Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-03T22:37:02.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Long-Term Effects of a Financial Crisis: Evidence from Cash Holdings of East Asian Firms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2012

Kyojik (Roy) Song
Affiliation:
Business School, Sungkyunkwan University, 53 Myoungnyun-dong 3-ga, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-745, South [email protected]
Youngjoo Lee
Affiliation:
Business School, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 121-742, South Korea. [email protected]

Abstract

We investigate the long-term effect of the Asian financial crisis on corporate cash holdings in 8 East Asian countries. The Asian firms build up cash holdings by decreasing investment activities after the crisis. We find that the increase in cash holdings is not explained by changes in firm characteristics but by changes in the firms’ demand function for cash, which indicates that the crisis has systematically changed the firms’ cash-holding policies. Specifically, the firms’ increased sensitivity to cash flow volatility is one of the main factors explaining the higher level of their cash holdings in the postcrisis period.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almeida, H.; Campello, M.; and Weisbach, M. S.. “The Cash Flow Sensitivity of Cash.Journal of Finance, 59 (2004), 17771804.Google Scholar
Alti, A.How Sensitive Is Investment to Cash Flow When Financing Is Frictionless?Journal of Finance, 58 (2003), 707722.Google Scholar
Bargeron, L.; Lehn, K.; and Zutter, C.. “Sarbanes-Oxley and Corporate Risk-Taking.Journal of Accounting and Economics, 49 (2010), 3452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, T. W.; Kahle, K. M.; and Stulz, R. M.. “Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?Journal of Finance, 64 (2009), 19852021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, C. F.; Caglayan, M.; Ozkan, N.; and Talavera, O.. “The Impact of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Non-Financial Firms’ Demand for Liquidity.Review of Financial Economics, 15 (2006),289304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campello, M.; Graham, J. R.; and Harvey, C. R.. “The Real Effects of Financial Constraints: Evidence from a Financial Crisis.Journal of Financial Economics, 97 (2010), 470487.Google Scholar
Denis, D. J., and Sibilkov, V.. “Financial Constraints, Investment, and the Value of Cash Holdings.Review of Financial Studies, 23 (2010), 247269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dittmar, A., and Mahrt-Smith, J.. “Corporate Governance and the Value of Cash Holdings.Journal of Financial Economics, 83 (2007), 599634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dittmar, A.; Mahrt-Smith, J.; and Servaes, H.. “International Corporate Governance and Corporate Cash Holdings.Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 38 (2003), 111133.Google Scholar
Duchin, R.; Ozbas, O.; and Sensoy, B. A.. “Costly External Finance, Corporate Investment, and the Subprime Mortgage Credit Crisis.Journal of Financial Economics, 97 (2010), 418435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fama, E. F., and French, K. R.. “New Lists: Fundamentals and Survival Rates.Journal of Financial Economics, 73 (2004), 229269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fama, E. F., and MacBeth, J. D.. “Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests.Journal of Political Economy, 81 (1973), 607636.Google Scholar
Han, S., and Qiu, J.. “Corporate Precautionary Cash Holdings.Journal of Corporate Finance, 13 (2007), 4357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harford, J.Corporate Cash Reserves and Acquisitions.Journal of Finance, 54 (1999), 19691997.Google Scholar
Harford, J.; Mansi, S. A.; and Maxwell, W. F.. “Corporate Governance and Firm Cash Holdings in the U.S.Journal of Financial Economics, 87 (2008), 535555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iskandar-Datta, M., and Jia, Y.. “Why Do Firms Hold So Much Cash? International Evidence on the Determinants of Cash Holdings.” Working Paper, Wayne State University (2010).Google Scholar
Jensen, M. C. “Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance and Takeovers.American Economic Review, 76 (1986), 323329.Google Scholar
Kalcheva, I., and Lins, K. V.. “International Evidence on Cash Holdings and Expected Managerial Agency Problems.Review of Financial Studies, 20 (2007), 10871112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, S., and Zingales, L.. “Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112 (1997), 169215.Google Scholar
Kim, C.-S.; Mauer, D. C.; and Sherman, A. E.. “The Determinants of Corporate Liquidity: Theory and Evidence.Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 33 (1998), 335359.Google Scholar
Lang, L.; Ofek, E.; and Stulz, R. M.. “Leverage, Investment, and Firm Growth.Journal of Financial Economics, 40 (1996), 329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mikkelson, W. H., and Partch, M. M.. “Do Persistent Large Cash Reserves Hinder Performance?Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 38 (2003), 275294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M. H., and Orr, D.. “A Model of the Demand for Money by Firms.Quarterly Journal of Economics, 80 (1966), 413435.Google Scholar
Mulligan, C. B. “Scale Economies, the Value of Time, and the Demand for Money: Longitudinal Evidence from Firms.Journal of Political Economy, 105 (1997), 10611079.Google Scholar
Opler, T. C.; Pinkowitz, L.; Stulz, R.; and Williamson, R.. “The Determinants and Implications of Corporate Cash Holdings.Journal of Financial Economics, 52 (1999), 346.Google Scholar
Ozkan, A., and Ozkan, N.. “Corporate Cash Holdings: An Empirical Investigation of UK Companies.Journal of Banking and Finance, 28 (2004), 21032134.Google Scholar
Petersen, M. A. “Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches.Review of Financial Studies, 22 (2009), 435480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinkowitz, L., and Williamson, R.. “Bank Power and Cash Holdings: Evidence from Japan.Review of Financial Studies, 14 (2001), 10591082.Google Scholar
Rajan, R. G., and Zingales, L.. “What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data.Journal of Finance, 50 (1995), 14211460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar