IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v137y2015icp191-194.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The distribution and regulation of Tobin’s q

Author

Listed:
  • Scharfenaker, Ellis
  • dos Santos, Paulo L.

Abstract

This paper reports on the empirical distribution of Tobin’s q for over 20,000 US-listed corporations between 1962 and 2014. Contemporaneous frequency distributions are shown to conform consistently to the Asymmetric Laplace function. We draw on the Principle of Maximum Entropy to develop an account of this distribution, whose mathematical form constitutes an innovative criterion for judging the empirical success of theorizations of the determinants of Tobin’s q.

Suggested Citation

  • Scharfenaker, Ellis & dos Santos, Paulo L., 2015. "The distribution and regulation of Tobin’s q," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 191-194.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:137:y:2015:i:c:p:191-194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2015.11.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176515004644
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2015.11.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Fama, Eugene F & French, Kenneth R, 1992. "The Cross-Section of Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(2), pages 427-465, June.
    2. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    4. Barry Bosworth, 1975. "The Stock Market and the Economy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 6(2), pages 257-300.
    5. Foley Duncan K., 1994. "A Statistical Equilibrium Theory of Markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 321-345, April.
    6. Fischer, Stanley & Merton, Robert C., 1984. "Macroeconomics and finance: The role of the stock market," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 57-108, January.
    7. Alfarano, Simone & Milakovic, Mishael, 2008. "Does classical competition explain the statistical features of firm growth?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 272-274, December.
    8. Giulio Bottazzi & Angelo Secchi, 2003. "Common Properties and Sectoral Specificities in the Dynamics of U.S. Manufacturing Companies," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 23(3_4), pages 217-232, December.
    9. Olivier Blanchard & Changyong Rhee & Lawrence Summers, 1993. "The Stock Market, Profit, and Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(1), pages 115-136.
    10. Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael & Irle, Albrecht & Kauschke, Jonas, 2012. "A statistical equilibrium model of competitive firms," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 136-149.
    11. William C. Brainard & James Tobin, 1968. "Pitfalls in Financial Model-Building," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 244, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    12. Soofi, E. S. & Retzer, J. J., 2002. "Information indices: unification and applications," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 107(1-2), pages 17-40, March.
    13. Bottazzi, Giulio & Secchi, Angelo, 2003. "Why are distributions of firm growth rates tent-shaped?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 415-420, September.
    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. Xia, Dan & Wang, Xiang-Qian, 2021. "The synergetic impact of environmental and innovation information disclosure on corporate financial performance: An empirical study based on China coal listed companies," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    2. Ellis Scharfenaker & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "A Statistical Equilibrium Approach to the Distribution of Profit Rates," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 465-499, July.
    3. Paulo L. dos Santos & Jangho Yang, 2018. "Arbitrage, Information, and the Competitive Organization of Distributions of Profitability," Working Papers 1803, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    4. Noe Wiener, 2019. "Diversity in Segmention. Patterns of Immigrant Competition in US Labor Markets," Working Papers 1901, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    5. Noe Wiener, 2018. "Measuring Labor Market Segmentation from Incomplete Data," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2018-01, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    6. Jangho Yang, 2018. "Information Theoretic Approaches In Economics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 940-960, July.
    7. Paulo L. dos Santos, 2017. "The Principle of Social Scaling," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-9, December.

    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. Stein, Jeremy C, 1996. "Rational Capital Budgeting in an Irrational World," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(4), pages 429-455, October.
    2. Oh, Ilfan, 2019. "Autonomy of profit rate distribution and its dynamics from firm size measures: A statistical equilibrium approach," BERG Working Paper Series 146, Bamberg University, Bamberg Economic Research Group.
    3. Malcolm Baker & Richard S. Ruback & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2004. "Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey," NBER Working Papers 10863, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Samuel, Cherian, 1996. "Stock market and investment : the signaling role of the market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1612, The World Bank.
    5. Ndikumana, Leonce, 2005. "Financial development, financial structure, and domestic investment: International evidence," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 651-673, June.
    6. Malcolm Baker & Jeremy C. Stein & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2003. "When Does the Market Matter? Stock Prices and the Investment of Equity-Dependent Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 969-1005.
    7. Ellis Scharfenaker & Gregor Semieniuk, 2017. "A Statistical Equilibrium Approach to the Distribution of Profit Rates," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 465-499, July.
    8. Gregor Semieniuk & Ellis Scharfenaker, 2014. "A Bayesian Latent Variable Mixture Model for Filtering Firm Profit Rate," SCEPA working paper series. 2014-1, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School.
    9. Scharfenaker, Ellis, 2020. "Implications of quantal response statistical equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Priit Jeenas & Ricardo Lagos, 2024. "Q-Monetary Transmission," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(3), pages 971-1012.
    11. Antonio E. Bernardo & Hongbin Cai & Jiang Luo, 2016. "Earnings vs. stock-price based incentives in managerial compensation contracts," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 316-348, March.
    12. Baker, Malcolm & Coval, Joshua & Stein, Jeremy C., 2007. "Corporate financing decisions when investors take the path of least resistance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 266-298, May.
    13. Mundt, Philipp & Alfarano, Simone & Milaković, Mishael, 2020. "Exploiting ergodicity in forecasts of corporate profitability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    14. Vidhan K. Goyal & Takeshi Yamada, 2004. "Asset Price Shocks, Financial Constraints, and Investment: Evidence from Japan," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 77(1), pages 175-200, January.
    15. Abdallah, Abed AL-Nasser & Abdallah, Wissam, 2019. "Does cross-listing in the US improve investment efficiency? Evidence from UK firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 215-231.
    16. repec:rim:rimwps:46-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95.
    18. Tuomas A. Peltonen & Ricardo M. Sousa & Isabel S. Vansteenkiste, 2011. "Fundamentals, Financial Factors, and the Dynamics of Investment in Emerging Markets," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(0), pages 88-105, May.
    19. Ridha Esghaier, 2017. "Capital Structure Choices and Behavioral Biases: An Application to a Panel of US Industrial Companies," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(4), pages 608-622.
    20. Tuomas A. Peltonen & Ricardo M. Sousa & Isabel S. Vansteenkiste, 2009. "Asset prices, Credit and Investment in Emerging Markets," NIPE Working Papers 18/2009, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    21. George Papanastasopoulos & Dimitrios D. Thomakos & Tao Wang, 2007. "The Implications of Retained and Distributed Earnings for Future Profitability and Market Mispricing," Working Paper series 46_07, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tobin’s q; Statistical equilibrium; Asymmetric Laplace; Maximum entropy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • C16 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Econometric and Statistical Methods; Specific Distributions
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ecolet:v:137:y:2015:i:c:p:191-194. 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/ecolet .

    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.