IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/stc/stcp3e/2005256e.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trade Liberalization, Profitability, and Financial Leverage

Author

Listed:
  • Baggs, Jennifer
  • Brander, James A.

Abstract

We investigate whether trade liberalization affects profitability and financial leverage, using Canadian data from the period following implementation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. We find that falling domestic tariffs are associated with declining profits and increasing leverage for import-competing firms, while falling foreign tariffs are associated with increasing profits and decreasing leverage for firms in export-oriented industries. This pattern is consistent with the "pecking order" theory of capital structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Baggs, Jennifer & Brander, James A., 2005. "Trade Liberalization, Profitability, and Financial Leverage," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005256e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    • Handle: RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2005256e
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11F0019M2005256
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nina Pavcnik, 2002. "Trade Liberalization, Exit, and Productivity Improvements: Evidence from Chilean Plants," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(1), pages 245-276.
    2. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 1999. "Rationalization effects of tariff reductions," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 295-320, April.
    3. Noel Gaston & Daniel Trefler, 1997. "The Labour Market Consequences of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(1), pages 18-41, February.
    4. Daniel Trefler, 2004. "The Long and Short of the Canada-U. S. Free Trade Agreement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 870-895, September.
    5. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    6. 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.
    7. Eugene Beaulieu, 2000. "The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and labour market adjustment in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 33(2), pages 540-563, May.
    8. Jen Baggs, 2005. "Firm survival and exit in response to trade liberalization," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1364-1383, November.
    9. Maksimovic, Vojislav & Zechner, Josef, 1991. "Debt, Agency Costs, and Industry Equilibrium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1619-1643, December.
    10. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    11. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    12. Ritter, Jay R, 1991. "The Long-run Performance of Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 3-27, March.
    13. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Kovenock, Dan & Phillips, Gordon, 1995. "Capital Structure and Product-Market Rivalry: How Do We Reconcile Theory and Evidence?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 403-408, May.
    15. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    16. Bris, Arturo & Koskinen, Yrjö & Nilsson, Mattias, 2003. "The Euro is Good After All: Evidence from Corporate Valuations," CEPR Discussion Papers 3910, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Shyam-Sunder, Lakshmi & C. Myers, Stewart, 1999. "Testing static tradeoff against pecking order models of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 219-244, February.
    18. Denny Lewis‐Bynoe & Jennifer Griffith & Winston Moore, 2002. "Trade Liberalization And The Manufacturing Sector: The Case Of The Small Developing Country," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 20(3), pages 272-287, July.
    19. 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.
    20. Ikenberry, David & Lakonishok, Josef & Vermaelen, Theo, 1995. "Market underreaction to open market share repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 181-208.
    21. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    22. Brander, James A. & Lewis, Tracy R., 1986. "Oligopoly and Financial Structure: The Limited Liability Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 956-970, December.
    23. Gu, Wulong Sawchuk, Gary Whewell, Lori, 2003. "The Effect of Tariff Reductions on Firm Size and Firm Turnover in Canadian Manufacturing," Economic Analysis (EA) Research Paper Series 2003014e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    24. Frank, Murray Z. & Goyal, Vidhan K., 2003. "Testing the pecking order theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 217-248, February.
    25. Wulong Gu & Gary Sawchuk & Lori Rennison, 2003. "The effect of tariff reductions on firm size and firm turnover in canadian manufacturing," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 139(3), pages 440-459, September.
    26. Bayless, Mark & Chaplinsky, Susan, 1996. "Is There a Window of Opportunity for Seasoned Equity Issuance?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 253-278, March.
    27. Mahua Barari, 1997. "Trade policy with asset markets: The role of financial structure for time consistency," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 3(1), pages 18-36, February.
    28. James A. Brander & Tracy R. Lewis, 1988. "Bankruptcy Costs and the Theory of Oligopoly," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 21(2), pages 221-243, May.
    29. Cole, Harold, 1988. "Financial Structure and International Trade," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 29(2), pages 237-259, May.
