This paper investigates the effects of monetary policy on firms' investment behaviour. The analysis relies on a comprehensive database of Belgian firms covering all sectors of economic activity and firms of all sizes. We proceed in two steps. First, we estimate a reduced-form investment equation...

This book provides coherent theoretical and empirical analysis of firms’ investment and financing decisions. It assesses the role of uncertainty, financial imperfections, corporate governance and taxation. Evidence is obtained using several unique and high quality microeconomic data-sets,...

We test whether firms with a single bank are better shielded from loss of credit and investment cuts in periods of adverse cash flow shocks than firms with multiple bank relationships. Our estimates of the cash flow sensitivity of investment show that both types of firms are equally subject to...

This paper investigates the effects of monetary policy on firms' investment behaviour through the interest rate and credit channels. The analysis relies on a comprehensive database of Belgian firms covering all sectors of economic activity and firms of all sizes. We proceed in two steps. First,...

We investigate the effect of demand and price uncertainty on firms' planned and realized investment from a panel of manufacturing firms. Uncertainty measures are derived from firms' own expectations about demand and prices and firm's sales. We find that demand uncertainty at the time of planning...

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bank of Belgium. All remaining errors are the authors' responsibility. We thank Holger Görg, Florian Mayneris, Bruno Merlevede, Glenn Rayp, participants of the 2010 National Bank...

This paper revisits the "footloose" nature of multinational firms (MNFs) hypothesis. Using firm-level data for Belgium over the period 1997-2008, we rely on a Probit model and take into account the endogeneity of the determinants of firm exit. Our results may be summarised as follows. First, the...

We use a unique longitudinal dataset that tracks the exporting behavior of Belgian manufacturing firms between 1997 and 2009. We ask how slack resources, including financial and human resource slack, influence firms’ exporting behavior. Our findings suggest that both types of slack resources...