The Cyclical Behavior of Debt and Equity Finance
Francisco Covas, Wouter J. Den Haan
American Economic Review · 2011 · Volume 101 · Issue 2
Abstract
Debt and equity issuance are procyclical for most size-sorted firm categories of listed US firms and the procyclicality of equity issuance decreases monotonically with firm size. At the aggregate level, however, the results for equity issuance are not conclusive due to different behavior of the largest firms, especially those in the top one percent. During a deterioration in economic conditions, firms limit the impact of the reduction in external financing on investment by shedding financial assets. This is true for a worsening in aggregate as well as firm-specific conditions. (JEL E32, G32, L11, L25)
Keywords
Business Fluctuations, Cycles, Financing Policy, Financial Risk and Risk Management, Capital and Ownership Structure, Production, Pricing, and Market Structure, Size Distribution of Firms, Firm Performance: Size, Diversification, and Scope
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.