Cash holding: static trade-off theory or financing hierarchy theory

The theory to explain cash holding has always been the subject of scholars' research. The static trade-off theory of cash holdings and the financing hierarchy theory explain the cash holdings of enterprises from different perspectives, and have also been proved in different companies. This article mainly analyzes the cash holdings of companies based on the public financial data and discusses whether the static trade-off theory or the financing hierarchy theory have the best explanation of cash holding in Chinese listed firms. After that, we study the factors that affect corporate cash holdings. The empirical results show that China's companies not only meet the static trade-off theory but also meet the financing hierarchy theory, and the financing hierarchy theory has better explanatory power in the excess cash-holding companies.

Static trade-off theory; financing hierarchy theory; cash holding

Siyi Yu, Xuemeng Guo. Cash holding: static trade-off theory or financing hierarchy theory. 2019 Asia-Pacific Forum on Economic and Social Development (APFESD 2019). 2019, Vol.2: 140-145.