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The Cross-Section of Hurdle Rates for Capital Budgeting: An Empirical Analysis of Survey Data

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  • Ravi Jagannathan
  • Iwan Meier
  • Vefa Tarhan

Abstract

Whereas Poterba and Summers (1995) find that firms use hurdle rates that are unrelated to their CAPM betas, Graham and Harvey (2001) find that 74% of their survey firms use the CAPM for capital budgeting. We provide an explanation for these two apparently contradictory conclusions. We find that firms behave as though they add a hurdle premium to their CAPM based cost of capital. Following McDonald and Siegel (1986), we argue that the hurdle premium depends on the value of the option to defer investments. While CAPM explains only 10% of the cross-sectional variation in hurdle rates across firms, variables that proxy for the benefits from the option to wait for potentially better investment opportunities explain 35%. Estimates of our hurdle premium model parameters imply an equity premium of 3.8% per year, a figure that is essentially the same as that reported in the survey by Graham and Harvey (2005). Consistent with our model, growth firms use a higher hurdle rate when compared to value firms, even though they have a lower cost of capital.

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  • Ravi Jagannathan & Iwan Meier & Vefa Tarhan, 2011. "The Cross-Section of Hurdle Rates for Capital Budgeting: An Empirical Analysis of Survey Data," NBER Working Papers 16770, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16770
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tor Brunzell & Eva Liljeblom & Mika Vaihekoski, 2013. "Determinants of capital budgeting methods and hurdle rates in Nordic firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 85-110, March.
    2. Marcelo Bianconi & Joe Akira Yoshino, 2015. "Empirical Estimation of the Cost of Equity: An Application to Selected Brazilian Utilities Companies," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 5, pages 1-21, February.
    3. Da, Zhi & Guo, Re-Jin & Jagannathan, Ravi, 2012. "CAPM for estimating the cost of equity capital: Interpreting the empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 204-220.
    4. Saia, Artjom & Neshumayev, Dmitri & Hazak, Aaro & Sander, Priit & Järvik, Oliver & Konist, Alar, 2022. "Techno-economic assessment of CO2 capture possibilities for oil shale power plants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    5. Christian Hecker, 2021. "How Should Responsible Investors Behave? Keynes’s Distinction Between Entrepreneurship and Speculation Revisited," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 459-473, July.
    6. Guthrie, Graeme, 2012. "Regulated prices and real options," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 650-663.
    7. Tom Rosewall & Kevin Lane, 2015. "Firms' Investment Decisions and Interest Rates," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 01-08, June.
    8. Saleheen, Jumana & Levina, Iren & Melolinna, Marko & Tatomir, Srdan, 2017. "The financial system and productive investment: new survey evidence," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 57(1), pages 4-17.
    9. Nicolás àguila & Juan M. Graña, 2020. "The Influence of the Interest Rate in Capitalist Competition: Capital Differentiation and Structural Change," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 14(2), pages 153-177, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

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