DP8278 The marginal value of cash, cash flow sensitivities, and bank-finance shocks in nonlisted firms

Author(s):	Charlotte Ostergaard, Amir Sasson, Bent E Sørensen
Publication Date:	February 2011
Keyword(s):	Bank Lending Channel, Cash Flow Trade-offs, Cash Holdings, External Financing Costs, Nonlisted Firms
JEL(s):	G21, G32
Programme Areas:	International Macroeconomics, Financial Economics
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=8278

We study how nonlisted firms trade off financial, real, and distributive uses of cash. We show that firms' marginal value of cash (MVC) affects the mix of external and internal finance used to absorb fluctuations in cash flows; in particular, high-MVC firms employ substantially more external finance on the margin. Linking firms to their main bank, we find that shocks to bank finance affect firms' trade-offs and have real effects in high-MVC firms, making investment more sensitive to firm cash flow. Our analysis suggests that shocks to external financing costs are transmitted to the real economy via firms' marginal value of cash.