IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/econom/v214y2020i2p413-432.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measurement error in multiple equations: Tobin’s q and corporate investment, saving, and debt

Author

Listed:
  • Chalak, Karim
  • Kim, Daniel

Abstract

We characterize the sharp identification regions for the coefficients in a system of linear equations that share an explanatory variable measured with classical error. We demonstrate the identification gain from analyzing the equations jointly. We derive the sharp identification regions under any configuration of three auxiliary assumptions. These restrict the “noise-to-signal” ratio, the coefficients of determination, and the signs of the correlations among the cross-equation disturbances. For inference, we implement results on intersection bounds. The application studies the effects of cash flow on the investment, saving, and debt of firms when Tobin’s q serves as a proxy for marginal q.

Suggested Citation

  • Chalak, Karim & Kim, Daniel, 2020. "Measurement error in multiple equations: Tobin’s q and corporate investment, saving, and debt," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 214(2), pages 413-432.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:econom:v:214:y:2020:i:2:p:413-432
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.08.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304407619301575
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.08.001?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. Gilchrist, Simon & Himmelberg, Charles P., 1995. "Evidence on the role of cash flow for investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 541-572, December.
    2. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello & Antonio F. Galvao, 2010. "Measurement Errors in Investment Equations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(9), pages 3279-3328.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2000. "Measurement Error and the Relationship between Investment and q," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 1027-1057, October.
    6. Victor Chernozhukov & Sokbae Lee & Adam M. Rosen, 2013. "Intersection Bounds: Estimation and Inference," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(2), pages 667-737, March.
    7. Victor Chernozhukov & Wooyoung Kim & Sokbae Lee & Adam M. Rosen, 2015. "Implementing intersection bounds in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(1), pages 21-44, March.
    8. Abel, Andrew B., 2018. "The effects of q and cash flow on investment in the presence of measurement error," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 363-377.
    9. Leigh A. Riddick & Toni M. Whited, 2009. "The Corporate Propensity to Save," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1729-1766, August.
    10. Heitor Almeida & Murillo Campello, 2007. "Financial Constraints, Asset Tangibility, and Corporate Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(5), pages 1429-1460, 2007 12.
    11. Krasker, William S & Pratt, John W, 1986. "Bounding the Effects of Proxy Variables on Regression Coefficients," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 641-655, May.
    12. Arthur Lewbel, 1997. "Constructing Instruments for Regressions with Measurement Error when no Additional Data are Available, with an Application to Patents and R&D," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1201-1214, September.
    13. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1777-1804 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Erickson, Timothy & Whited, Toni M., 2002. "Two-Step Gmm Estimation Of The Errors-In-Variables Model Using High-Order Moments," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(3), pages 776-799, June.
    15. Klepper, Steven & Leamer, Edward E, 1984. "Consistent Sets of Estimates for Regressions with Errors in All Variables," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 163-183, January.
    16. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    17. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    18. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    19. Inessa Love, 2003. "Financial Development and Financing Constraints: International Evidence from the Structural Investment Model," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 765-791, July.
    20. Christopher R. Bollinger & Amitabh Chandra, 2005. "Iatrogenic Specification Error: A Cautionary Tale of Cleaning Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 235-258, April.
    21. Hayashi, Fumio, 1982. "Tobin's Marginal q and Average q: A Neoclassical Interpretation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 213-224, January.
    22. Charles F. Manski & John V. Pepper, 2009. "More on monotone instrumental variables," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 12(s1), pages 200-216, January.
    23. Erickson, Timothy & Jiang, Colin Huan & Whited, Toni M., 2014. "Minimum distance estimation of the errors-in-variables model using linear cumulant equations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 183(2), pages 211-221.
    24. Brendan Kline & Elie Tamer, 2016. "Bayesian inference in a class of partially identified models," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 7(2), pages 329-366, July.
    25. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2012. "Treating Measurement Error in Tobin's q," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 1286-1329.
    26. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    27. Christopher R. Bollinger, 2003. "Measurement Error in Human Capital and the Black-White Wage Gap," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 578-585, August.
    28. Leamer, Edward E, 1987. "Errors in Variables in Linear Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(4), pages 893-909, July.
    29. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    30. Klepper, Steven, 1988. "Regressor diagnostics for the classical errors-in-variables model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 225-250, February.
    31. Victor Chernozhukov & Roberto Rigobon & Thomas M. Stoker, 2010. "Set identification and sensitivity analysis with Tobin regressors," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 1(2), pages 255-277, November.
    32. Erickson, Timothy & Whited, Toni M., 2005. "Proxy-quality thresholds: Theory and applications," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 131-151, 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. Chalak, Karim & Kim, Daniel & Miller, Megan & Pepper, John, 2022. "Reexamining the evidence on gun ownership and homicide using proxy measures of ownership," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    2. Zhang, Ge & Guo, Bingnan & Lin, Ji, 2023. "The impact of green finance on enterprise investment and financing," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PD).
    3. Denny IRAWAN & OKIMOTO Tatsuyoshi, 2021. "How Do ESG Performance and Awareness Affect Firm Value and Corporate Overinvestment?," Discussion papers 21033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Chalak, Karim, 2024. "Nonparametric Gini-Frisch bounds," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 238(1).

