Corporate Financial Policies with Overconfident Managers*
58 Pages Posted: 8 Apr 2006
Date Written: November 5, 2005
Abstract
We argue that individual characteristics of managers can explain capital structure decisions like debt conservatism and pecking-order financing choices. Moreover, they can explain cross-sectional variation in these decisions despite identical firm characteristics. We link the reluctance of (some) managers to access external capital markets, and in particular equity markets, to managerial overconfidence. Overconfident managers believe that their company is undervalued. We test the overconfidence hypothesis, using several measures of managerial overconfidence. We classify CEOs as overconfident if they persistently fail to reduce their personal exposure to company-specific risk. We also classify CEOs based on their characterization in the business press. We find that overconfident CEOs are significantly less likely than other CEOs to issue equity, conditional on tapping public securities markets. Likewise, they issue roughly 30 cents more debt to cover an additional dollar of external financing deficit than their peers. Finally, overconfident CEOs access all external capital markets (including debt markets) more conservatively.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Who Makes Acquisitions? CEO Overconfidence and the Market's Reaction
-
On the Evolution of Overconfidence and Entrepreneurs
By Antonio E. Bernardo and Ivo Welch
-
Market Timing and Managerial Portfolio Decisions
By Dirk Jenter
-
Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey
By Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback, ...
-
Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey
By Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback, ...
-
Behavioral Corporate Finance: A Survey
By Malcolm P. Baker, Richard S. Ruback, ...