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Irreversible Investment, Incremental Capital Accumulation, and Price Uncertainty

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  • Luis H.R. Alvarez E.

    (Department of Economics, Quantitative Methods in Management, Turku School of Economics)

Abstract

We consider optimal incremental capital accumulation in the presence of investment irreversibility and general price uncertainty. We present a set of general conditions under which the optimal capital accumulation path can be explicitly characterized in terms of an ordinary threshold rule stating that investment is optimal whenever the underlying price exceeds a capital-dependent threshold. We also present a set of general conditions under which increased price volatility expands the region where investment is suboptimal and decreases both the expected cumulative present value of the marginal revenue product of capital and the value of the future expansion options.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis H.R. Alvarez E., 2006. "Irreversible Investment, Incremental Capital Accumulation, and Price Uncertainty," Discussion Papers 4, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tkk:dpaper:dp4
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew B. Abel & Avinash K. Dixit & Janice C. Eberly & Robert S. Pindyck, 1996. "Options, the Value of Capital, and Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 753-777.
    2. Alvarez, Luis H R & Koskela, Erkki, 2003. "On Forest Rotation under Interest Rate Variability," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(4), pages 489-503, August.
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    7. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    8. Alvarez, Luis H. R. & Koskela, Erkki, 2005. "Wicksellian theory of forest rotation under interest rate variability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 529-545, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price uncertainty; irreversible investment; incremental capital accumulation.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis

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