I examine the relation between tax avoidance and firm investment by drawing on two capital market imperfections, adverse selection and moral hazard, to provide a link between tax avoidance and investment. Firms experiencing capital rationing because of adverse selection rely on internal resources to fund investment opportunities because of costly external financing. Tax avoidance can provide additional cash-flows that may alleviate capital rationing. Alternatively, tax avoidance can exacerbate problems of moral hazard by facilitating managerial rent extraction in the form of overinvestment. I find a positive relation between tax avoidance and investment suggesting effects of either capital rationing or overinvestment. To distinguish between these two effects, I examine how the relation between tax avoidance and investment varies in settings where capital rationing or overinvestment is more likely to occur. My findings suggest that firms rely on the cash savings from tax avoidance to alleviate capital rationing.

Through an analysis of the political structure, fiscal system, and financing mechanisms at the local level in China, this study seeks to investigate the incentives that prompted local Chinese governments to overinvest in the solar photovoltaics (PV) industry. I find that local governments have several incentives to promote economic development by supporting local industries; their support of China’s PV industry illustrates these incentives. Specifically, we find that there are three major incentives for local governments in China to overinvest in the solar PV industry. First, due to the nature of China’s tax policy, local governments have supported the PV sector to increase local revenue. Second, as these industries have become significant sources of local employment, it is hard to stop supporting them now that PV companies are having difficulties. Third, local officials seek promotions under the economic indicator system by gaining higher GDP. PV companies have been very helpful in contributing to local economic growth, thereby advancing the careers of government officials. Farsighted provinces like Jiangsu used the strength of their existing industrial base and favorable geographical location (proximity to ports) to attract visionary innovators and investors for building their PV manufacturing bases. Thanks to the distorted local political and economic incentives in China, this early wave of PV industry investments preceded a flood of imitating local governments that sought to expand their own PV manufacturing. This uncoordinated, irrational exuberance stemming from distorted, bottom-up local incentives has led to the massive PV manufacturing overcapacity in China. / text

Deux types de motivations ont été identifié liées au comportement de surinvestissement : le conflit d’agence (Jensen, 1986) et la surconfiance (Heaton, 2002). Si la littérature sur le lien entre surconfiance et surinvestissement examine une de ces motivations, au sujet de surinvestissement liées au problème d’agence, la littérature existante se concentre sur les caractéristiques financières des entreprises et mécanismes de contrôle pour expliquer le phénomène. Cependant, ces facteurs n’influencent l’acte de surinvestir qu’indirectement, via l’opportunité de surinvestir. En nous appuyant sur la littérature, nous pouvons établir que la culture influence l’opportunité de surinvestir selon l’environnement institutionnel dans lequel s’inscrit l’entreprise et certaines techniques utilisées pour atténuer le surinvestissement au niveau de l’entreprise. Nous avançons que la culture exerce une influence plus directe sur le surinvestissement, en affectant les décisions des gestionnaires de passer de l’opportunité à l’acte de surinvestir. Pour empiriquement vérifier notre proposition nous avons construit un échantillon de 1 550 sociétés surinvestisseur potentielles, qui sont cotées et ne sont pas engagé dans le secteur financier, de 36 pays pour la période comprise entre 2001 et 2011. Nous trouvons qu’un haut niveau de Masculinité et l’Évitement-Incertitude conduisent à un surinvestissement exacerbé. Nous considérons que nos résultats accroissent notre compréhension des facteurs comportementales de surinvestissement, et soutiennent dans une certaine mesure la vue que la théorie de l’agence n’est pas entièrement transférable entre les cultures. / Two behavioral motivations have been identified for overinvestment: agency conflict (Jensen, 1986) and overconfidence (Heaton, 2002). While the literature on overconfidence and overinvestment studies one of these motivations, with regards to agency related overinvestment, extant literature tends to focus on financial characteristics and control mechanisms to explain the phenomenon. However, such factors influence the act of overinvestment only indirectly through affecting the opportunity to overinvest. Based on literature we can establish that culture influences the opportunity to overinvest through the institutional environment in which the company operates, and the cultural influence on some of the techniques used to mitigate overinvestment at the company level. We posit that culture exerts a more direct influence on overinvestment in affecting management’s decisions to move from the opportunity to the act of overinvestment in capital expenditures. To empirically verify our assertion we construct a sample of 1,550 quoted, non-financial, potential overinvestor firms from 36 countries for the period between 2001 and 2011. We find that higher masculinity and uncertainty avoidance in a culture leads to more overinvestment. We believe that our findings, besides advancing understanding of the behavioral drivers of overinvestment, lend support to those who question the cross-cultural transferability of agency theory.

