Publication Type
Journal Article
Book Title/Conference/Journal
Econometric Reviews
Year
1-2026
Abstract
This article investigates the relative importance of internal and external sources of funds in financing activities across different levels of investment activities by proposing a panel data quantile regression model with correlated random effects, accounting for heteroscedasticity in both firm-specific individuals and distribution of investment. A new estimation method, which takes the influence of disturbance into account, is proposed by using the integrated quasi-likelihood function for the conditional quantile model and Laplace approximation. The large sample theory for the proposed estimator and the corresponding asymptotic χ2 test are investigated. A Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed estimator. Finally, empirical results find strong evidence that the financing hierarchy of U.S. firms is in accordance with the first rung of the pecking order theory across all levels of investments from 10% to 90%, but for the second rung of the pecking order theory, only at 30% to 70% levels of investments.
Keywords
Correlated random effects, panel data, pecking order theory, quantile regression model, quasi-maximum likelihood estimator
Disciplines
Econometrics
Subject(s)
Applied or Integration/Application Scholarship
ISSN/ISBN
0747-4938
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Group
DOI
10.1080/07474938.2025.2561261
Version
publishedVersion
Language
eng
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Format
application/PDF
Citation
CAI, Zongwu; SHI, Meng; WU, Wuqing; and ZHAO, Yue.
A panel quantile model via correlated random effects approach for testing pecking order theory. (2026). Econometric Reviews. 45, (2), 206-232.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/studentpub/18
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/07474938.2025.2561261