This paper reviews the impact of institutional variables on the capital structure of firms throughout the recent financial crises (dot.com bubble, subprime crisis, and European sovereign debt crisis). For the first time, the sovereign general gross debt and current account balance have entered...

In this research paper we examine the determinants of capital structure using a large panel of firms from 31 countries, all with different legal systems and different levels of investor protection. Our results confirm that institutional variables play an important role in a firm's capital...