Author Abstract
The gradual replacement of traditional U.S. public companies by more R&D–intensive firms is key to understanding the secular trend in average cash holdings. Over the last 35 years, an increasing share of R&D–intensive firms has entered the stock market with progressively higher cash balances. This positive entry-effect dominates the negative within-firm effect post IPO. We build a firm industry model with endogenous entry to quantify the importance of two competing selection mechanisms: an increasing share of R&D–intensive firms in the overall economy and more favorable IPO conditions. Only the combination of both mechanisms successfully generates a sizable secular increase.
Paper Information
- Full Working Paper Text
- Working Paper Publication Date: May 2016
- HBS Working Paper Number: 16-130
- Faculty Unit(s): Finance