How Costly Is External Financing? Evidence from a Structural Estimation

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Finance
Year: 2007
Volume: 62
Issue: 4
Pages: 1705-1745

Authors (2)

CHRISTOPHER A. HENNESSY (not in RePEc) TONI M. WHITED (National Bureau of Economic Re...)

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We apply simulated method of moments to a dynamic model to infer the magnitude of financing costs. The model features endogenous investment, distributions, leverage, and default. The corporation faces taxation, costly bankruptcy, and linear‐quadratic equity flotation costs. For large (small) firms, estimated marginal equity flotation costs start at 5.0% (10.7%) and bankruptcy costs equal to 8.4% (15.1%) of capital. Estimated financing frictions are higher for low‐dividend firms and those identified as constrained by the Cleary and Whited‐Wu indexes. In simulated data, many common proxies for financing constraints actually decrease when we increase financing cost parameters.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:jfinan:v:62:y:2007:i:4:p:1705-1745
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29