Using panel data of Korean manufacturing firms during 1991-1995, we examine whether
inventory investment was constrained by internal finance, especially cash flow, in
the 1990s. We divide our sample into small and medium firms and large firms, and
our sample period into business cycle contraction and expansion. We use the fixed
effect model to estimate an inventory investment model. Our results indicate that
inventory investment is constrained by internal finance. They also show that
inventory investment is more constrained by cash flow during the contraction, and
the cash flow effect is bigger for small and medium firms during the contraction