在台灣現金增資已成為企業集資主要手段之一，尤以電子業之現金增資案例居各產業之首。關於現金增資與營運績效之議題，不論是學術界或實務領域皆受到相當程度關注。本研究以台灣上市公司現金增資為例，探討1995年1月1日至2003年12月31日共九年資料，分析現金增資後過度投資(overinvestment)對於營運績效之影響。本研究結論及實證結果如下： (1)使用營運資產報酬率、資產報酬率、每股盈餘、股票報酬率等績效衡量指標衡量現金增資前後之營運績效表現，發現增資後營運績效顯著下降。 (2)現金增資後現金收益(proceeds)主要用於投資。 (3)過度投資造成營運績效下降，而電子業之適度投資將使得營運績效上升，投資機會低且過度投資將使得營運績效嚴重下降。 / In Taiwan, Seasoned Equity Offerings (SEOs) has become an important source of corporate financing. It is especially the case for the semiconductor and electronic industries. Previous studies have documented that firms’ operating performance deteriorates after SEOs. In this research, the emphasis is on how overinvesting affects firms’ operating performances after SEOs. The sample of this research consists of SEOs of listed companies during 1995 through 2003 in the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE). The results and conclusions of this research are as followings: (1)The performance indicators, such as operating ROA, ROA, EPS, and stock return performance indexes, decline after SEOs. (2)The primary purpose of SEO proceeds is for investment. (3)Firms’ performance improves with optimal investment in the electronic industry while onverinvestment explains poor firms’ performance after SEOs. The adverse effect of overinvestment on performance is more severe in firms with fewer investment opportunities.

O propósito do presente estudo foi investigar a relação entre qualidade das informações contábeis, restrição financeira e decisões de investimentos na América Latina. Para isso analisou-se uma amostra com 10.318 observações de 958 empresas não financeiras de capital aberto, oriundas de sete diferentes países, entre os períodos de 1992 a 2009. Com o uso do modelo probabilístico Logit estimou-se o impacto da qualidade dos lucros na probabilidade das firmas apresentarem superinvestimentos, subinvestimentos ou restrição financeira. Em seguida, utilizando o método dos momentos generalizados (GMM) e uma adaptação do modelo acelerador de investimentos, estimaram-se os determinantes dos investimentos. Os resultados indicam que uma pior qualidade nos lucros possa reduzir a probabilidade de decisões eficientes de investimentos e aumentar a possibilidade de subinvestimentos. Verificou-se haver indícios de que a pior qualidade nos lucros possa exacerbar os problemas causados pelo conflito de interesses entre os tomadores de decisões e os investidores das firmas latino-americanas, pois a baixa qualidade nos lucros mostrou-se positivamente associada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com superinvestimentos e negativamente relacionada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com subinvestimentos. Por fim, os resultados indicam que a qualidade dos lucros afeta a sensibilidade dos investimentos ao caixa das firmas que estejam em situação de restrição financeira. Assim, conclui-se que a qualidade das informações financeiras, como ferramenta para redução de assimetria de informações, pode impactar as decisões de investimentos das empresas da América Latina. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among accruals quality, financial constraint and investment decisions in Latin America. For this, it was analyzed a sample with 10,318 observations of 958 non-financial companies from seven different countries, between 1992 to 2009. Using the probabilistic model Logit it was estimated the impact of earnings quality on the probability of overinvestment, underinvestment and financial constraints. Then, using the generalized method of moments (GMM) and an adaptation of the accelerator model of investment, it was estimated the investment determinants. The results indicate that a poor accruals quality can reduce the probability of efficient investment decisions and increase the possibility of underinvestment. The results show that poor accruals quality could exacerbate the problems caused by the conflict of interest between decision-makers and investors from Latin American firms, because poor accruals quality was positively associated with investment rates for firms with overinvestment and negatively related to firms investment for firms with underinvestment. Finally, the results indicate that the accruals quality affects the investment-cash flow sensitivities for firms in financial constraint situation. Thus, we concluded that quality of financial information, as a tool to reduce information asymmetries, might affect the investment decisions in Latin America.

