We test whether adverse changes to banks' market valuations during the financial and sovereign debt crises, and the associated increase in banks' cost of funding, affected firms' real decisions. Using new data linking over 3,000 non-financial Italian firms to their bank(s), we find that...

This paper evaluates the effects of fiscal policy on investment using a panel of OECD countries. In particular, we investigate how different types of fiscal policy affect profits and , as a result, investment. We find a sizable negative effect of public spending -- and in particular of its...

It is often argued that monetary instability reduces the informational content of market signals and thereby hinders the efficient allocation of investment. In this paper we use a signal extraction framework to give empirical content to this idea. In particular, we show why this framework...

We present evidence that an increase in investment as a share of GDP predicts a higher growth rate of output per worker, not only temporarily, but also in the steady state. These results are found using pooled annual data for a large panel of countries, using pooled data for non-overlapping...

Has financial liberalization improved the efficiency with which investment funds are allocated to competing uses? In this paper, we address this question, using firm level panel data from twelve developing countries. The basic idea is to investigate whether financial liberalization has increased...

Using firm level panel data from twelve developing countries we explore if financial liberalization improves the efficiency with which investment funds are allocated. A summary index of the efficiency of investment allocation that measures whether investment funds are going to firms with a...

The effect of measurement error on estimates of the Q and cash flow model of investment is investigated. Two sources of error are considered: expensing of research and development expenditures and the failure to separate out that component of cash flow which relaxes financing constraints. We...

In this paper, employing VAR and factor analytic models with quarterly U.K. sectoral business investment data, we show that both common and sector--specific shocks play important roles in explaining business investment fluctuations.