▼ This dissertation consists of three essays related to the financing and investment decisions of small U.S. firms. Each of the essays presents interesting and original empirical research questions, with hypotheses well-grounded in finance and economic theories. The empirical methodology, data and models that are used to test the hypotheses are presented for each essay. The three empirical questions addressed are (1) Why don’t small firms take every trade credit discount offered to them? (2) What determines the cash holdings of small firms? and (3) Why do small firms make investments unrelated to their core business? This dissertation answers these questions by analyzing the data available in the National Survey of Small Business Firms (NSSBF) conducted in 1998 and 2003. Advisors/Committee Members: Bathala, Chenchu.