Financial constraints, intangible assets, and firm dynamics : theory and evidence /

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Chen, Sophia, 1980- author.
Imprint:[Washington, D.C.] : International Monetary Fund, ©2014.
Description:1 online resource (38 pages) : color illustrations.
Language:English
Series:IMF working paper ; WP/14/88
IMF working paper ; WP/14/88.
Subject:
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12502930
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:International Monetary Fund. Research Department, issuing body.
Notes:"Research Department"--Page 2 of pdf.
"May 2014"--Page 2 of pdf.
Includes bibliographical references.
Online resource; title from pdf title page (IMF.org Web site, viewed June 6, 2014).
Summary:"I study whether firms' reliance on intangible assets is an important determinant of financing constraints. I construct new measures of firm-level physical and intangible assets using accounting information on U.S. public firms. I find that firms with a higher share of intangible assets in total assets start smaller, grow faster, and have higher Tobin's q. Asset tangibility predicts firm dynamics and Tobin's q up to 30 years but has diminishing predicative power. I develop a model of endogenous financial constraints in which firm size and value are limited by the enforceability of financial contracts. Asset tangibility matters because physical and intangible assets differ in their residual value when the contract is repudiated. This mechanism is qualitatively important to explain stylized facts of firm dynamics and Tobin's q"--Abstract.