Do Financial Factors Affect The Capital-Labour Ratio: Evidence From UK Firm-Level Data

This paper analyses how firms’ capital-labour ratio is affected by cash flow, leverage, and collateral, and how this effect differs at firms more and less likely to face financing constraints using a rich UK firm-level data set. It is common in the literature to examine the impact of financial constraints on hiring and firing decisions separately from their impact on decisions related to investment in physical capital. We argue that as long as firms use both inputs in production and there is some substitutability between them, the two decisions need to be jointly analysed. When we differentiate across firms that are more or less financially constrained, we find that the former group exhibits higher sensitivities of the capital-labour ratio to firm-specific characteristics compared to the latter.Firm-specific characteristics, Capital-labour ratio, Financial constraints.

Do Financial Factors Affect the Capital-Labour Ratio? Evidence form UK FIrm-Level Data

This paper investigates the nexus between financial factors and the capital-labour ratio using a rich firm-level data set. It is common in the literature to examine the impact of financial constraints on hiring and firing decisions separately from their impact on decisions related to investment in physical capital. We argue that as long as firms use both inputs in production and there is some substitutability between them, the two decisions need to be jointly analyzed. When we differentiate across firms that are more or less financially constrained, we find that the former group exhibits higher sensitivi¬ties of the capital-labour ratio to firm-specific characteristics, compared to the latter.Financial constraints, Firm-specific characteristics, Capital-Labour ratio.

Financial frictions and the K/L ratio in UK manufacturing industries

Using comprehensive financial data on UK unquoted firms, we investigate whether technological differences of UK manufacturing industries influence the response of firms' capital-labour ratio (K/L) to changes in financial indicators under capital market imperfections. The results reveal that cash flow has a positive impact on the K/L ratio for constrained firms in high tech industries and a negative impact for firms with similar characteristics in low tech industries. Specifically, the sensitivity of the K/L ratio to cash flow not only depends on firms' net worth and financial frictions, but most importantly on firms' industry affiliation.

UK Evidence on the Effects of Firm-Specific Characteristics on the Capital-Labour ratio under Capital Market Imperfections

This paper contributes to the literature by introducing the nexus between financial constraints and the capital-labour uptake and by considering the capital-labour ratio to overcome the problems that have plagued investment literature -regarding the investment-cash flow sensitivity of constrained and unconstrained firms- that have focused only on investment ignoring employment decisions. The inclusion of the employment along with the capital can provide clear evidence about firms’ decisions on their allocation of funds between capital and labour. To detect any possible variation in our results across firms we use a sample of 17,350 quoted and unquoted UK firms over the period 1994-2004 and we estimate it applying panel data techniques. It is shown that balance sheet indicators such as leverage and cash flow result in lower K/L ratio, while the collateral ratio has a positive effect on the K/L ratio. In addition, when we differentiate the effects of the firm-specific characteristics across firms that are more or less financially constrained, we find that the former category exhibits a lower capital-labour ratio. Lastly, our results indicate that monetary policy shocks have an effect on the K/L ratio of more constrained firms.Financial constraints, Firm-specific characteristics, Capital-Labour ratio.

The role of bond finance in firms' survival during the Asian crisis

In this paper we assess the effects of bond financing on firms' survival during the 1997-98 Asian crisis. Using a novel database covering the period 1995 to 2007 for five Asian economies most affected by the crisis - Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand - we find strong evidence that the Asian crisis affected both directly and indirectly (through interactions with financial indicators) the probability of survival. More importantly, we show that bond issuers, irrespective of the currency denomination, are more likely to survive compared to non-issuers. Nevertheless, only firms issuing bonds in local currency are shielded from the adverse effects of the crisis.

Financial health, exports, and firm survival: A comparison of British and French firms.

We examine the differential effects of financial status and exporting activity on the likelihood of survival for firms in the UK and France - two countries with different financial systems. We aim to answer two main questions: What is the direct impact of financial characteristics and different facets of exporting activity on the likelihood of survival? Do the sensitivities of survival incidence to financial variables vary with the exporting status of firms? We find strong evidence that continuous exporters face a higher probability of survival compared to starters, continuous non-exporters and firms exiting the exporting market. Further, important sensitivities of survival prospects to financial indicators are observed for the UK firms which might be explained by the market based economy. Finally, a within and across countries comparison reveals that the survival of exporting groups varies substantially depending on firms' financial status, the financial system and the prolonged participation in the export market.survival; exports; financial health;

To what extent does the interest burden affect firm survival? Evidence from a panel of UK firms during the recent financial crisis

Using a panel of mainly unquoted UK firms over the period 2000–09, we document a significant effect of changes in the interest burden from debt-servicing on firm survival. The effect is found to be stronger during the recent financial crisis compared with more tranquil periods. Furthermore, the survival chances of bank-dependent, younger, and non-exporting firms are most affected by changes in the interest burden, especially during the crisis. Our results are robust to using different estimation methods and different interest burden measures They suggest that one way for policymakers to mitigate the effects of financial crises by limiting firm failures would be to prevent financing costs from rising, especially for those firms more likely to face liquidity constraints

Financial frictions and the K/L ratio in UK manufacturing industries

Using comprehensive financial data on UK unquoted firms, we investigate whether technological differences of UK manufacturing industries influence the response of firms' capital-labour ratio (K/L) to changes in financial indicators under capital market imperfections. The results reveal that cash flow has a positive impact on the K/L ratio for constrained firms in high tech industries and a negative impact for firms with similar characteristics in low tech industries. Specifically, the sensitivity of the K/L ratio to cash flow not only depends on firms' net worth and financial frictions, but most importantly on firms' industry affiliation

Export market exit and financial health in crises periods

This paper uses rich firm-level data for the UK to investigate the link between firms' financial health and export exit, paying attention to the ERM currency crisis and the global financial crisis. Our results show that deterioration in the financial position of firms has increased the hazard of export exit during the 2007-09 crisis but has no significant effect on the early 1990s crisis. We also explore the extent to which firms in financially vulnerable industries face greater sensitivity of export exit to financial conditions. We conclude that firms in sectors with great reliance on external finance experience higher hazards of exiting the export market during the 2007-09 crisis

Financial health, exports, and rm survival: Evidence from UK and French firms

We use firm level data to assess the role of exporting in the link between financial health and rm survival. The data are for the UK and France. We examine whether fi rms at diff erent stages of export activity (starters, exiters, continuers, switchers) react di fferently to changes in financial variables. In general, export starters and exiters experience much stronger adverse e ffects of fi nancial constraints for their survival prospects. By contrast, the exit probability of continuous exporters and export switchers is less negatively a ffected by financial characteristics. These relationships between exporting, finance and survival are broadly similar in the British and French sub-samples