FIN-02-016

Temporal Resolution of Uncertainty, the Investment Policy of Levered Firms and Corporate Debt Yields

March 2002

Alexander S. Reisz and Kose John

ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to link the agency literature (concerned with the fact that tensions between bondholders and shareholders may trigger suboptimal investment decisions) with the one dealing with temporal resolution of uncertainty (TRU). We consider here how the speed of resolution of the uncertainty characterizing the firm's operations affects the risk-shifting behavior of a shareholder-aligned manager. It is assumed that investors are risk neutral and that the return on the risky technology is normally distributed. It is shown that the speed of TRU affects monotonically the extent of risk shifting as well as bond yields, even after optimal contracts mitigating deviations from the first-best investment policy have been written. In particular, the optimal investment-restricting covenant is endogenously characterized. Empirical implications are derived and discussed.
Classification: G13, G31, L14

Alexander S. Reisz
Institution:Finance and Economics Department, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College (CUNY), 1 Bernard Baruch Way, Box B10-225, New York, NY 10010.
Telephone: 646-312-3518
Fax: 646-312-3451
Email: Alexander_Reisz@baruch.cuny.edu

Kose John
Institution: Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
Telephone: 212-998-0337
Fax: 212-995-4233
Email: kjohn@stern.nyu.edu
Home Page: http://www.stern.nyu.edu/~kjohn

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