Yes, they can! Machine learning models that exploit big data identify leverage determinants and predict leverage better than classical methods. By allowing for nonlinearities and complex interactions, machine learning boosts the out-of-sample R-squared from 36% to 56% over linear methods such as...

Important determinants of multinational firms’ choice of location include, besides resource cost and infrastructure, the taxation regime through its effects on international pricing and profits. This paper investigates the effects of tax rates on firms’ profits and financing decisions by...

Money is debt that circulates with no questions asked. Stablecoins are a new form of private money that circulate with many questions asked. We show how stablecoins can maintain a constant price even though they face run risk and pay no interest. Stablecoin holders are indirectly compensated for...

This study evaluates the impact of financial reforms on the corporate financing decisions of 23 Indian industries for the period 1989-2005. We argue that the impact will be industry-specific because the regulatory and financial framework in which industries operate differs across industries....

This paper attempts to investigate empirically whether financial and macroeconomic stability of economies are significantly affected by the structure of their financial systems, viz., bank-based and market-based structures. Using panel data estimations based on data from 82 countries for the...

This study investigates whether capital structure theory can explain debt ratios in an historical environment which was characterized by poor investor protection, booming stock markets and strong banks, and in which corporate income tax did not affect capital structure. Our results, based on a...

This paper explores pyramidal firms and their motivations for the use of debt financing. We find that pyramids have significantly higher leverage than non-pyramids and that the use of debt in pyramids is associated with the risk of expropriation. We do not find evidence for the...