Firm-level investment paths are commonly characterised by periods of low or zero investment punctuated by large … investment ‘spikes’. We document that such spikes are important for understanding firm and aggregate level investment in the UK …. We show that annual variation in aggregate investment is driven by variation in the number of firms undertaking investment …

We show that firms’ debt maturity structure plays an important role in investment above and beyond that of leverage … invest more and prefer to use long-term debt to free up funds for future investment. This mechanism is supported by the data …. Our findings highlight the importance of debt maturity structure in understanding corporate investment decisions …