The authors investigate whether firms'access to external financing, to fund growth differs between market-based, and bank-based financial systems. Using firm-level data for forty countries, they compute the proportion of firms in each country that relies on external finance, and examine how that...

The authors focus on two issues. First they examine whether firms in different countries finance long-term and short term investment similarly. Second, they investigate whether differences in financial systems and legal institutions across countries are reflected in the ability of firms to grow...

The authors empirically analyze the association between firm financing choices and the level of development of financial markets in 30 countries for the period 1980-91. For the whole sample, there is a statistically significant negative correlation between stock market development, as measured...

The authors argue that non-financial firms act as intermediaries, by channeling short-term funds from the financial institutions in an economy, to their best use. Non-financial firms act in this way because they may have a comparative advantage in exploiting informal means of ensuring that...

The authors investigate capital structures in a sample of the largest publicly traded firms in ten developing countries - Brazil, India, Jordan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and Zimbabwe - for 1980 - 91. The firms in the sample are smaller than comparable...

The authors use survey data on a sample of over 10,000 firms from 80 countries to assess (1) how successful a priori classifications are in distinguishing between financially constrained and unconstrained firms, and (2) more generally, the determinants of financing obstacles of firms. They find...

This report examines the maturity of liabilities in firms in thirty developed and developing countries between 1980 and 1991. It finds systematic differences in the use of long-term debt between developed and developing countries, and between small and large firms. The authors attempt to explain...

Theory makes ambiguous predictions about the effects of bank concentration on access to external finance. Using a unique data base for 74 countries offinancing obstacles and financing patterns for firms of small, medium, and large size, the authors assess the effects of banking market structure...

Using a firm-level survey database covering 48 countries, the authors investigate whether differences in financial and legal development affect the way firms finance their investments. The results indicate that external financing of investments is not a function of institutions, although the...

Using bank data for 80 countries for 1988-95, the authors show that differences in interest margins and bank profitability reflect various determinants: bank characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, explicit and implicit bank taxes, regulation of deposit insurance, general financial structure,...