Abstract

I study the empirical importance of debt overhang using a unique data set on resource extraction firms that provides ex ante measures of investment opportunities and important variation in terms of a firm’s obligations. In particular, unsecured reclamation liabilities create overhang that is costly to resolve and induces firms to forgo and postpone positive NPV investments. Traditional debt, in contrast, imposes few overhang-related investment distortions. These results show that (a) the overhang problem is potentially large and more broadly applies to firms’ nondebt liabilities and (b) overhang problems associated with traditional debt can be avoided through contracting and debt composition.

中文翻译：

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（债务）悬置：来自资源提取的证据

摘要

我使用资源提取公司的独特数据集研究了债务溢价的经验重要性，该数据集提供了事前评估投资机会和公司义务方面重要变化的方法。尤其是，无抵押的开垦负债会产生悬而未决的问题，解决起来成本高昂，并导致企业放弃和推迟正NPV投资。相比之下，传统债务几乎没有施加与外溢相关的投资扭曲。这些结果表明，（a）悬置问题可能很大，并且更广泛地适用于企业的非债务负债；（b）通过合同和债务构成可以避免与传统债务相关的悬置问题。