Investment-cash flow sensitivity cannot be a good measure of financial constraints: Evidence from the time series

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Financial Economics
Year: 2012
Volume: 103
Issue: 2
Pages: 393-410

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

2.018 = (α=2.02 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

Investment-cash flow sensitivity has declined and disappeared, even during the 2007–2009 credit crunch. If one believes that financial constraints have not disappeared, then investment-cash flow sensitivity cannot be a good measure of financial constraints. The decline and disappearance are robust to considerations of R&D and cash reserves, and across groups of firms. The information content in cash flow regarding investment opportunities has declined, but measurement error in Tobin's q does not completely explain the patterns in investment-cash flow sensitivity. The decline and disappearance cannot be explained by changes in sample composition, corporate governance, or market power—and remain a puzzle.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:jfinec:v:103:y:2012:i:2:p:393-410
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25