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Do Size, Age and Dividend Policy Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints? New Evidence from a Panel of Portuguese Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Carreira

    (GEMF/Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal)

  • Filipe Silva

    (OECD and GEMF/Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Portugal)

Abstract

This paper investigates if firms’ size and age, and dividend payment can work as good proxies of financial constraints faced by firms. The motivation is that, these proxies have been used by several authors to sort and distinguish firms according to a level of financial distress. To conduct our empirical tests, we make use of two different approaches in order to obtain robust results—first, we estimate the sensitivity of investment to cash-flow, then we employ the sensitivity of cash stocks to cash-flow. Our results, while supporting previous literature on the inverse relationship between size, dividend policy and financial constraints, they cast some doubts on previously devised relationships between age and the level of constraints. Additionally, our results suggest that, contrary to what is commonly accepted, the relationship between size and financial constraints seems to be in general U-shaped.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Carreira & Filipe Silva, 2013. "Do Size, Age and Dividend Policy Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints? New Evidence from a Panel of Portuguese Firms," GEMF Working Papers 2013-26, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    • Handle: RePEc:gmf:wpaper:2013-26.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Letenah Ejigu Wale, 2014. "Investment Cash Flow Sensitivity as a Measure of Financing Constraints: Evidence from Selected African Countries," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 6(8), pages 647-657.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial constraints; Firm size; Firm age; Dividend policy; Firm-level studies.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L8 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • L00 - Industrial Organization - - General - - - General
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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