Download This PaperA Revealed Preference Approach to Understanding Corporate Governance Problems: Evidence from Canada
37 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2002
Date Written: December 2002
Abstract
By studying the gap between the discount rates used by executives and shareholders, we assess the extent to which governance problems distort firm behavior. The estimation strategy recovers discount rates used by executives from the pattern of their actual investment spending. Our empirical work is based on panel data for 193 Canadian firms. For the firms most likely to be affected by Free Cash Flow agency problems, investment behavior appears to be guided by discount rates that are less than the market rate by 350-400 basis points. This wedge is reduced for firms with a concentrated ownership structure. Firms in our sample facing Free Cash Flow problems have a stock of fixed capital approximately 7 per cent to 22 per cent higher than would prevail under value maximizing behavior.
Keywords: Corporate Governance, Business Investment, Discount Rates
JEL Classification: G3, E2
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Robert S. Chirinko
CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)
Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany
HOME PAGE: http://www.CESifo.de
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