This paper documents that standard cross-sectional determinants of firm leverage also apply to the capital structure of large banks in the United States and Europe. We find a remarkable consistency in sign, significance and economic magnitude. Like non-financial firms, banks appear to have...

Using recently collected data on Finnish small businesses, we provide evidence that the debt capacity of growth options, defined as the amount of debt that firms optimally raise for an incremental project, is negative, especially in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. We...

Using new data originating from a recently conducted survey, this paper examines the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in private equity and debt markets in Finland. We find that the three most important sources of funds are the principal owner’s equity, trade credit...

This paper investigates the empirical evidence on determinants of financing decisions on the pool of respondents among financial managers of Czech firms. The theoretical section provides an overview of prominent contemporary theories on capital structure. Employing Chi-square Sign Test and Logit...

This report presents a long-term view of the evolution of financing of EU non-financial corporations (NFCs) in recent decades. It finds a decline in NFC leverage since at least 2008, and across countries, size categories and industries. It also documents a growing role of non-bank financial...

We construct a comprehensive panel data of 96 publicly traded European utilities over the period 1994-2005 in order to study the relationship between the capital structure of regulated firms, regulated prices, and investments, and examine if and how this interaction is affected by ownership...

We extend the literature on the effects of managerial entrenchment on capital structure to consider how safety-net subsidies and financial distress costs interact with managerial incentives to influence capital structure in U.S. commercial banking. Using cross-sectional data on publicly traded,...

Using internal data of a leasing company in Germany, we examine the determinants of the probability and use of leasing by small firms. We find that small and young firms are likely to be constrained on the leasing market but use leasing to increase their debt capacity. Beyond contract- and...

We use a survey to identify a consumer bias with regard to different sources of debt-financing. Less salient debt may generate psychological benefits. This should be weighed against the possible economic costs of a sub-optimal capital structure; but low levels of financial literacy make it...

Bank capital regulation seems to be today's most accepted regulatory instrument. The reasoning is that limited liability and deposit insurance appear to give banks incentives for excessive risk-taking. Capital requirements can alleviate this problem as banks are obliged to hold more capital...