Mergers and corporate debt financing

We investigate the effect of mergers on corporate debt financing using time series analysis. We find that corporate debt use increases during periods of very high merger activity but is not significantly affected by variations within the normal range of merger activity. Traditional trade-off and pecking order variables also significantly affect corporate financing choice.     

Corporate taxation, debt financing and foreign-plant ownership

This paper compares domestically and foreign-owned plants with respect to their debt-to-assets ratio and analyzes to which extent the difference is systematically affected by corporate taxation. To derive hypotheses about influence of corporate taxation on a firm's debt financing we adapt a standard model of taxation and financing decisions of firms for the case of international debt shifting activities of foreign-owned firms. We estimate the average difference between a foreign-owned and a domestically owned firm's debt ratio, treating the mode of ownership as endogenous. Using data from 32,067 European firms, we find that foreign-owned firms on average exhibit a significantly higher debt ratio than their domestically owned counterparts in the host country. Moreover, this gap in the debt ratio increases with the host country's statutory corporate tax rate.     

Capital control, debt financing and innovative activity

The present paper discusses the effects of dispersed versus concentrated capital ownership on investment into innovative activity. While the market for equity capital might exert insufficient control on top managements’ behavior, this weakness may be mitigated by a suitable degree of debt financing. We report the results of an empirical study on the determinants of innovative activity measured by patent applications. Using a large sample of German manufacturing firms, we find that companies with widely held capital stock are more active in innovation, i.e. weakly controlled managers show a higher innovation propensity. However, the higher the leverage the more disciplined the managers behave.     

The impact of convertible debt financing on investment timing

We develop a model to examine the timing of investment decisions in relation to the issuance of convertible debt by firms. Our model shows that when the demand shock has higher volatility, the firm finances the investment cost with high-coupon convertible debt. We find that default occurs earlier for firms that finance with convertible debt rather than with straight debt. We also find that firms with high-growth prospection, high volatility, and low capital costs that issue convertible debt tend to defer investments. Furthermore, we examine the investment decisions in which the convertible debt includes a call provision. We show that firms that use callable convertible debt invest earlier than those that use non-callable convertible debt by using suboptimal coupon payments. The opportunity from the forced conversion increases as the volatility increases. These results are consistent with recent empirical evidence.     

浅析我国上市公司债权治理效应

负债不仅是企业融通资金的一种方武,还具有公司治理的功效.我国目前债权治理出现弱化的现象,为了改善和提高我国公司治理效率,实现有效的债权治理,应当大力发展债券市场、建立真实的债权债务关系、建立起有效的破产机制、完善主办银行制度、加强中介机构的培育浣善信息披露制度、优化企业负债结构等.     

Political uncertainty and corporate debt financing: empirical evidence from China

We examine the influence of political uncertainty on corporate debt financing under the Chinese highly specialized political system. A new reasonable and effective alternative indicator, official turnover reason, is constructed to measure different political uncertainty level. Robust results suggest that listed companies will keep low debt financing level and smooth debt financing volatility under political uncertainty, which will be weakened during the global financial crisis. We also find that the listed company will raise equity financing level while overall financing is significantly reduced. In addition, SOEs are more sensitive to political uncertainty than non-SOEs, as they have stronger political connections with government officials.     

The interplay between target firm R&D,acquirer debt financing and takeover premia

The level of acquisition premia is of paramount importance in light of the vast sums paid to target shareholders and the often disappointing returns realized by corporate buyers. In this letter, we focus on the impact of R&D investments by targets on the acquisition premium contingent upon the acquirer’s financing choices. Based on a unique hand-collected sample of 407 listed European transactions, we find a positive effect of target R&D on premia paid. Yet, when acquirers finance the acquisition of an R&D intensive target with debt, the positive relation disappears. Consequently, we establish that financing sources affect bidding strategies of acquiring companies in case of difficult-to-value targets.     

International capital flows under asymmetric information and costly monitoring: implications of debt and equity financing

Abstract.  The impact of increased equity trade on a small open economy is examined. Stochastic second‐period output depends on first‐period investment. Owing to information asymmetries, domestic agents cannot reveal credibly the level of first‐period investment to international financiers. Consistent with recent proposals to strengthen the international financial system, domestic firms choose to incur self‐monitoring costs to increase capital inflows. As an alternative to borrowing, domestic agents may sell ownership claims to second‐period output. When equity claims convey information, equity trade is preferred to international borrowing, consistent with developing economies' observed reliance on international equity relative to debt in recent years. JEL Classification: F41, G15     

Macroprudential policy with convertible debt

This paper studies the effectiveness of countercyclical capital requirements and contingent convertible capital (CoCos) in limiting financial instability, and its associated influence on the real economy. To do this, I augment both features into a standard business cycle framework with an equity market and a banking sector. The model is calibrated to real U.S. data and used for simulations. The findings suggest that a countercyclical capital adequacy rule and CoCos provide an effective dual approach to macroprudential policy. On the one hand, a capital adequacy rule mitigates the build-up of systemic risk through a capital buffer. On the other hand, CoCos are able to reduce the impact of a sudden decline in bank capital.     

Strategic debt with multi-task technologies

In this paper it is shown that when employees have ex post bargaining power, the entrepreneur will try to avoid technologies that are based on a large number of complementary tasks. We demonstrate that the entrepreneur can shelter profit from the employees' rent-seeking behaviour by raising debt. Moreover, the strategic use of debt financing can favour the adoption of technologies that rely on synergies. JEL Classification: G31, J30, L20
Dette stratégique en présence de technologies impliquant plusieurs tâches. Ce mémoire montre que quand les employés ont un pouvoir de négociation ex post, l'entrepreneur va tenter d'éviter les technologies qui sont basées sur un grand nombre de tâches complémentaires. On montre que l'entrepreneur peut protéger ses profits des activités de chasse aux rentes des employés en accroissant sa dette. De plus, l'utilisation stratégique du financement par la dette peut favoriser l'adoption de technologies qui dépendent de synergies.     

