This paper presents new empirical evidence about the process of plant investment. Using newspaper and trade journal articles, the author collects and analyzes time-to-build data for a sample of Compustat firms. These data suggest that the average construction lead time for new plants is around...

This paper incorporates time-to-build into the standard investment model with convex adjustment costs. The empirical Euler equation is estimated using a U.S. firm-level panel from Compustat. In spite of the introduction of time-to-build, the magnitude of the implied adjustment costs is...