Esse trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa de 356 firmas brasileiras de capital aberto no período de 1997-2010, considerando a estrutura de propriedade e controle. As firmas são classificadas a priori entre subinvestimento e superinvestimento, e reagrupadas conforme o nível de oportunidades de investimento do setor industrial. Com uma versão do modelo acelerador de investimento, estimado pelo método GMM System, o estudo mostra que essa sensibilidade poderia sinalizar oportunidades de investimento, problemas de agência do fluxo de caixa livre e problemas de assimetria de informação. Particularmente, discute-se que o superinvestimento pode ser oriundo tanto dos problemas de agência do fluxo de caixa livre quanto ser uma sinalização ao mercado do volume de oportunidades de investimento. Além disso, também é investigado se firmas com controle familiar, estruturadas como pirâmides e pirâmides controladas por família têm influência sobre o volume de recursos próprios aplicados para financiar os investimentos. As estimativas mostram que os investimentos das firmas consideradas com subinvestimento e grandes oportunidades de investimento podem não ser sensíveis ao fluxo de caixa quando o excesso de direito de voto sobre o direito de propriedade do maior acionista é baixo. Por outro lado, para as firmas consideradas com superinvestimento e poucas oportunidades de investimento, o controle familiar e a pirâmide controlada por família poderiam intensificar essa sensibilidade, caso o controlador detenha níveis extremos de excesso de controle. Esse estudo proporciona evidências de que a maior aplicação de recursos próprios nos investimentos das firmas com superinvestimento e grandes oportunidades de investimento seria, principalmente, uma característica de firmas familiares com o menor desvio entre o direito de voto e o direito de propriedade. Como uma análise adicional, o presente estudo investiga se a relação entre a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa e o excesso de controle do maior acionista é não linear. Os resultados estimados evidenciam a não linearidade dessa relação, exceto para as firmas piramidais familiares classificadas com superinvestimento e poucas oportunidades de investimento. / This study investigates the investment-cash flow sensitivity of a sample of 356 Brazilian listed firms on the period of 1997-2010, considering the ownership and control structure. Firms are grouped into underinvestment and overinvestment, and re-classified according to industrial investment opportunities. Using a version of the accelerator investment model, estimated by the System GMM, the results show that the investment-cash flow sensitivity may indicate asymmetric information, investment opportunities and agency problems of free cash flow. Specifically, it is discussed that the overinvestment may be signaling high investment opportunities or agency problems of free cash flow. The purpose of this study is also investigate whether family control, pyramidal ownership structure, and pyramidal controlled by families (pyramidal-family firms) can influence the level of internal capital used to finance investments. The results show that the investment of underinvestment firms with high industrial investment opportunities may be not sensitive to cash flow when the excess of control rights over cash flow rights of the largest ultimate shareholder is lower. However, for overinvestment firms with low industrial investment opportunities, the family control and pyramidal-family may intensify the investment-cash flow sensitivity when the excess of control rights is high. For lower levels of excess of control rights, the results support that higher investment-cash flow sensitivity of overinvestment firms with high industrial investment opportunities may signal profitability potential of family firms. As an additional analysis, it is also investigated whether the relationship between investment-cash flow sensitivity and the excess of control rights is non-linear. The results confirm the non-linearity of this relationship, except to pyramidal-family firms into the overinvestment group with low industrial investment opportunities.

