equity offers: An international perspective," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 281-307, February.
    18. Froot, Kenneth A & Scharfstein, David S & Stein, Jeremy C, 1993. "Risk Management: Coordinating Corporate Investment and Financing Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(5), pages 1629-1658, December.
    19. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Joao F. Gomes, 2001. "Financing Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1263-1285, December.
    21. José A. Azar & Jean-François Kagy & Martin C. Schmalz, 2016. "Can Changes in the Cost of Carry Explain the Dynamics of Corporate "Cash" Holdings?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(8), pages 2194-2240.
    22. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    23. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Michael S. Weisbach, 2004. "The Cash Flow Sensitivity of Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1777-1804, August.
    24. Toni M. Whited & Guojun Wu, 2006. "Financial Constraints Risk," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 19(2), pages 531-559.
    25. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Stulz, René M., 2010. "Seasoned equity offerings, market timing, and the corporate lifecycle," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 275-295, March.
    26. Li, Yan & Ng, David T. & Swaminathan, Bhaskaran, 2013. "Predicting market returns using aggregate implied cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 419-436.
    27. Frank, Murray Z. & Goyal, Vidhan K., 2003. "Testing the pecking order theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 217-248, February.
    28. Charles J. Hadlock & Joshua R. Pierce, 2010. "New Evidence on Measuring Financial Constraints: Moving Beyond the KZ Index," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1909-1940.
    29. David McLean, R., 2011. "Share issuance and cash savings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 693-715, March.
    30. Xin Chang & Sudipto Dasgupta & George Wong & Jiaquan Yao, 2014. "Cash-Flow Sensitivities and the Allocation of Internal Cash Flow," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(12), pages 3628-3657.
    31. Erickson, Timothy & Jiang, Colin Huan & Whited, Toni M., 2014. "Minimum distance estimation of the errors-in-variables model using linear cumulant equations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 183(2), pages 211-221.
    32. Whited, Toni M, 1992. "Debt, Liquidity Constraints, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1425-1460, September.
    33. Frank, Murray Z. & Shen, Tao, 2016. "Investment and the weighted average cost of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 300-315.
    34. Qiu, Jiaping & Wan, Chi, 2015. "Technology spillovers and corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(3), pages 558-573.
    35. Xu, Zhaoxia, 2020. "Economic policy uncertainty, cost of capital, and corporate innovation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    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. Priit Jeenas & Ricardo Lagos, 2024. "Q-Monetary Transmission," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(3), pages 971-1012.
    2. Viral V Acharya & Sascha Steffen, 2020. "The Risk of Being a Fallen Angel and the Corporate Dash for Cash in the Midst of COVID," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 9(3), pages 430-471.
    3. Facundo Abraham & Juan J. Cortina & Sergio L. Schmukler, 2020. "The Expansion of Corporate Bond Markets in East Asia and Latin America," Documentos de Trabajo 18594, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA).
    4. Abraham, Facundo & Cortina, Juan J. & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2021. "The rise of domestic capital markets for corporate financing: Lessons from East Asia," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    5. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chou, Robin K. & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2021. "Misvaluation and the corporate propensity to hold cash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    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. Weiping Hu & Xiao Zhang & Ye He, 2024. "Cash flow sensitivity of cash: when should we use it to measure financial constraints?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 637-682, February.
    2. Sai Ding & Minjoo Kim & Xiao Zhang, 2021. "New Insight on Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivity," Working Papers 2021_16, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    3. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chou, Robin K. & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2018. "Saving for a rainy day: Evidence from the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 credit crisis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 680-699.
    4. Gao, Ning & Mohamed, Abdulkadir, 2018. "Cash-rich acquirers do not always make bad acquisitions: New evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 243-264.
    5. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chou, Robin K. & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2021. "Misvaluation and the corporate propensity to hold cash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Chien, Chih-Chung & Chen, Shikuan & Chang, Ming-Jen, 2023. "Financial constraints on credit ratings and cash-flow sensitivity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Tyler Muir, 2014. "Aggregate External Financing and Savings Waves," NBER Working Papers 20442, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Antonio Falato & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Jae W. Sim, 2013. "Rising intangible capital, shrinking debt capacity, and the US corporate savings glut," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-67, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Cristina Martínez-Sola & Pedro J. García-Teruel & Pedro Martínez-Solano, 2018. "Cash holdings in SMEs: speed of adjustment, growth and financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 823-842, December.
    10. David McLean, R., 2011. "Share issuance and cash savings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 693-715, March.
    11. Dongyang Zhang, 2017. "Is working capital management value-enhancing through alleviating financial constraints? Evidence from Chinese non-listed firms," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 373-406, October.
    12. Tut, Daniel, 2021. "Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance and the Value of Cash Holdings," MPRA Paper 108593, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Tri Tri Nguyen & Manh Cuong Nguyen & Hung Quang Bui & Tuyet Nhung Vu, 2021. "The cash-holding link within the supply chain," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1309-1344, November.
    14. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    15. Barclay, Michael J. & Fu, Fangjian & Smith, Clifford W., 2021. "Seasoned equity offerings and corporate financial management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Koussis, Nicos & Martzoukos, Spiros H. & Trigeorgis, Lenos, 2017. "Corporate liquidity and dividend policy under uncertainty," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 221-235.
    17. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Guo, Jie (Michael), 2019. "To what extent does corporate liquidity affect M&A decisions, method of payment and performance? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 128-152.
    18. Koussis, Nicos & Martzoukos, Spiros H. & Trigeorgis, Lenos, 2017. "Corporate liquidity and dividend policy under uncertainty," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 200-214.
    19. Joan Farre-Mensa & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2016. "Do Measures of Financial Constraints Measure Financial Constraints?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 271-308.
    20. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Non‐operating risk and cash holdings: Evidence from pension risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy

    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:nbr:nberwo:27517. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.