How Financial Frictions Change Real Options and Applications in Investment-Cash-Flow Sensitivity

Delong Li

<p>This paper introduces real options into the long-standing discussion regarding the relationship between corporate investment sensitivity to cash flow (ISCF) and financial frictions. I develop a dynamic, stochastic model in which firms possess real options to delay investment, waiting for uncertainty to resolve. My model predicts that a higher degree of financial frictions decreases ISCF by reducing firms&rsquo; borrowing capacity. Meanwhile, more financial frictions also reduce the real-options value by increasing the discount rate, encouraging firms to invest sooner rather than later; as a result, ISCF increases. Furthermore, I introduce uncertainty as an additional determinant of ISCF. Heightened uncertainty decreases ISCF as it enhances the real-options value of waiting. Empirical work studying U.S. listed firms over the past 30 years confirms these predictions.</p>

2018-12-20(Thursday)16:40-18:00

D236, Econ Building

中文

WISE& SOE

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Dan Li

<p>Delong Li is an Assistant Professor at the College of Business and Economics at University of Guelph (Canada). His current research focuses on corporate finance, international finance, macroeconomics, and banking. Delong received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University (United States), Master of Finance from Guanghua School of Management at Peking University (China), and Bachelors in Mathematics and Economics from Tsinghua University (China). Before joining the University of Guelph, he worked for the International Monetary Fund from 2015 to 2017 (part-time). As a co-investigator, Delong received a grant ($35,000) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2017 to support his research in financial development and household finance in China.</p> <p><a href="/Upload/File/2018/11/20181115104620272.pdf">Upload/File/2018/11/20181115104620272.pdf</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>