The trade-off argument postulates that firms set their optimal level of cash holdings by weighting the marginal costs and marginal benefits of holding cash.
There are several benefits related with holding cash.
First, cash holdings reduce the likelihood of financial distress as it acts as a safety reserve to face unexpected losses or external fund raising constrains. Second, cash holdings allow the pursuance of the optimal investment policy even when financial constraints are met. Otherwise, external fund raising constrains would force the firm to forgo investment projects with positive net
which has to use the capital markets to raise funds. Thus, it is expected that firms that
pay dividends hold less cash than firms that do not pay dividends present value (NPV).2 Finally, cash holdings contribute to minimise the costs of raising external funds or liquidating existing assets as it acts like a buffer between
the firm sources and uses of funds. The traditional marginal cost of holding cash is the
opportunity cost of the capital due to the low return on liquid assets. Below we provide a brief review of the firm characteristics that, according to trade-off theory,
are relevant to firm cash holdings decisions.