The Net Present Value maximizing model has a respectable ancestry and is considered by most scholars a theoretically sound decision model. In real-life applications, decision makers use the NPV rule, but apply a subjectively determined hurdle rate, as opposed to the “correct” opportunity cost of capital. According to a heuristics-and-biases-program approach, this implies that the hurdle-rate ru...

Recent literature on optimal investment has stressed the difference between the impact of risk and the impact of ambiguity also called Knightian uncertainty on investors’ decisions. In this paper, we show that a decision maker’s attitude towards ambiguity is similarly crucial for investment decisions. We capture the investor’s individual ambiguity attitude by applying α-MEU preferences to a sta...

This article presents a comparative analysis of possible postponement strategies in a two-stage decision model where firms make three decisions: capacity investment, production (inventory) quantity, and price. Typically, investments are made while the demand curve is uncertain. The strategies differ in the timing of the operational decisions relative to the realization of uncertainty. We show h...

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the interaction between hedging, financing, and investment decisions. This work is relevant in that theoretical predictions are not necessarily identical to those in the case where only two decisions are being made. We argue that the way in which hedging affects the firms’ financing and investing decisions differs for firms with different ...

We model dynamic investment, financing and default decisions of a firm, which begins its life with a collection of growth options. The firm exercises them optimally over time, and finances the costs of investment by adjusting its capital structure, which trades off the tax benefits with the distress cost of debt and the agency cost of investment distortions from potential debt overhang. Conflic...

This paper evaluates individuals’ ability to avoid investment mistakes and analyzes how investment competence is related to the propensity to seek or rely on professional advice. To address these issues, we use novel survey data collected from a representative sample of Swiss households. We find that investment competence is characterized by significant age and gender gaps, and that individuals...

Green investing, or socially responsible investing (SRI), which refers to making investment decisions according to both financial and ethical criteria, has become increasingly popular in recent years. This paper explores the effects of ethical screening on the investment decisions of firms that fail the screen (’polluting’ firms) and on their decisions to reform so as to pass the screen. The pa...

We investigate the effect of group versus individual decision-making in the context of risky investment decisions in which all subjects are fully informed of the probabilities and payoffs. Although there is full information, the lottery choices pose cognitive challenges so that people may not be sure of their expected utility-maximizing choice. Making such decisions in a group context provides ...

Managers face a critical task in making firm investment decisions that are targeted toward creating and appropriating value. As managers weigh their resource investment decisions, we argue that these investments have a direct impact on the growth and volatility of the firm’s industry. With data covering 377 industries across 16 years, we investigate relationships for aggregate firm investments ...

Cap and trade (CAT) results in lower abatement costs relative to command and control, but might increase industry marginal abatement cost, resulting in higher equilibrium emissions. With lumpy investment, command and control leads to multiple investment equilibria and “regulatory uncertainty”. CAT, a first best policy, eliminates this uncertainty. Command and control policies cause firms to imi...