|
|
Asymmetries in the firm’s use of debt to changing market values
Ferris, S. P. ; Hanousek, Jan ; Shamshur, Anastasiya ; Trešl, Jiří
Using a large sample of U.S. firms over the period, 1984 to 2013, this study examines the relation between market and book leverage ratios. Unlike Welch (2004) who contends that changes in market leverage do not induce adjustments in book leverage, we find an asymmetric effect. That is, firms adjust their book leverage relative to market leverage only when the changes in market leverage are due to increases in the value of the firm’s equity. No adjustment is observed when firm equity values decrease. We observe a number of interesting differences between those firms that make large and small capital structure adjustments in response to changing equity prices. Our results are consistent with Barclay, Morellec and Smith (2006) who argue that the optimal level of debt decreases in the presence of corporate growth options.
|
|
|
The importance of geographic access for the impact of microfinance
Alimukhamedova, Nargiza ; Filer, R. K. ; Hanousek, Jan
The geographic distance between a household and financial institutions may constitute a significant obstacle to achieving the benefits of modern financial institutions. We measure the impact of distance-related access to microcredits in Uzbekistan. Residents living closer to microfinance institutions are propensity score matched to those further away using both household and village characteristics. Households located nearer to microfinance institutions have larger businesses in terms of income, profits and employees than similar households located further away. In addition, they spend more on most forms of consumption and have greater savings.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
Bribery environment and firm performance: evidence from Central and Eastern European countries
Hanousek, Jan ; Kochanova, A.
We examine the relation between bureaucratic corruption and firm performance in CEE countries. While previous research uses data from BEEPS, which suffers from excessive non-reporting of corporate performance, we combine reliable firm financials from the Amadeus database with information on bribery practices from BEEPS. We show that differing consequences of corruption found in previous studies could be explained by the corruption environment in which a firm operates. Basically, higher mean corruption is associated with lower performance, while higher dispersion appears to facilitate firm performance. A detailed analysis is conducted by firm sector and size, and countries’ institutional environments.
|
guest ::
