Learning in Financial Markets: Implications for Debt-Equity Conflicts
Abstract
Financial markets reveal information which firm managers can utilize when making equity value-enhancing investment decisions. However, for firms with risky debt, such investments are not necessarily socially efficient. Despite this friction, we show that learning from prices improves investment efficiency. This effect is asymmetric, however, as investors learn less about projects which decrease the riskiness of cash flows: efficiency is lower for diversifying investments than for focusing (risk-increasing) investments. This also implies that investors’ endogenous learning further attenuates risk-shifting but amplifies debt overhang. Our model provides a novel channel through which learning from financial markets impact agency frictions between stakeholders.
- Keyword(s):
- finance 247
https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/publication/learning-in-financial-markets-implications-for-debt-equity-conflicts/
