We study the efficiency of capital allocations at state-controlled and privately owned business groups in China. Using highly granular data on within-group capital transfers, we document stark differences: while private groups allocate more capital to units with better investment opportunities,...

This paper empirically investigates the effect of leverage on strategic preemption. Using new data on entry plans and incumbent investments from the American casino industry, I find that high leverage prevents incumbents from responding to entry threats. Facing the same set of entry plans, low...

We survey 79 private equity (PE) investors with combined assets under management of more than $750 billion about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on internal rates of return and multiples to evaluate investments. Their...

Using a news-based index of aggregate policy uncertainty in the US economy, we document a strong negative relation between policy uncertainty and corporate risk-taking. We show that high levels of policy uncertainty are associated with significantly lower future stock return volatility at the...

We assess the impact of credit constraints on investment, inventories and other working capital and firm growth with a large panel of small and medium-sized enterprises from 12 European countries for the period 2014-2016. The data come from the Survey on the access to finance of enterprises...

This paper provides a structural approach to test investment equations based on the log-likelihood function of a non-linear investment rule. The analysis integrates the predictions of the q-theory for the commonly studied active region of investment, and provides new inferences on how real and...

We study how listing status affects investment behavior. Theory offers competing hypotheses on how listing-related frictions affect investment decisions. We use detailed data on 74,670 individual projects in the U.S. natural gas industry to show that private firms respond less than public firms...

We find the investment-cash-flow-sensitivity (ICFS) decreases with a firm's asymmetric informational imperfection about growth (AI), a variable highly persistent over time. Firms with distinctly initial AI have distinct future investment styles and financing patterns. Higher initial AI predicts...

Using a unique dataset of credit line drawdowns and liquidity hedging, we study the relation between credit line usage and corporate investment. In line with theoretical predictions that credit lines aid firms to invest during times of limited credit availability, our findings reveal that the...

We show how to calculate the after-tax value of real options, including the value of interest tax shields on debt supported or displaced by the options. An option's “debt capacity” can be calculated from the adjusted present value (APV) and target debt ratio for the underlying asset, the...