This Article reports results of an empirical study that suggests that the current economic crisis has changed managerial behavior in the US in a way that may impede economic recovery. The study finds a strong, statistically significant and economically meaningful, positive correlation between...

U.S. firms are hoarding a $2 trillion cash stockpile which many believe will spur acquisition activity. In light of this fact, we examine whether cash-rich firms actually use their cash when making acquisitions. Surprisingly, we show that firms in the top third of cash holdings are 45% more...

We study the relation between state ownership and cash holdings in China's share-issue privatized firms from 1993 to 2007. We find that the level of cash holdings declines as state ownership increases. This negative relation is attributable to the soft-budget constraint (SBC) inherent in state...

Acquirers paying with shares exhibit significantly lower announcement returns (Andrade et al. (2001)). Further, cash-rich firms tend to make value-decreasing acquisitions due to possible agency conflicts between managers and owners (Harford (1999)). I investigate the interaction effects of...

In this study, we examine the impact of concentrated ownership on cash valuation and the level of cash holdings in firms the emerging nations of China and India. Agency theories suggest that firms with high levels of concentrated ownership are subject to greater extraction of private benefits...

We examine the effect of CEO pensions and deferred compensation (inside debt) on firm cash holdings and the value of cash. We document a positive relation between CEO inside debt and firm cash holdings. This positive effect is magnified by firm leverage and mitigated by the presence of financial...

We analyze the changes in cash holding policies of S&P 500 firms before and after their inclusion in the index. One year after inclusion, the mean industry-adjusted cash holdings of these firms decline by nearly 32% from the year before inclusion. Several factors explain this decline. The...

This paper examines whether the level of firms' cash holdings differ depending on the strength of investor protection, whether excess cash holdings are valued more with better investor protection, and whether cross-listed firms that improve investor protection through ‘bonding' hold relatively...

Why do diversified firms hold significantly less cash than focused firms? We study this using a dynamic model of corporate investment, saving, and diversification decisions. We find that investment dynamics are more important in explaining the cash differences than financing frictions. More...

Previous studies indicate that financial constraints and corporate governance are main factors affecting corporate cash holdings. This paper simultaneously examines the interactive influences of financial constraints and corporate governance on corporate cash holdings among publicly traded U.S....