The Impact of COVID-19 and Its Policy Responses on Local Economy and Health Conditions

US states have implemented lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess the impact of state policy responses on local economic and health conditions, with the goal to shed light on marginal health benefits and economic costs associated with social distancing. We find that lockdown measures are effective in alleviating disease severity, but yield significant contraction of the economy. Deteriorating health conditions are disruptive to the labor supply, financial health, and economic output. The adverse economic impact of lockdowns exceeds the economic damage brought by the disease itself, but health conditions better forecast economic contraction outcomes

Political environment, financial intermediation costs, and financing patterns

Political environment is an important determinant of financial intermediation costs, which eventually affects the external financing patterns of firms. Political gyrations create policy uncertainty, which increases the information risk, weakens the investor demand, and reduces the offer size. This raises the securities’ placement costs for the financial intermediaries, who pass on these costs to the issuing firms in the form of higher underwriter spreads. The issuance costs for new equity and debt capital increase, leading to lower leverage. Simultaneous equation analysis of financing, investment, and cash policies reveals that this channel is distinct from previously documented effects of policy uncertainty on corporate outcomes

Debt Enforcement, Investment, and Risk Taking Across Countries

We argue that the prospect of an imperfect enforcement of debt contracts in default reduces shareholder-debtholder conflicts and induces leveraged firms to invest more and take on less risk as they approach financial distress. To test these predictions, we use a large panel of firms in 41 countries with heterogeneous debt enforcement characteristics. Consistent with our model, we find that the relation between debt enforcement and firms’ investment and risk depends on the firm-specific probability of default. A differences-in-differences analysis of firms’ investment and risk taking in response to bankruptcy reforms that make debt more renegotiable confirms the cross-country evidence

Financial Leverage and Debt Maturity Targeting: International Evidence

We provide evidence on leverage and debt maturity targeting in a large international setting. There are key differences in the relative importance of institutional factors in explaining actual as opposed to target capital structures. Targets and target deviations are plausibly influenced by the institutional environment. Firms from countries with strong legal institutions target lower leverage and higher long-term debt, whereas better-functioning financial systems result in lower target leverage and long-term debt. Financial crisis has shifted the desired structure of the securities toward shorter maturities and has led to more prevalent target deviations. Better institutions significantly decrease the likelihood of target deviations

The Impact of COVID-19 and Its Policy Responses on Local Economy and Health Conditions

US states have implemented lockdown measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess the impact of state policy responses on local economic and health conditions, with the goal to shed light on marginal health benefits and economic costs associated with social distancing. We find that lockdown measures are effective in alleviating disease severity, but yield significant contraction of the economy. Deteriorating health conditions are disruptive to the labor supply, financial health, and economic output. The adverse economic impact of lockdowns exceeds the economic damage brought by the disease itself, but health conditions better forecast economic contraction outcomes

Global leverage adjustments, uncertainty, and country institutional strength

Using a broad range of uncertainty measures, we show that uncertainty dramatically slows down firms’ adjustments toward their optimal capital structure. At the upper bound, the estimated speed of leverage adjustments almost halves when uncertainty is high. High quality institutions (common law legal origin, more disclosure to congress and/or to the public, and higher public sector ethics) and presidential political systems offset some of the adverse effects of uncertainty on leverage adjustments. The financial crisis has altered the relationships among uncertainty, adjustment speeds, and a country's institutions; more so for countries with weak institutions and parliamentary systems.peerReviewe