IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/spo/wpmain/infohdl2441-f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Firms' leverage and export quality evidence from France

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Guillou

    (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques)

  • Michel Bernini

    (School of International Studies)

  • Flora Bellone

    (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques)

Abstract

Is corporate financial structure a determinant of non-price competitiveness in export markets? In this paper we provide a positive answer to this question by finding that among illiquid exporters leverage is negatively correlated with the quality of their exported goods. This result is obtained on a sample including over 120,000 export flows of 6,229 French firms exporting within six HS6 products categories. The main methodological contribution of our study is the use of a flow-level measure of export quality obtained from the estimation of a structural model of demand (Berry, 1994); this estimator enhance the validity of our approach by avoiding the drawbacks of proxying for quality using export prices, as it is common practice in the trade literature. We argue that the negative impact of leverage on quality is consistent with theoretical contributions in the financial literature predicting a negative impact of debt financing on firms’ incentive to undertake quality upgrading investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Guillou & Michel Bernini & Flora Bellone, 2013. "Firms' leverage and export quality evidence from France," Sciences Po publications 2013-13, Sciences Po.
    • Handle: RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://spire.sciencespo.fr/hdl:/2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4/resources/wp2013-13.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Philippe Askenazy & Aida Caldera & Guillaume Gaulier & Delphine Irac, 2015. "Financial constraints and foreign market entries or exits: firm-level evidence from France," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(2), pages 231-253, May.
    2. Kalina Manova, 2013. "Credit Constraints, Heterogeneous Firms, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(2), pages 711-744.
    3. Francesco Nucci & Alberto F. Pozzolo & Fabiano Schivardi, 2005. "Is Firm's Productivity Related to its Financial Structure? Evidence from Microeconomic Data," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 95(1), pages 269-290, January-F.
    4. Coricelli, Fabrizio & Driffield, Nigel & Pal, Sarmistha & Roland, Isabelle, 2012. "When does leverage hurt productivity growth? A firm-level analysis," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1674-1694.
    5. Flora Bellone & Patrick Musso & Lionel Nesta & Stefano Schiavo, 2010. "Financial Constraints and Firm Export Behaviour," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 347-373, March.
    6. Matthieu Crozet & Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2012. "Quality Sorting and Trade: Firm-level Evidence for French Wine," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(2), pages 609-644.
    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.
    8. Fan, Haichao & Lai, Edwin L.-C. & Li, Yao Amber, 2015. "Credit constraints, quality, and export prices: Theory and evidence from China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 390-416.
    9. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Boutin, Xavier & Cestone, Giacinta & Fumagalli, Chiara & Pica, Giovanni & Serrano-Velarde, Nicolas, 2013. "The deep-pocket effect of internal capital markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 122-145.
    11. repec:clu:wpaper:0708-12 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Amit Khandelwal, 2010. "The Long and Short (of) Quality Ladders," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(4), pages 1450-1476.
    13. Kalina Manova & Zhiwei Zhang, 2012. "Export Prices Across Firms and Destinations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 379-436.
    14. Chaney, Thomas, 2016. "Liquidity constrained exporters," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 141-154.
    15. Michael S. Long & Ileen B. Malitz, 1985. "Investment Patterns and Financial Leverage," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Capital Structures in the United States, pages 325-352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Maksimovic, Vojislav & Titman, Sheridan, 1991. "Financial Policy and Reputation for Product Quality," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 175-200.
    17. David A. Matsa, 2011. "Running on Empty? Financial Leverage and Product Quality in the Supermarket Industry," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 137-173, February.
    18. Greenaway, David & Guariglia, Alessandra & Kneller, Richard, 2007. "Financial factors and exporting decisions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 377-395, November.
    19. 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.
    20. Irving B. Kravis & Robert E. Lipsey, 1971. "Price Competitiveness in World Trade," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number krav71-1, March.
    21. Paulo Macas Nunes & Tiago Neves Sequeira & Zelia Serrasqueiro, 2007. "Firms' leverage and labour productivity: a quantile approach in Portuguese firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(14), pages 1783-1788.
    22. Mick Silver, 2007. "Do Unit Value Export, Import, and Terms of Trade Indices Represent or Misrepresent Price Indices?," IMF Working Papers 2007/121, International Monetary Fund.
    23. Maurice Kugler & Eric Verhoogen, 2012. "Prices, Plant Size, and Product Quality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 307-339.
    24. Aviv Nevo, 2000. "A Practitioner's Guide to Estimation of Random‐Coefficients Logit Models of Demand," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 513-548, December.
    25. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    26. Aivazian, Varouj A. & Ge, Ying & Qiu, Jiaping, 2005. "The impact of leverage on firm investment: Canadian evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 277-291, March.
    27. Gaulier, Guillaume & Zignago, Soledad, 2004. "Notes on BACI (analytical database of international trade). 1989-2002 version," MPRA Paper 32401, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Minetti, Raoul & Zhu, Susan Chun, 2011. "Credit constraints and firm export: Microeconomic evidence from Italy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 109-125, March.
