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Stock liquidity, corporate governance, and leverage: New panel evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Nadarajah Sivathaasan
  • Searat Ali
  • Benjamin Liu
  • Allen Huang

Abstract

We examine the effect of stock liquidity and corporate governance on the firm's leverage decision in the order-driven stock trading system and less stringent governance environment of Australia. Using a sample of 1207 non-financial firms from 2001 to 2013, resulting in 9855 firm-year observations, we find the posited negative stock liquidity–leverage relation, confirming prior research observations that firms with more liquid stocks are significantly less leveraged. We also find a significant and negative relation between corporate governance quality (CGQ) and leverage, indicating that firms with high CGQ significantly reduce leverage. In a closer analysis, we find that the significantly negative CGQ–leverage relation exists only for firms with high stock liquidity and does not exist for firms with low stock liquidity. Our study is the first to examine such an interactive relationship among stock liquidity, corporate governance and leverage. The results, which are robust to a range of alternative proxies and to additional tests, provide new insights into the determinants of leverage.
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Suggested Citation

  • Nadarajah Sivathaasan & Searat Ali & Benjamin Liu & Allen Huang, 2016. "Stock liquidity, corporate governance, and leverage: New panel evidence," Discussion Papers in Finance finance:201603, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:gri:fpaper:finance:201603
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    File URL: https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/390308/2016-03-stock-liquidity-corporate-governance-and-leverage.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Abdul Rashid & Hira Mehmood, 2017. "Liquidity and Capital Structure: The Case of Pakistani Non-Financial Firms," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(2), pages 675-685.
    2. Chien Chi Chu & Xiu‐Fen Su & Yu‐En Lin & Akihiro Omura & Bin Li & Adrian Wai‐Kong Cheung, 2023. "Love thy neighbour: Evidence from capital structure decisions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 2907-2933, September.
    3. Faozi A Almaqtari & Najib H S Farhan & Hamood Mohammed Al-Hattami & Tamer Elsheikh, 2022. "The moderation role of board independence change in the relationship between board characteristics, related party transactions, and financial performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(12), pages 1-38, December.
    4. Xie, Linyin, 2025. "Stock illiquidity and economic policy uncertainty in Chinese security market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    5. Balachandran, Balasingham & Williams, Barry, 2018. "Effective governance, financial markets, financial institutions & crises," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-15.
    6. Barros, Victor & Verga Matos, Pedro & Miranda Sarmento, Joaquim & Rino Vieira, Pedro, 2024. "ESG performance and firms’ business and geographical diversification: An empirical approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    7. Jia Jia Hing & Yee Peng Chow, 2022. "Influence of institutional investor heterogeneity on stock liquidity and its underlying liquidity channels," International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(3), pages 252-278.
    8. Armanious, Amir & Zhao, Ruoyun, 2024. "Stock liquidity effect on leverage: The role of debt security, financial constraint, and risk around the global financial crisis and Covid-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. Pombo, Carlos & Taborda, Rodrigo, 2017. "Stock liquidity and second blockholder as drivers of corporate value: Evidence from Latin America," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 214-234.
    10. Chuong Hong Pham & Hoang Duc Le & Hung Quoc Dang & Uyen Tu Bui, 2020. "Investor Protection, Stock Liquidity, and Capital Structure," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 11(4), pages 357-369, July.
    11. Searat Ali & Benjamin Liu & Jen Je Su, 2022. "Does corporate governance have a differential effect on downside and upside risk?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(9-10), pages 1642-1695, October.
    12. Md. Rashidul Islam, 2024. "How to Achieve Financial Flexibility: the Role of Corporate Governance," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 6541-6577, June.
    13. Akbar, Muhammad & Hussain, Shahzad & Ahmad, Tanveer & Hassan, Shoib, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Firm Performance in Pakistan: Dynamic Panel Estimation," CAFE Working Papers 6, Centre for Accountancy, Finance and Economics (CAFE), Birmingham City Business School, Birmingham City University.
    14. Robert W. Faff, 2019. "Adopting a Structured Abstract Design to More Effectively Catch Reader Attention: An Application of the Pitching Research® Framework," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 27(2), pages 1-13.
    15. Nguyen, Thi Khanh Giang & Ozawa, Tomoyuki & Fan, Pengda, 2024. "Sanpo-yoshi, top management personal values, and ESG performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    16. Priyanka Naik & Y. V. Reddy, 2021. "Stock Market Liquidity: A Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    17. Khalatur Svetlana & Zubkova Yuliia, 2018. "Improvement of methodological principles of financial resources management of enterprises in economy of Ukraine," Technology audit and production reserves, 5(43) 2018, Socionet;Technology audit and production reserves, vol. 5(5(43)), pages 29-37.
    18. Barros, Victor & Verga Matos, Pedro & Miranda Sarmento, Joaquim & Rino Vieira, Pedro, 2022. "M&A activity as a driver for better ESG performance," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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