Title
Index Membership and Small Firm Financing
Abstract
This paper investigates the extent to which index membership affects small firm financing. Using a regression discontinuity specification around the lower cutoff of the Russell 2000 small-cap index, we find that index membership causes small firms to transition away from bank financing in favor of seasoned equity offerings. These effects are concentrated in the year following Russell 2000 additions and do not reverse immediately upon deletions. Liquidity, the elasticity of demand for equity, and analyst coverage also significantly increase following Russell 2000 additions but do not significantly decrease following deletions. Finally, firms added to the Russell 2000 obtain lower spreads and have fewer covenants on the bank loans that they do initiate. Our findings are consistent with index membership mitigating the financing frictions of small firms by improving their information environment through increased investor awareness.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1287/mnsc.2017.2975
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
Keywords
Field
DocType
index membership,securities issuance,bank borrowing,seasoned equity offerings
Market liquidity,Economics,Price elasticity of demand,Seasoned equity offering,Equity (finance),Information environment,Finance,Regression discontinuity design
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
65
9
0025-1909
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Charles Cao100.68
Matthew Gustafson200.68
Raisa Velthuis300.34