Debt, Liquidity Constraints, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Panel Data

1992 The Journal of Finance 1,641 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents evidence supporting the theory that problems of asymmetric information in debt markets affect financially unhealthy firms' ability to obtain outside finance and, consequently, their allocation of real investment expenditure over time. I test this hypothesis by estimating the Euler equation of an optimizing model of investment. Including the effect of a debt constraint greatly improves the Euler equation's performance in comparison to the standard specification. When the sample is split on the basis of two measures of financial distress, the standard Euler equation fits well for the a priori unconstrained groups, but is rejected for the others.

Keywords

Investment (military)DebtEconomicsConstraint (computer-aided design)Market liquidityEconometricsEuler equationsSimultaneous equations modelA priori and a posterioriLiquidity constraintPanel dataStructural equation modelingSample (material)Dispersion (optics)Monetary economicsMathematicsFinanceStatistics

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Publication Info

Year
1992
Type
article
Volume
47
Issue
4
Pages
1425-1460
Citations
1641
Access
Closed

Social Impact

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

1641
OpenAlex
119
Influential

Cite This

Toni M. Whited (1992). Debt, Liquidity Constraints, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Panel Data. The Journal of Finance , 47 (4) , 1425-1460. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb04664.x

Identifiers

DOI
10.1111/j.1540-6261.1992.tb04664.x

Data Quality

Data completeness: 77%