IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v77y2020icp118-130.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does sub-Saharan Africa overinvest? Evidence from a panel of non-financial firms

Author

Listed:
  • Khémiri, Wafa
  • Noubbigh, Hédi

Abstract

This paper investigates the link between financial leverage and corporate investment for a group of five sub-Saharan African countries. Using firm-level data from 2004 to 2014, we postulate a linear and nonlinear corporate leverage-investment relationship. The results obtained by the system GMM estimation and quadratic methods are aligned with the predictions of the agency theory. We find a non-linear relationship between long-term debt and corporate investment. This translates into the fact that there is an optimal leverage threshold, below which sub-Saharan firms do not face an overinvestment risk. Nevertheless, beyond this threshold, they bear overinvestment risk. Firm-specific (in particular, IFRS and corporate tax) and macroeconomic determinants also play a powerful role in determining the optimal investment strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2020. "Does sub-Saharan Africa overinvest? Evidence from a panel of non-financial firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 118-130.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:77:y:2020:i:c:p:118-130
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2019.11.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976919303394
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2019.11.005?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. Bradley, Michael & Jarrell, Gregg A & Kim, E Han, 1984. "On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 857-878, July.
    2. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    3. Haramillo, Fidel & Schiantarelli, Fabio & Weiss, Andrew, 1996. "Capital market imperfections before and after financial liberalization: An Euler equation approach to panel data for Ecuadorian firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 367-386, December.
    4. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    7. Firth, Michael & Malatesta, Paul H. & Xin, Qingquan & Xu, Liping, 2012. "Corporate investment, government control, and financing channels: Evidence from China's Listed Companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 433-450.
    8. Gebauer, Stefan & Setzer, Ralph & Westphal, Andreas, 2018. "Corporate debt and investment: A firm-level analysis for stressed euro area countries," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 112-130.
    9. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    10. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1991. "Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment: Evidence from Japanese Industrial Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 33-60.
    11. Gonedes, Nicholas J, 1981. "Evidence on the "Tax Effects" of Inflation under Historical Cost Accounting Methods," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 54(2), pages 227-270, April.
    12. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    13. Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2019. "Leverage and corporate investment – Evidence from Vietnam," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-5.
    14. Sai Ding & John Knight & Xiao Zhang, 2019. "Does China overinvest? Evidence from a panel of Chinese firms," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 489-507, April.
    15. Lang, Larry & Ofek, Eli & Stulz, Rene M., 1996. "Leverage, investment, and firm growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 3-29, January.
    16. Ghosh, Saibal, 2006. "Did financial liberalization ease financing constraints? Evidence from Indian firm-level data," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 176-190, June.
    17. Whited, Toni M, 1992. "Debt, Liquidity Constraints, and Corporate Investment: Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1425-1460, September.
    18. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    19. Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2018. "Determinants of capital structure: Evidence from sub-Saharan African firms," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 150-159.
    20. Ameer, Rashid, 2014. "Financial constraints and corporate investment in Asian countries," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 44-55.
    21. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    22. Kadapakkam, Palani-Rajan & Kumar, P. C. & Riddick, Leigh A., 1998. "The impact of cash flows and firm size on investment: The international evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 293-320, March.
    23. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    24. Stulz, ReneM., 1990. "Managerial discretion and optimal financing policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 3-27, July.
    25. 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.
    26. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Ge, Ying & Qiu, Jiaping, 2005. "The impact of leverage on firm investment: Canadian evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 277-291, March.
    27. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    28. Alexandre, Herve & Clavier, Julien, 2017. "Adoption of IAS/IFRS, liquidity constraints, and credit rationing: The case of the European banking industry," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 249-258.
    29. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    30. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March.
    31. Guariglia, Alessandra & Yang, Junhong, 2016. "A balancing act: Managing financial constraints and agency costs to minimize investment inefficiency in the Chinese market," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 111-130.
    32. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    33. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    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. Eman F. Attia & Wafa Khémiri & Messaoud Mehafdi, 2023. "Does ownership structure reduce earnings manipulation practice of Egyptian listed firms? Evidence from a dynamic panel threshold model," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 1-18, December.
    2. Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2021. "Joint analysis of the non-linear debt-growth nexus and capital account liberalization: New evidence from sub-Saharan region," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 614-626.

    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. Khémiri, Wafa & Noubbigh, Hédi, 2021. "Joint analysis of the non-linear debt-growth nexus and capital account liberalization: New evidence from sub-Saharan region," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 614-626.
    2. Martinsson, Gustav, 2009. "Finance and R&D Investments - is there a debt overhang effect on R&D investments?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 174, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    3. Vijayakumaran, Ratnam, 2021. "Impact of managerial ownership on investment and liquidity constraints: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    4. Naeem, Kashif & Li, Matthew C., 2019. "Corporate investment efficiency: The role of financial development in firms with financing constraints and agency issues in OECD non-financial firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 53-68.
    5. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    6. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    7. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    8. Koo, Jaewoon & Maeng, Kyunghee, 2005. "The effect of financial liberalization on firms' investments in Korea," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 281-297, April.
    9. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2012. "Asymmetric capital structure adjustments: New evidence from dynamic panel threshold models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-482.
    10. Sevcan Yesiltas, 2009. "Financing Constraints and Investment: The Case of Turkish Manufacturing Firms," 2009 Meeting Papers 874, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Laeven, Luc, 2000. "Does financial liberalization relax financing constraints on firms ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2467, The World Bank.
    12. Gaurav Gupta & Jitendra Mahakud, 2019. "Alternative measure of financial development and investment-cash flow sensitivity: evidence from an emerging economy," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    13. Ning Ding & Kalimullah Bhat & Khalil Jebran, 2020. "Debt choice, growth opportunities and corporate investment: evidence from China," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-22, December.
    14. Le, Thi Phuong Vy & Phan, Thi Bich Nguyet, 2017. "Capital structure and firm performance: Empirical evidence from a small transition country," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 710-726.
    15. Ricardo Bebczuk & Eduardo Cavallo, 2016. "Is business saving really none of our business?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(24), pages 2266-2284, May.
    16. Valentina Peruzzi, 2017. "Does family ownership structure affect investment-cash flow sensitivity? Evidence from Italian SMEs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(43), pages 4378-4393, September.
    17. Morais, Flávio & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2020. "The zero-leverage phenomenon: A bivariate probit with partial observability approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    18. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.
    19. Gaurav Gupta & Jitendra Mahakud & Vivek Verma, 2020. "CEO's education and investment–cash flow sensitivity: an empirical investigation," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(4), pages 589-618, December.
    20. Francisco Sogorb- Mira & José Lopez- Gracia, 2003. "Pecking Order Versus Trade-Off: An Empirical Approach To The Small And Medium Enterprise Capital Structure," Working Papers. Serie EC 2003-09, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).

    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:quaeco:v:77:y:2020:i:c:p:118-130. 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/620167 .

    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.