Financial Flexibility, Investment Ability, and Firm Value: Evidence from Firms with Spare Debt Capacity
研究发现，为保持财务灵活性而采取保守杠杆政策的企业，其投资能力和投资质量均显著提升，且这些投资通过新发债务融资，支持了财务灵活性是资本结构理论关键缺失环节的观点。
We document, for the first time, that a conservative leverage policy directed at maintaining financial flexibility can enhance investment ability. Our analysis reveals that following a period of low leverage, firms make larger capital expenditures and increase abnormal investment. We find that these new investments are financed through new issues of debt. The impact of financial flexibility is both statistically significant and economically sizable. Further, long‐run performance tests reveal that financially flexible firms not only invest more but also invest better. Our results are consistent with the view that financial flexibility in the form of untapped reserves of borrowing power is a crucial missing link in capital structure theory.