Corporate Investment and Stock Market Listing: A Puzzle?
53 Pages Posted: 14 Dec 2011 Last revised: 22 Apr 2013
There are 3 versions of this paper
Comparing the Investment Behavior of Public and Private Firms
Comparing the Investment Behavior of Public and Private Firms
Date Written: April 22, 2013
Abstract
We document sizeable and surprising differences in investment behavior between stock market listed and privately held firms in the U.S. using a rich new data source on private firms. Listed firms invest substantially less and are less responsive to changes in investment opportunities compared to matched private firms, even during the recent financial crisis. These differences do not reflect observable economic differences between public and private firms (such as lifecycle differences) and instead appear to be driven by a propensity for public firms to suffer greater agency costs. Evidence showing that investment behavior diverges most strongly in industries in which stock prices are particularly sensitive to current earnings suggests public firms may suffer from managerial myopia.
Keywords: Corporate investment, Q theory, Private companies, Managerial incentives, Agency costs, Short-termism, Managerial myopia, IPOs
JEL Classification: D22, D92, G31, G32, G34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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