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Journal of Finance Vol. 48 No. 1 1993

On the Determinants of Corporate Hedging

Deana R Nance; Clifford W. Smith; Charles W Smithson1

1 JPMorgan Chase & Co (United States)

Abstract

Finance theory indicates that hedging increases firm value by reducing expected taxes, expected costs of financial distress, or other agency costs. This paper provides evidence on these hypotheses using survey data on firm's use of forwards, futures, swaps, and options combined with COMPUTSTAT data on firm characteristics. Of 169 firms in the sample, 104 firms use hedging instruments in 1986. The data suggest that firms which hedge face more convex tax functions, have less coverage of fixed claims, are larger, have more growth options in their investment opportunity set, and employ fewer hedging substitutes.

DOI
10.1111/j.1540-6261.1993.tb04709.x
Volume
48
Issue
1
Pages
267-284
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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