We show that firms' nominal required returns to capital (i.e., their discount rates) are sticky with respect to expected inflation. Such nominally sticky discount rates imply that increases in expected inflation directly lower firms' real discount rates and thereby raise real investment. We...

We study hand-collected data on firms' perceptions of their cost of capital. Firms with higher perceived cost of capital earn higher returns on invested capital and invest less, suggesting that the perceived cost of capital shapes long-run capital allocation. The perceived cost of capital is...

Climate capitalists invest in green firms in order to lower these firms' cost of capital and thereby stimulate green investments. This "green investing" channel only works if green firms actually reduce their perceived cost of capital and discount rates in response to green investing. Using data...

Standard theory implies that the discount rates used by firms in investment decisions play a key role in determining investment and in transmitting shocks to asset prices and interest rates to the real economy. However, there exists little evidence on how corporate discount rates change over...

Standard theory implies that the discount rates used by firms in investment decisions (i.e., their required returns to capital) determine investment and transmit financial shocks to the real economy. However, there exists little evidence on how firms' discount rates change over time and affect...

We study how firms' perceived cost of capital is related to risk factors in financial markets. The analysis is based on hand-collected data from Gormsen and Huber (2022), which cover firms' perceived cost of capital and discount rates for more than 2,500 firms. Consistent with Modigliani-Miller,...