Esse trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa de 356 firmas brasileiras de capital aberto no período de 1997-2010, considerando a estrutura de propriedade e controle. As firmas são classificadas a priori entre subinvestimento e superinvestimento, e reagrupadas conforme o nível de oportunidades de investimento do setor industrial. Com uma versão do modelo acelerador de investimento, estimado pelo método GMM System, o estudo mostra que essa sensibilidade poderia sinalizar oportunidades de investimento, problemas de agência do fluxo de caixa livre e problemas de assimetria de informação. Particularmente, discute-se que o superinvestimento pode ser oriundo tanto dos problemas de agência do fluxo de caixa livre quanto ser uma sinalização ao mercado do volume de oportunidades de investimento. Além disso, também é investigado se firmas com controle familiar, estruturadas como pirâmides e pirâmides controladas por família têm influência sobre o volume de recursos próprios aplicados para financiar os investimentos. As estimativas mostram que os investimentos das firmas consideradas com subinvestimento e grandes oportunidades de investimento podem não ser sensíveis ao fluxo de caixa quando o excesso de direito de voto sobre o direito de propriedade do maior acionista é baixo. Por outro lado, para as firmas consideradas com superinvestimento e poucas oportunidades de investimento, o controle familiar e a pirâmide controlada por família poderiam intensificar essa sensibilidade, caso o controlador detenha níveis extremos de excesso de controle. Esse estudo proporciona evidências de que a maior aplicação de recursos próprios nos investimentos das firmas com superinvestimento e grandes oportunidades de investimento seria, principalmente, uma característica de firmas familiares com o menor desvio entre o direito de voto e o direito de propriedade. Como uma análise adicional, o presente estudo investiga se a relação entre a sensibilidade do investimento ao fluxo de caixa e o excesso de controle do maior acionista é não linear. Os resultados estimados evidenciam a não linearidade dessa relação, exceto para as firmas piramidais familiares classificadas com superinvestimento e poucas oportunidades de investimento. / This study investigates the investment-cash flow sensitivity of a sample of 356 Brazilian listed firms on the period of 1997-2010, considering the ownership and control structure. Firms are grouped into underinvestment and overinvestment, and re-classified according to industrial investment opportunities. Using a version of the accelerator investment model, estimated by the System GMM, the results show that the investment-cash flow sensitivity may indicate asymmetric information, investment opportunities and agency problems of free cash flow. Specifically, it is discussed that the overinvestment may be signaling high investment opportunities or agency problems of free cash flow. The purpose of this study is also investigate whether family control, pyramidal ownership structure, and pyramidal controlled by families (pyramidal-family firms) can influence the level of internal capital used to finance investments. The results show that the investment of underinvestment firms with high industrial investment opportunities may be not sensitive to cash flow when the excess of control rights over cash flow rights of the largest ultimate shareholder is lower. However, for overinvestment firms with low industrial investment opportunities, the family control and pyramidal-family may intensify the investment-cash flow sensitivity when the excess of control rights is high. For lower levels of excess of control rights, the results support that higher investment-cash flow sensitivity of overinvestment firms with high industrial investment opportunities may signal profitability potential of family firms. As an additional analysis, it is also investigated whether the relationship between investment-cash flow sensitivity and the excess of control rights is non-linear. The results confirm the non-linearity of this relationship, except to pyramidal-family firms into the overinvestment group with low industrial investment opportunities.

