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Investment-cash flow sensitivities and capital misallocation

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  • Ek, Chanbora
  • Wu, Guiying Laura

Abstract

This paper directly estimates the effect of financing constraint on capital misallocation. We provide a simple theoretical framework that links the heterogeneity in investment-cash flow sensitivity, a common indicator of financing constraint, to the dispersion of marginal revenue product of capital, a direct measure of allocative inefficiency. Our model shows that the existence of both constrained and unconstrained firms is a sufficient though not necessary condition for capital misallocation. Empirically, we run an error-correction investment model for U.S. Compustat and Chinese manufacturing firms, and for various sub-samples of the Chinese firms. Our estimates on investment-cash flow sensitivities imply a 5% and 15% total factor productivity loss respectively for the balanced and unbalanced panels of Chinese firms. Our identification strategy does not require any monotonic relationship between investment-cash flow sensitivities and severity of financial frictions, thus is not subject to the Kaplan and Zingales critique.

Suggested Citation

  • Ek, Chanbora & Wu, Guiying Laura, 2018. "Investment-cash flow sensitivities and capital misallocation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 220-230.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:133:y:2018:i:c:p:220-230
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2018.02.003
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial frictions; Investment-cash flow sensitivity; Capital misallocation; Chinese economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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