What is Financial Constraints

This chapter investigates how financial constraints and financial crises affect the cash policy of firms. Using a sample of 157,505 firm-years from 26 developing Asian economies from 1991 to 2016, firm fixed effects are employed to mitigate unobserved heterogeneity. Empirical findings show that financially constrained firms have higher cash than financially unconstrained firms, which is in line with the precautionary motive and transaction motive of cash. The picture changes with the rise of financial crises. While financially constrained firms have lower cash before the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, they increase their cash level more after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Overall, managers need to consider the exogenous shocks to enhance their liquidity management. Also, investors should consider the financial crises, firm size, firm constraint, and dividend payment status when determining when and where to invest.