O propósito do presente estudo foi investigar a relação entre qualidade das informações contábeis, restrição financeira e decisões de investimentos na América Latina. Para isso analisou-se uma amostra com 10.318 observações de 958 empresas não financeiras de capital aberto, oriundas de sete diferentes países, entre os períodos de 1992 a 2009. Com o uso do modelo probabilístico Logit estimou-se o impacto da qualidade dos lucros na probabilidade das firmas apresentarem superinvestimentos, subinvestimentos ou restrição financeira. Em seguida, utilizando o método dos momentos generalizados (GMM) e uma adaptação do modelo acelerador de investimentos, estimaram-se os determinantes dos investimentos. Os resultados indicam que uma pior qualidade nos lucros possa reduzir a probabilidade de decisões eficientes de investimentos e aumentar a possibilidade de subinvestimentos. Verificou-se haver indícios de que a pior qualidade nos lucros possa exacerbar os problemas causados pelo conflito de interesses entre os tomadores de decisões e os investidores das firmas latino-americanas, pois a baixa qualidade nos lucros mostrou-se positivamente associada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com superinvestimentos e negativamente relacionada às taxas de investimentos das firmas com subinvestimentos. Por fim, os resultados indicam que a qualidade dos lucros afeta a sensibilidade dos investimentos ao caixa das firmas que estejam em situação de restrição financeira. Assim, conclui-se que a qualidade das informações financeiras, como ferramenta para redução de assimetria de informações, pode impactar as decisões de investimentos das empresas da América Latina. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among accruals quality, financial constraint and investment decisions in Latin America. For this, it was analyzed a sample with 10,318 observations of 958 non-financial companies from seven different countries, between 1992 to 2009. Using the probabilistic model Logit it was estimated the impact of earnings quality on the probability of overinvestment, underinvestment and financial constraints. Then, using the generalized method of moments (GMM) and an adaptation of the accelerator model of investment, it was estimated the investment determinants. The results indicate that a poor accruals quality can reduce the probability of efficient investment decisions and increase the possibility of underinvestment. The results show that poor accruals quality could exacerbate the problems caused by the conflict of interest between decision-makers and investors from Latin American firms, because poor accruals quality was positively associated with investment rates for firms with overinvestment and negatively related to firms investment for firms with underinvestment. Finally, the results indicate that the accruals quality affects the investment-cash flow sensitivities for firms in financial constraint situation. Thus, we concluded that quality of financial information, as a tool to reduce information asymmetries, might affect the investment decisions in Latin America.

No description available.

本研究之主要目的在於探討公司自由現金流量與其過度投資之關聯性，並設法瞭解內外部機制是否有助於減緩公司過度投資之代理問題。此外，本研究亦探究公司自由現金流量與債務控制之關聯性，以及債務控制與公司之其他監督機制間之關聯性。本研究發現，公司自由現金流量愈大時，愈可能有過度投資之現象，且此種現象較集中於自由現金流量為正之公司。此外，相較於高成長公司，低成長公司自由現金流量之代理問題較為嚴重，更傾向於過度投資。而在減緩代理問題之機制上，管理階層及機構投資人之持股並無法有效減緩代理成本，或抑制公司過度投資之現象，但或許可藉由債務控制減緩過度投資之問題。再者，本研究推論過度投資之公司可能會傾向於提前適用資產減損之會計處理，以認列其投資損失。最後，公司代理問題愈嚴重時，並不一定會藉由債務控制方式減緩過度投資。而在降低代理成本的作用上，管理者持股、機構投資人持股與債務控制之間具有明顯的互補關係。 / The main purpose of this study is to examine the association between a firm’s free cash flows and its overinvestment. In addition, I also examine the interrelationships between free cash flow, managerial ownership, institutional investors, and debt .The empirical results suggest that overinvestment is concentrated in firms with higher levels of free cash flows and lower opportunities for growth. Further tests find that a firm’s managerial ownership, institutional investors’ ownership may not effectively mitigate its overinvestment. However, debt appears to control overinvestment. Besides, I infer that firms with overinvestment may choose to adopt the accounting standards for asset impairment earlier to recognize their investment losses. Finally, I find evidence that firms may not be using debt control to mitigate their overinvestment, and a firm’s managerial ownership, institutional investors’ ownership and debt may serve as substitutes in controlling its agency costs.