    29. Bastos, Paulo & Silva, Joana, 2010. "The quality of a firm's exports: Where you export to matters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 99-111, November.
    30. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bastos, Paulo & Silva, Joana, 2010. "The quality of a firm's exports: Where you export to matters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 99-111, November.
    2. Haeng-Sun KIM, 2016. "Firms' leverage and export market participation: Evidence from South Korea," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 148, pages 41-58.
    3. Carsten Eckel & Florian Unger, 2023. "Credit Constraints, Endogenous Innovations, And Price Setting In International Trade," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1715-1747, November.
    4. Miravitlles, Paloma & Mora, Toni & Achcaoucaou, Fariza, 2016. "The role of corporate financial structure in the export propensity of manufacturing firms," Economics Discussion Papers 2016-16, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Nathan Mugumisi, 2018. "Zimbabwean Manufacturing Firms' Propensity and Intensity to Export in the Post Zimbabwean Dollar Era," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(1), pages 42-48.
    6. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "A survey of empirical studies using transaction level data on exports and imports," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 152(1), pages 215-225, February.
    7. Ciani, Andrea & Bartoli, Francesca, 2015. "Export quality upgrading under credit constraints," DICE Discussion Papers 191, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    8. Haeng-Sun Kim, 2016. "Firms’ Leverage and Export Market Participation: Evidence from South Korea," Working Papers halshs-01643899, HAL.
    9. SAITO Hisamitsu & MATSUURA Toshiyuki, 2016. "Agglomeration Economies, Productivity, and Quality Upgrading," Discussion papers 16085, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    10. Crinò, Rosario & Ogliari, Laura, 2015. "Financial Frictions, Product Quality, and International Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 10555, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Andrea Ciani & Francesca Bartoli, 2020. "Export quality differentiation under credit constraints," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1398-1433, May.
    12. Saito, Hisamitsu, 2021. "Foreign direct investment and quality upgrading in Indonesian manufacturing," MPRA Paper 106770, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Michel Bernini & Sarah Guillou & Flora Bellone, 2013. "Firms leverage and export quality evidence from France," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-00973035, HAL.
    5. Bernini, Michele & Guillou, Sarah & Bellone, Flora, 2015. "Financial leverage and export quality: Evidence from France," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 280-296.
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/14bcgn3ce19ns9gv417qkp04in is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni & Chiara Tomasi, 2016. "Export price adjustments under financial constraints," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(3), pages 1057-1085, August.
    8. Crinò, Rosario & Ogliari, Laura, 2015. "Financial Frictions, Product Quality, and International Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 10555, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Sofia Anyfantaki & Sarantis Kalyvitis & Margarita Katsimi & Eirini Thomaidou, 2018. "Export pricing at the firm level with panel data," Working Papers 241, Bank of Greece.
    10. Carsten Eckel & Florian Unger, 2023. "Credit Constraints, Endogenous Innovations, And Price Setting In International Trade," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1715-1747, November.
    11. Choi, ByeongHwa, 2023. "The impact of financial development on innovation-based exports: Do all firms benefit equally?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 81-100.
    12. Crinò, Rosario & Ogliari, Laura, 2017. "Financial imperfections, product quality, and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 63-84.
    13. Dinopoulos, Elias & Kalyvitis, Sarantis & Katsimi, Margarita, 2020. "Variable export price elasticity, product quality, and credit constraints: Theory and evidence from Greek firms," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    14. Chen, Minjia & Guariglia, Alessandra, 2013. "Internal financial constraints and firm productivity in China: Do liquidity and export behavior make a difference?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 1123-1140.
    15. Cheng, Dong & Tan, Yong & Yu, Jian, 2017. "Credit Rationing and Firm Exports: Micro Evidence from SMEs in China," MPRA Paper 81914, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Nguyen, Quyen T.K. & Almodóvar, Paloma & Wei, Ziyi, 2022. "Intra-firm and arm’s length export propensity and intensity of MNE foreign subsidiaries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 288-308.
    17. Angelo Secchi & Federico Tamagni & Chiara Tomasi, 2011. "Exporting under financial constraints: margins, switching dynamics and prices," LEM Papers Series 2011/24, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    18. José Manuel Mansilla-Fernández & Juliette Milgram-Baleix, 2023. "Working capital management, financial constraints and exports: evidence from European and US manufacturers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1769-1810, April.
    19. Flach, Lisandra & Unger, Florian, 2022. "Quality and gravity in international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    20. Nakhoda, Aadil, 2012. "The influence of financial leverage of firms on their international trading activities," MPRA Paper 35765, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Dong Cheng & Yong Tan & Jian Yu, 2021. "Credit rationing and firm exports: Microeconomic evidence from small and medium‐sized enterprises in China," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(1), pages 286-311, January.
    22. Andrea Ciani & Francesca Bartoli, 2020. "Export quality differentiation under credit constraints," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 1398-1433, May.
    23. Chen, Natalie & Juvenal, Luciana, 2022. "Markups, quality, and trade costs," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    24. Jaimovich, Esteban & Merella, Vincenzo, 2015. "Love for quality, comparative advantage, and trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 376-391.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/f6h8764enu2lskk9p4sr364g4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Spire @ Sciences Po Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ecspofr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.