BATES, THOMAS W.; KAHLE, KATHLEEN M.; STULZ, RENÉ M. - In: Journal of Finance 64 (2009) 5, pp. 1985-2021
The average cash-to-assets ratio for U.S. industrial firms more than doubles from 1980 to 2006. A measure of the economic importance of this increase is that at the end of the sample period, the average firm can retire all debt obligations with its cash holdings. Cash ratios increase because...