This paper addresses the recent mixed evidence on the relationship between interest rates and corporate liquidity. I find that high (low) interest rates are associated with high (low) short-term investments and low (high) cash due to the opportunity cost of holding the latter. Further, I show that interest rates are negatively related to total liquid assets, i.e., the sum of cash and short-term investments. These patterns suggest a two-level demand for liquidity. At the top level, there is demand for overall liquidity and an increase in interest rates increases its price resulting in a negative effect. At the bottom level, once the firm has decided its overall level of liquidity, it chooses what fraction to hold in cash versus short-term investments. An increase in interest rates increases the price of cash relative to short-term investments resulting in a decrease in the former and an increase in the latter.

本文讨论了最近关于利率与公司流动性之间关系的混合证据。我发现，由于持有后者的机会成本，高（低）利率与高（低）短期投资和低（高）现金相关。此外，我表明利率与总流动资产负相关，即现金和短期投资的总和。这些模式表明对流动性的需求有两个层次。在顶层，对整体流动性有需求，利率上升会增加其价格，从而产生负面影响。在底层，一旦公司确定了其整体流动性水平，它就会选择持有现金与短期投资的比例。