IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v27y2010i1p97-102.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effects of irreversibility on the timing and intensity of lumpy investment

Author

Listed:
  • Wong, Kit Pong

Abstract

This paper examines how changes in irreversibility of investment affect the timing and intensity of lumpy investment. We develop a continuous-time model wherein a firm is endowed with a perpetual option to invest in a project at any time by incurring a partially reversible investment cost at that instant. The amount of the investment cost is directly related to the intensity of investment that is endogenously chosen by the firm at the instant when the investment option is exercised. We show that higher irreversibility of investment induces the firm to raise its optimal investment trigger, thereby deferring the undertaking of the project. Furthermore, we show that changes in irreversibility of investment have no impact on the firm's optimal investment intensity due to two opposing effects that exactly offset each other. Finally, we show that higher irreversibility of investment reduces the value of the investment option and, therefore, makes the firm less valuable.

Suggested Citation

  • Wong, Kit Pong, 2010. "The effects of irreversibility on the timing and intensity of lumpy investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 97-102, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:27:y:2010:i:1:p:97-102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264-9993(09)00137-0
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew B. Abel & Avinash K. Dixit & Janice C. Eberly & Robert S. Pindyck, 1996. "Options, the Value of Capital, and Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 753-777.
    2. Goldstein, Robert & Ju, Nengjiu & Leland, Hayne, 2001. "An EBIT-Based Model of Dynamic Capital Structure," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(4), pages 483-512, October.
    3. Agliardi, Elettra & Agliardi, Rossella, 2008. "Progressive taxation and corporate liquidation policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 532-541, May.
    4. Abel, Andrew B & Eberly, Janice C, 1994. "A Unified Model of Investment under Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1369-1384, December.
    5. Leland, Hayne E, 1994. "Corporate Debt Value, Bond Covenants, and Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(4), pages 1213-1252, September.
    6. repec:rza:wpaper:003 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Abel, Andrew B. & Eberly, Janice C., 1999. "The effects of irreversibility and uncertainty on capital accumulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 339-377, December.
    8. Avinash K. Dixit & Robert S. Pindyck, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 5474.
    9. Hassan, Shakill, 2006. "Optimal timing of defections from price-setting cartels in volatile markets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 792-804, September.
    10. Bar-Ilan, Avner & Strange, William C., 1999. "The Timing and Intensity of Investment," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-77, January.
    11. Capozza, Dennis & Li, Yuming, 1994. "The Intensity and Timing of Investment: The Case of Land," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 889-904, September.
    12. Wong, Kit Pong, 2009. "Progressive taxation, tax exemption, and corporate liquidation policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 295-299, March.
    13. Wong, Kit Pong, 2008. "Does market demand volatility facilitate collusion?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 696-703, July.
    14. Wong, Kit Pong, 2007. "The effect of uncertainty on investment timing in a real options model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 2152-2167, July.
    15. Mark Shackleton & Rafal Wojakowski, 2002. "The Expected Return and Exercise Time of Merton‐style Real Options," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3‐4), pages 541-555, April.
    16. Wong, Kit Pong, 2009. "The effects of abandonment options on operating leverage and investment timing," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 162-171, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Letifi, N. & Prigent, J.-L., 2014. "On the optimality of funding and hiring/firing according to stochastic demand: The role of growth and shutdown options," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 410-422.
    2. Wong, Kit Pong & Yi, Long, 2013. "Irreversibility, mean reversion, and investment timing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 770-775.
    3. Wong, Kit Pong, 2011. "Progressive taxation and the intensity and timing of investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 100-108, January.
    4. Feil, Jan-Henning & Musshoff, Oliver, 2013. "Modelling investment and disinvestment decisions under competition, uncertainty and different market interventions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 443-452.
    5. Zhang, Ran & Xu, Shuang, 2014. "Optimal stopping time with stochastic volatility," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 319-328.
    6. Ma, Jinrun & Niu, Yingjie, 2019. "The timing and intensity of investment under ambiguity," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 318-330.
