This paper aims to determine factors causing the stagnation of Korean firms’ fixed investment after the global financial crisis, using panel data for the period of 1999-2016. Fixed investment remained sensitive to cash flow and Tobin’s q although their effects decreased after the global financial crisis. A decreasing trend of cash flow and an increase in Tobin’s q since the early 2000’s imply that the worsening cash flow was a major factor behind the sluggish investment after the crisis. Meanwhile, debt-equity ratio remained significant for non-chaebol affiliated firms, reflecting disparity in access to external financing. Volatility of stock returns also became insignificant after the crisis, casting doubt on the argument that uncertainty was a major factor contributing to the decline of fixed investment. Analysis of financial investment confirmed the significant effect of cash flow, larger than that on financial investment than on fixed investment. In particular, debt repayment and other financial investment, except share repurchase, were sensitive to cash flow. However, the substitution of fixed investment by financial investment is a consequence, rather than a cause of declining fixed investment.

中文翻译：

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韩国企业的固定投资减少和金融投资增加

本文旨在使用1999-2016年期间的面板数据来确定导致全球金融危机后韩国企业固定投资停滞的因素。固定投资对现金流量和托宾q仍然保持敏感，尽管其影响在全球金融危机后有所下降。自2000年初以来，现金流量呈下降趋势，托宾q值增加，这表明现金流量的恶化是危机后投资疲软的主要原因。同时，非财团法人附属公司的债务权益比率仍然很高，这反映了获得外部融资的差异。危机之后，股票收益的波动性也变得微不足道，这使人们对不确定性是导致固定投资下降的主要因素的说法产生了怀疑。对金融投资的分析证实了现金流量的重大影响，大于对金融投资的影响大于对固定投资的影响。特别是，除股票回购外，偿还债务和其他金融投资对现金流量敏感。但是，用金融投资代替固定投资是结果，而不是导致固定投资下降的原因。