Using a large sample of emerging market firms over the period 1980–2015, we document a high prevalence and persistence of financial conservatism. Specifically, 31% of the African firms have ultra-low leverage ($\mathit{less}$ than 5%), with 42% and 11% having non-positive net-debt (total debt $\mathit{less}$ cash) and no debt (zero-levered), respectively. In further analyses, we find that macroeconomic conditions have a muted effect on financial conservatism. Our results suggest that financial conservatism in emerging markets is due to two main factors; (1) credit constraints, and (2) the desire to attain or enhance financial flexibility. The former calls for pro-market policies that improve access to external finance. At the same time, the latter, which results in the accumulation of cash reserves at the expense of current investments, is a strategic choice aimed at preserving or enhancing financial flexibility. Our results are robust to using alternative sub-sampling, model specifications, definitions of variables and estimation techniques.

我们使用 1980 年至 2015 年期间的大量新兴市场公司样本，记录了金融保守主义的高度流行和持续存在。具体而言，31% 的非洲公司拥有超低杠杆（$\mathit{较少的}$ 5% 以下），42% 和 11% 有非正净债务（总债务 $\mathit{较少的}$现金）和无债务（零杠杆）。在进一步的分析中，我们发现宏观经济条件对金融保守主义的影响不大。我们的研究结果表明，新兴市场的金融保守主义归因于两个主要因素：(1) 信贷限制，以及 (2) 获得或增强财务灵活性的愿望。前者呼吁制定有利于市场的政策，以改善获得外部融资的机会。同时，后者以牺牲当前投资为代价来积累现金储备，是一种旨在保持或增强财务灵活性的战略选择。我们的结果对于使用替代子抽样、模型规范、变量定义和估计技术是稳健的。