    30. Chevalier, Judith A, 1995. "Capital Structure and Product-Market Competition: Empirical Evidence from the Supermarket Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 415-435, June.
    31. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    32. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    33. James A. Brander, 1989. "Election Polls, Free Trade, and the Stock Market: Evidence from the Canadian General Election," NBER Working Papers 3073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. Peter MacKay & Gordon M. Phillips, 2002. "Is There an Optimal Industry Financial Structure?," NBER Working Papers 9032, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. James A. Brander, 1991. "Election Polls, Free Trade, and the Stock Market: Evidence from the 1988 Canadian General Election," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 24(4), pages 827-843, November.
    36. Jensen, Michael C, 1988. "Takeovers: Their Causes and Consequences," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 21-48, Winter.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Baggs, Jennifer & Brander, James A., 2005. "Liberalisation des echanges, rentabilite et levier financier," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2005256f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    2. Wu, Xueping & Au Yeung, Chau Kin, 2012. "Firm growth type and capital structure persistence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3427-3443.
    3. Barclay, Michael J. & Fu, Fangjian & Smith, Clifford W., 2021. "Seasoned equity offerings and corporate financial management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Kayhan, Ayla & Titman, Sheridan, 2007. "Firms' histories and their capital structures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 1-32, January.
    5. Shoaib Ali & Attiya Yasmin Javid, 2015. "Relationship between Credit Rating, Capital Structure and Earning Management Behaviour: Evidence from Pakistani Listed Firms," PIDE-Working Papers 2015:121, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    6. Elsas, Ralf & Florysiak, David, 2008. "Empirical Capital Structure Research: New Ideas, Recent Evidence, and Methodological Issues," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 4743, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    7. Pinnuck, Matt & Shekhar, Chander, 2013. "The profit versus loss heuristic and firm financing decisions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 420-439.
    8. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Pensa, Pascal & Wöhle, Claudia B., 2004. "Kapitalstrukturtheorie in Theorie und Praxis: Ergebnisse einer Fragebogenuntersuchung," Working papers 2004/09, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    9. Maclachlan, Iain C, 2007. "An empirical study of corporate bond pricing with unobserved capital structure dynamics," MPRA Paper 28416, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Sébastien LaRochelle‐Côté, 2007. "Tariff reduction and employment in Canadian manufacturing," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(3), pages 843-860, August.
    11. Oscar Briones & Melisa Chang, 2017. "Capital Structure Determinants Influence: A Comparative Study," Proceedings of International Academic Conferences 5007097, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    12. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    13. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    14. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo & Francisco, Paulo, 2014. "Board of directors’ composition and financing choices," MPRA Paper 52973, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    15. Ajid ur Rehman & Man Wang & Sultan Sikandar Mirza, 2017. "How do Chinese firms adjust their financial leverage: an empirical investigation using multiple GMM models," China Finance and Economic Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-30, December.
    16. Andres, Christian & Cumming, Douglas & Karabiber, Timur & Schweizer, Denis, 2014. "Do markets anticipate capital structure decisions? — Feedback effects in equity liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 133-156.
    17. Mohamed, Hisham Hanifa & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla I., 2015. "Why do issuers issue Sukuk or conventional bond? Evidence from Malaysian listed firms using partial adjustment models," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 233-252.
    18. Diana Bonfim & Paula Antão, 2012. "The dynamics of capital structure decisions," Working Papers w201206, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    19. Chen, Tsung-Kang & Liao, Hsien-Hsing & Chen, Wei-Lun, 2014. "Production efficiency uncertainty and corporate credit risk: Structural form credit model perspectives," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 266-280.
    20. Eric Molay, 2005. "La structure financière du capital:tests empiriques sur le marché français," Revue Finance Contrôle Stratégie, revues.org, vol. 8(4), pages 153-175, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business adaptation and adjustment; Business performance and ownership; Financial statements and performance; International trade; Trade patterns;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:stc:stcp3e:2005256e. 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: Mark Brown (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/stagvca.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.