This paper examines how the ability to access long-term debt affects firm-level growth volatility. The analysis finds that firms in industries with stronger preference to use long-term finance relative to short-term finance experience lower growth volatility in countries with better-developed...

This paper investigates empirically the linkages between corporate debt overhang and investment activity at the firm level for a cross section of large-sized emerging market and developing economies. It analyzes the extent to which investment may be discouraged by high levels of debt that put at...

Using a comprehensive and proprietary data set on international private equity activity, this paper studies the determinants of buyout investments across 61 countries and 19 industries over 1990-2017. The study finds evidence that macroeconomic conditions, development of stock and credit...

This paper documents to what extent firms from developing countries borrow short versus long term, using data on corporate bond and syndicated loan markets. Contrary to claims in the literature based on firm balance sheets, firms from developing countries borrow through bonds and syndicated...

In the 2000s, global inequality fell for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, driven by a decline in the dispersion of average incomes across countries. Between 1988 and 2008, a period of rapidly increasing global integration, income growth was largest for the global top 1 percent and...

Over the past decades, many countries have implemented significant reforms to foster capital market development. Latin American countries were at the forefront of this process. The authors analyze where Latin American capital markets stand after these reforms. They find that despite the intense...

Financial crises affect income distribution via different channels. This paper argues that there is an important channel overlooked by the literature, namely the financial channel. We study how this channel operates by analyzing data from several Latin American countries, including Argentina,...

Emerging market corporations have significantly increased their borrowing in international markets since 2008. This paper shows that this increase was driven by large-denomination bond issuances, most of them with face value of US$500 million. Large issuances are eligible for inclusion in...