    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. Andrei, Daniel & Mann, William & Moyen, Nathalie, 2019. "Why did the q theory of investment start working?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 251-272.
    2. Sapienza, Paola & Polk, Christopher, 2003. "The Real Effects of Investor Sentiment," CEPR Discussion Papers 3826, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Moshirian, Fariborz & Nanda, Vikram & Vadilyev, Alexander & Zhang, Bohui, 2017. "What drives investment–cash flow sensitivity around the World? An asset tangibility Perspective," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-17.
    4. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    5. Andrea Mercatanti & Taneli Mäkinen & Andrea Silvestrini, 2017. "Investment decisions by European firms and financing constraints," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1148, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    6. Chen, Hong-Yi & Lee, Alice C. & Lee, Cheng-Few, 2015. "Alternative errors-in-variables models and their applications in finance research," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 213-227.
    7. Strebulaev, Ilya A. & Whited, Toni M., 2012. "Dynamic Models and Structural Estimation in Corporate Finance," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 6(1–2), pages 1-163, November.
    8. Erickson, Timothy & Whited, Toni M., 2005. "Proxy-quality thresholds: Theory and applications," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 131-151, September.
    9. Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 1958- & Teruel, Mercedes, 2010. "Are small firms more sensitive to financial variables?," Working Papers 2072/151623, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    10. Erickson, Timothy & Jiang, Colin Huan & Whited, Toni M., 2014. "Minimum distance estimation of the errors-in-variables model using linear cumulant equations," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 183(2), pages 211-221.
    11. Liao, Shushu, 2021. "The effect of credit shocks in the context of labor market frictions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    12. Sai Ding & Minjoo Kim & Xiao Zhang, 2021. "New Insight on Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivity," Working Papers 2021_16, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    13. Ann E. Harrison & Inessa Love & Margaret S. McMillan, 2022. "Global capital flows and financing constraints," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 8, pages 181-213, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Choonsik Lee & Heungju Park, 2016. "Financial constraints, board governance standards, and corporate cash holdings," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 21-34, January.
    15. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2012. "Treating Measurement Error in Tobin's q," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 1286-1329.
    16. Timothy Erickson & Toni M. Whited, 2006. "On the Accuracy of Different Measures of Q," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 35(3), Autumn.
    17. Ding, Sai & Kim, Minjoo & Zhang, Xiao, 2018. "Do firms care about investment opportunities? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 214-237.
    18. Lee, Choonsik & Park, Heungju, 2016. "Financial constraints, board governance standards, and corporate cash holdings," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 21-34.
    19. Hennessy, Christopher A. & Levy, Amnon & Whited, Toni M., 2007. "Testing Q theory with financing frictions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 691-717, March.
    20. Kwanglim Seo & Jungtae Soh & Amit Sharma, 2018. "Do financial constraints affect the sensitivity of investment to cash flow? New evidence from franchised restaurant firms," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 645-661, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash flow; Measurement error; Multiple equations; Partial identification; Sensitivity analysis; Tobin’s q;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C31 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models; Quantile Regressions; Social Interaction Models
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    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:econom:v:214:y:2020:i:2:p:413-432. 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/jeconom .

    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.