This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The Determinants of Corporate Leverage: A Panel Data Analysis

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Geoffrey Shuetrim (Reserve Bank of Australia)
Philip Lowe (Reserve Bank of Australia)
Steve Morling (Reserve Bank of Australia)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

Widespread increases in corporate leverage occurred over the 1980s in Australia. There was also considerable variation in leverage across firms. This paper uses a sample of 209 firms, observed annually between 1973 and 1991, to explore both cross-sectional and time variation in financial structure. The paper begins with a survey of the literature on corporate financial structure. This leads to a model that incorporates the major determinants of leverage. The empirical model takes into account the influence of both firm-specific and time-specific effects. The dynamics of leverage are also tentatively explored. The results suggest that a number of firm-related factors influence the relative costs of debt, the level of demand for and the availability of funds. Most important among these are firm size, growth, collateral and cash flow. A number of macro-economic variables are also found to influence leverage. Most important among these are real asset prices which play a significant role in the post-financial deregulation period.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.rba.gov.au/rdp/RDP9313.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Reserve Bank of Australia in its series RBA Research Discussion Papers with number rdp9313.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML, plain text, BibTeX, RIS (EndNote), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Dec 1993
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:rba:rbardp:rdp9313

Contact details of provider:
Postal: GPO Box 3947, Sydney NSW 2001
Phone: 61-2-9551-8111
Fax: 61-2-9551-8000
Email:
Web page: http://www.rba.gov.au/
More information through EDIRC

Order Information:
Web: http://www.rba.gov.au/PublicationsAndResearch/RDP/RDP_Order/index.html

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Kylie Lowe).

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Newey, Whitney K & West, Kenneth D, 1987. "A Simple, Positive Semi-definite, Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent Covariance Matrix," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 703-08, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-29, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Richard Cantor, 1990. "Effects of leverage on corporate investment and hiring decisions," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sum, pages 31-41.
  4. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicolás S., 1945-, 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Working papers 1523-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management. [Downloadable!]
  5. Tim Callen & Steven Morling & Jill Pleban, 1992. "Dividends and Taxation: A Preliminary Investigation," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9211, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  6. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Allen, David E, 1993. "The Pecking Order Hypothesis: Australian Evidence," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 101-12, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Breusch, T S & Pagan, A R, 1980. "The Lagrange Multiplier Test and Its Applications to Model Specification in Econometrics," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(1), pages 239-53, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Philip Lowe & Thomas Rohling, 1993. "Agency Costs, Balance Sheets and the Business Cycle," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9311, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  12. Kale, Jayant R & Noe, Thomas H & Ramirez, Gabriel G, 1991. " The Effect of Business Risk on Corporate Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1693-715, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Amihud, Yakov & Lev, Baruch & Travlos, Nickolaos G, 1990. " Corporate Control and the Choice of Investment Financing: The Case of Corporate Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(2), pages 603-16, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Gertler, Mark & Gilchrist, Simon, 1993. " The Role of Credit Market Imperfections in the Monetary Transmission Mechanism: Arguments and Evidence," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 95(1), pages 43-64.
    Other versions:
  15. DeAngelo, Harry & Masulis, Ronald W., 1980. "Optimal capital structure under corporate and personal taxation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 3-29, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Hausman, Jerry A, 1978. "Specification Tests in Econometrics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(6), pages 1251-71, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1991. " The Theory of Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 297-355, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Altman, Edward I, 1984. " A Further Empirical Investigation of the Bankruptcy Cost Question," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1067-89, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Baltagi, Badi H. & Chang, Young-Jae & Li, Qi, 1992. "Monte Carlo results on several new and existing tests for the error component model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1-3), pages 95-120. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Hausman, Jerry A. & Taylor, William E., 1981. "Panel data and unobservable individual effects," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 155-155, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Baltagi, Badi H., 1985. "Pooling cross-sections with unequal time-series lengths," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 133-136. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Moulton, Brent R & Randolph, William C, 1989. "Alternative Tests of the Error Components Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(3), pages 685-93, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Hausman, Jerry A & Taylor, William E, 1981. "Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1377-98, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  24. Castanias, Richard, 1983. " Bankruptcy Risk and Optimal Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1617-35, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Ang, James S & Chua, Jess H & McConnell, John J, 1982. " The Administrative Costs of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Note," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(1), pages 219-26, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  26. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-75, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. Honda, Yuzo, 1985. "Testing the Error Components Model with Non-normal Disturbances," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 681-90, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  28. Nigel Dews & John Hawkins & Tracey Horton, 1992. "Measuring the Cost of Capital in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9205, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  29. Miller, Merton H, 1988. "The Modigliani-Miller Propositions after Thirty Years," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 99-120, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Helga Kristjánsdóttir, 2005. "The Knowledge-Capital Model and Small Countries," EPRU Working Paper Series 05-09, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Andreas Stephan & Oleksandr Talavera, . "Effects of macroeconomic uncertainty on leverage for US non-financial firms," German Stata Users' Group Meetings 2004 8, Stata Users Group. [Downloadable!]
  3. Gianni La Cava, 2005. "Financial Constraints, the User Cost of Capital and Corporate Investment in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2005-12, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  4. Christopher F. Baum & Andreas Stephan & Oleksandr Talavera, 2004. "The Effects of Uncertainty on the Leverage of Non-Financial Firms," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 602, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 27 Jul 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Karen Mills & Steven Morling & Warren Tease, 1994. "The Influence of Financial Factors on Corporate Investment," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9402, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
  6. J T Kneeshaw, 1995. "A survey of non-financial sector balance sheets in industialised countries: implications for the monetary policy transmission mechanism," BIS Working Papers 25, Bank for International Settlements. [Downloadable!]
  7. Brenton Goldsworthy & Carlos Schulz & Geoffrey Shuetrim, 2000. "Capital Management of Deposit Takers: The Impact of Prudential Requirements," Working Papers wp0004, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. [Downloadable!]
  8. Malcolm Edey & John Romalis, 1996. "Issues in Modelling Monetary Policy," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp9604, Reserve Bank of Australia. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? All full texts are decentralized with the publishers, none reside on this server, thus making it possible to offer this service for free to all parties.

This page was last updated on 2008-7-7.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.