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A note on uncertainty and investment across the spectrum of irreversibility

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  • Konstantinos Drakos

Abstract

There is a lack of consensus regarding the sign of the uncertainty-investment relationship, with a strand of the literature suggesting a positive sign, and the Real Options Theory (ROT) advocating a negative relationship. As a way of testing the ROT, this paper empirically investigates its main prediction that the negative effect of uncertainty on investment is an increasing function of the degree of irreversibility. Empirical results provide support for the ROT since uncertainty is found to exert a higher impact on investment spending across the irreversibility spectrum.

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  • Konstantinos Drakos, 2006. "A note on uncertainty and investment across the spectrum of irreversibility," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(13), pages 873-876.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:13:y:2006:i:13:p:873-876
    DOI: 10.1080/13504850500425451
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    Cited by:

    1. Konstantinos Drakos, 2012. "Extent and intensity of investment with multiple capital goods," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(22), pages 2799-2810, August.
    2. Maria Elena Bontempi, 2016. "Investment--uncertainty relationship: differences between intangible and physical capital," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 240-268, April.

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