Forecasting household debt with latent transition modelling

Latent transition modelling (LTM) was used to forecast household debt patterns. A model based on three waves (2011, 2013 and 2015) and over 36,000 responses from the biennial panel study of Polish households – Social Diagnosis – provided data for these forecasts. Based on the fact that transitions between latent states are shaped by previous latent states and socio-economic covariates – age of household head, income and number of household members – we were able to demonstrate LTM as a tool to generate aggregate predictions for both medium- and long-term evolution of the household credit market. The declining tendency for household credit participation rates in Poland is expected in the longer term. In particular, the trend should be supported by decline in the proportion of mortgage debtors. The groups of households indebted for the consumption of durables and those seeking credit outside the banking sector are the groups predicted to remain stable or increase in size.     

Optimal taxation with endogenously incomplete debt markets

Empirical analyses of labor tax and public debt processes provide prima facie evidence for imperfect government insurance. This paper considers a model in which the government's inability to commit to future policies or to report truthfully its spending needs renders government debt markets endogenously incomplete. A method for solving for optimal fiscal policy under these constraints is developed. Such policy is found to be intermediate between that implied by the complete insurance (Ramsey) model and a model with exogenously incomplete debt markets. In contrast to optimal Ramsey policy, optimal policy in this model is consistent with a variety of stylized fiscal policy facts such as the high persistence of labor tax rates and debt levels and the positive covariance between government spending and the value of government debt sales.     

Education and growth with endogenous debt constraints

When future human capital cannot be alienated, households are allowed to borrow up to the point where it is in their own interest not to default. In such a framework, endogenous borrowing limits arise as the outcome of individual rationality constraint. In a model where education is the engine of growth, we show that endogenous borrowing constraints imply global indeterminacy. Comparing outcomes across the various equilibria we show that the relation between growth and yields is hump-shaped. Maximum growth can arise in an equilibrium with binding borrowing constraints, specially if the elasticity of human capital to education spending is large. Deepening financial markets promotes long-run growth in the case of a poverty trap, but not necessarily otherwise. On the methodological side, our approach stresses the importance of studying borrowing limits in general equilibrium, not only in small open economies. Philippe Michel passed away on July 22, 2004. His death is a great loss for his friends and for the overlapping generations and optimal control community.     

Public debt dynamics with tax revenue constraints

We develop a dynamic model of public debt under the assumption that it is problematic for governments to implement fast increases of tax revenues, as new taxes require costly infrastructure and expertise that can be built only over time. In this environment, the standard condition requiring economic growth greater than interest costs is not sufficient to guarantee financial stability. Debt might become unstable if the gap between these two indicators falls below a given threshold. Our empirical analysis based on historical public finance data for the US provides strong support for the model. This study conveys a cautionary warning, because the debt of relatively safe borrowers may suddenly become unstable for instance because of a substantial deceleration in the growth of nominal income. These issues can be particularly relevant for those countries that do not have a modern and efficient tax collection system.     

Growth and external debt under risk of debt repudiation

We analyze the pattern of growth of a nation which borrows abroad and which has the option of repudiating its foreign debt. We show that the equilibrium strategy of competitive lendrs is to make the growth of the foreign debt contingent on the growth of the borrowing country. We give a closed-form solution to a linear version of our model. The economy, in that case, follows a two-stage pattern of growth. During the first stage, the debt grows more rapidly than the economy. During the second stage, both the debt and the economy grow at the same rate, and more slowly than in the first stage. During this second stage, the total interest falling due on the debt is never entirely repaid; only an amount proportional to the difference of the rate of interest and the rate of growth of the economy is repaid each period.     

The debt hangover: Renegotiation with noncontractible investment

This paper analyses the incentives of the equityholders of a levered company to undertake noncontractible investments. This noncontrability is shown to seriously impede the efficiency of any renegotiation process in the debt overhang problems. Conditions for obtaining a fully efficient level of investment choice are derived.     

International coordination of debt rules with time-inconsistent voters

In this study, we investigate the international coordination of debt rules in an economy consisting of several countries with varying degrees of present bias. A case wherein each country sets its own uncoordinated debt rules is compared with a case wherein all countries have common coordinated debt rules. Countries with weak present-biased preferences increase their debt issuance and suffer from welfare losses by participating in coordination. In contrast, countries with strong present-biased preferences reduce their debt issuance and can enjoy welfare improvement by participating in coordination. The contrasting results suggest the possibility that countries with weak present-biased preferences have little incentive to follow the coordinated rule.     

Government debt maturity and debt dynamics in euro area countries

This paper studies the impact of debt maturity on the dynamics of sovereign debt of Euro Area (EA) countries. Due to lack of data, this key issue had not been studied before. Thus, my first contribution is to build a new comprehensive database of sovereign debt stocks and yields, at all different maturities, for six EA countries in 1991–2013: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In general, since 1991, interests rates in the EA have fallen while Treasuries in the region extended debt maturity; thus, an increasing number of long-term bondholders experienced large capital gains. I show with counterfactual simulations the effect of a different maturity structure on the evolution of debt. My analysis suggests that extending debt maturity in 2013–2015 would result in lower debt ratios by 2022. I also estimate the impact on EA debt-to-GDP ratios induced by changes in current and future inflation. My estimates indicate that higher (lower) inflation in EA countries would lower (raise) their fiscal burden much more than in the US.     

Creative financing

By taxing or seeking donations from health care providers, states have increased federal matching to pay medicaid costs. The Bush Administration views the practice as a scam.