قابلیت اطمینان، دارایی های نقدی و توسعه مالی Asset tangibility, cash holdings, and financial development

1. Introduction The use of collateral is pervasive in corporate borrowing around the world. Berger and Udell (1990) report that about 70% of commercial and industrial loans in the U.S. are secured by collateral. Black, de Meza, and Jeffreys (1996) find that 85% of loans to small businesses in the U.K. are subject to collateral provisions. Using sample firms from 48 countries, Bae and Goyal (2009) show that posting collateral significantly reduces syndicate loan spreads. Conventionally, tangible assets (e.g., buildings, land, and plants), given their low information asymmetry in valuation and high recovery rates, have served as the primary form of collateral in external financing (e.g., Hart and Moore, 1994; Shleifer and Vishny, 1992; Liberti and Sturgess, 2016). Firms with low asset tangibility generally face costly external financing and are prompted to build up precautionary savings (Bates, Kahle, and Stulz, 2009; Lyandres and Palazzo, 2016). Bernanke and Gertler (1989) and Kiyotaki and Moore (1997) note that the collateral role played by tangibles in determining firms’ financial capacity could have important implications for a country’s economic growth because corporate investment often relies on assetbased financing. Chaney, Sraer, and Thesmar (2012) indeed find that a representative US firm reduces investment by $0.06 for a one dollar decrease in its real estate value. Meanwhile, intangible assets (e.g., patents, brands, and employee training) have become an increasingly important component on corporate balance sheets in knowledge-based economies (Lev, 2001; Nakamura, 2003; Syverson 2011; Kogan, Papanikolaou, Seru, and Stoffman, 2017). This shift in asset composition toward intangible components could have important implications on a firm’s external borrowing capacity and its liquidity management and investment strategy. Figure 1A shows that, over the past three decades, the secular upward trend of U.S. non-financial and non-utility firms’ cash holdings coincides with a substantial decline in asset tangibility. Figure 1B shows that, across countries, the average corporate cash balance is higher in knowledge-based economies (e.g., the U.S. and Israel), where firms generally have lower asset tangibility. A negative cash-tangibility sensitivity—the increase in cash reserves associated with declining asset tangibility—is potentially costly. As the make-up of corporate assets shifts toward intangibles, growth could be constrained if firms have to forgo investment to preserve cash. This cost could be more detrimental for firms operating in countries with underdeveloped financial markets where credit supply and alternative financing sources are scarce.