This paper shows that small firms inventory investment is substantially more sensitive (relative to large firms) to cash flow than previously recognized. Consequently, the strength of financing constraints on inventory investment may have been understated.

After a neutral technology shock, hours worked decline in a persistent manner in the UK. This response is robust to a variety of considerations in the recent literature: measures of labour input, level versus differenced hours in the VAR, small and large VARS, long- versus medium- run...

We provide evidence that positive industry-level productivity shocks cause employment to fall in the short run in the UK economy. We use a new UK industry data(over the period 1970-2000), which covers both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, and identify productivity shocks using...

Focusing on a panel of unlisted firms from transition economies, we observe that only firms facing low irreversibility exhibit high and significant investment-cash flow sensitivities. Our findings provide a new explanation for why some financially constrained firms may exhibit low sensitivities.

We study how excessive debt-GDP ratios affect political sustainability of prudent fiscal policy in country members of a monetary union. We develop a model with free choice of distinct rent-seeking groups to cooperate (or not) in providing public goods, in seeking rents, and in austere debt...