The Relationship between Inventories and Fixed Investment

Abstract

This study is to analyze the existence of the real buffer effect that reflects the effect of beginning-of-period inventory stocks effect on the demand for fixed investment, and the financial buffer effect indicates the substitution effect between end-of-period inventory stock and the source of financing for fixed investment. I use panel data of 361 Korean listed non-financial firms during 1990-2003. After the crisis, it also observed whether the relationship between inventory stocks and fixed investment has altered or not. I review the theoretical connection between inventory stock and fixed investment through the paper Bo(2004) and estimate the investment model by the method of GMM-SYS. The results show negative relation between end-of-period inventory stock and fixed investment in the whole period and each period classified, also it confirms that the relation between fixed investment and end-of-period investment is significantly negative. It can be interpreted through two aspects that firms not only use inventory stock as a buffer in response to unexpectedly high demand, but also utilize inventory stock as a source of financing for fixed investment. The results imply that firm's decision-making is much correlated with production- and-inventory stock adjustment, decision-making about fixed investment, and decision-making about financial affairs.

Keywords

• 실질완충효과(Real Buffer Effect)
• 재무적 완충효과(Financial Buffer Effect)
• 동태적 GMM(Dynamic GMM)
• 고정투자(Fixed Investment)