    7. Wong, Kit Pong, 2011. "Progressive taxation and the intensity and timing of investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 100-108.
    8. Shibata, Takashi & Nishihara, Michi, 2018. "Investment timing, reversibility, and financing constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 771-796.
    9. Cui, Xue & Shibata, Takashi, 2017. "Investment strategies, reversibility, and asymmetric information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 263(3), pages 1109-1122.
    10. Davis, Graham A. & Cairns, Robert D., 2017. "The odd notion of “reversible investment”," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 172-180.
    11. Xue Cui & Takashi Shibata, 2018. "Random Shock Uncertainty And Investment Reversibility: Real Option Framework," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 150-164, April.
    12. Kamoto, Shinsuke, 2015. "Strategic capacity expansion under a potential entry threat," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 157-177.
    13. Zhang, Zhou, 2023. "Competition, investment reversibility, and equity risk premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    14. Sarkar, Sudipto, 2015. "Price limits and corporate investment: The consumers' perspective," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 168-178.
    15. Shibata, Takashi & Wong, Kit Pong, 2019. "Investment under uncertainty with variable costly reversibility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 14-28.
    16. Kit Pong Wong, 2023. "A regret theory of investment timing under asymmetric information," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1669-1677, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wong, Kit Pong, 2011. "Progressive taxation and the intensity and timing of investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 100-108, January.
    2. Wong, Kit Pong, 2011. "Progressive taxation and the intensity and timing of investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 100-108.
    3. Shibata, Takashi & Wong, Kit Pong, 2019. "Investment under uncertainty with variable costly reversibility," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 14-28.
    4. Kit Wong, 2010. "On the neutrality of debt in investment intensity," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 335-356, July.
    5. Wong, Kit Pong, 2009. "Progressive taxation, tax exemption, and corporate liquidation policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 295-299, March.
    6. Shibata, Takashi & Nishihara, Michi, 2018. "Investment timing, reversibility, and financing constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 771-796.
    7. Shibata, Takashi & Nishihara, Michi, 2023. "Optimal financing and investment strategies under asymmetric information on liquidation value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Wong, Kit Pong & Yi, Long, 2013. "Irreversibility, mean reversion, and investment timing," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 770-775.
    9. Lukas, Elmar & Thiergart, Sascha, 2019. "The interaction of debt financing, cash grants and the optimal investment policy under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 276(1), pages 284-299.
    10. Agliardi, Elettra & Andergassen, Rainer, 2009. "Last resort gambles, risky debt and liquidation policy," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 142-155, August.
    11. Tomat, Gian Maria, 2008. "Modeling the Effects of Financial Constraints on Firm's Investment," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-26.
    12. Hui Chen & Jianjun Miao & Neng Wang, 2010. "Entrepreneurial Finance and Nondiversifiable Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(12), pages 4348-4388, December.
    13. Huifeng Chang & Adrien D'Avernas & Andrea L. Eisfeldt, 2024. "Bonds versus Equities: Information for Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 79(6), pages 3893-3941, December.
    14. Nishihara, Michi & Shibata, Takashi & Zhang, Chuanqian, 2023. "Corporate investment, financing, and exit model with an earnings-based borrowing constraint," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Alvarez, Luis H.R., 2011. "Optimal capital accumulation under price uncertainty and costly reversibility," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1769-1788, October.
    16. Patrick Bolton & Ye Li & Neng Wang & Jinqiang Yang, 2020. "Dynamic Banking and the Value of Deposits," NBER Working Papers 28298, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Gross, Marco & Dubiel-Teleszynski, Tomasz & Población, Javier, 2018. "A structural model to assess the impact of bank capitalization changes conditional on a bail-in versus bail-out regime," Working Paper Series 2018, European Central Bank.
    18. Glover, Brent & Levine, Oliver, 2015. "Uncertainty, investment, and managerial incentives," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 121-137.
    19. Bolton, Patrick & Wang, Neng & Yang, Jinqiang, 2019. "Investment under uncertainty with financial constraints," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    20. Chen, Yu-Fu & Funke, Michael, 2008. "Product market competition, investment and employment-abundant versus job-poor growth: A real options perspective," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 218-238, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:27:y:2010:i:1:p:97-102. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.