The Evolution of Corporate Cash
研究了1920年至2014年间企业现金持有的时间序列和跨公司变化，发现近期现金增加在历史上并非唯一，但平均现金与总现金的分化是新现象，主要由新上市公司推动，而宏观条件、盈利和投资等解释了总现金趋势。
We study time-series and cross-firm variation in corporate cash holdings from 1920 to 2014. The recent increase in cash is not unique in magnitude. However, the recent divergence between average and aggregate cash is new and entirely driven by a shift in cash policies of newly public firms, whereas within-firm changes have been negative or flat since the 1940s. Cross-sectional relations between cash holdings and firm characteristics are stable throughout the century, though characteristics explain little of the trends in aggregate cash. Macroeconomic conditions, corporate profitability and investment, and (since 2000) repatriation taxes explain aggregate cash over the last century.Received August 23, 2017; editorial decision April 28, 2018 by Editor Andrew Karolyi.