Multinationals, Minority Ownership and Tax-Efficient Financing Structures

This paper presents a theory model that simultaneously accounts for the financing decisions and ownership structure in affiliates of multinational firms. We find that affiliates of multinationals have higher internal and overall debt ratios and lower rental rates of physical capital than comparable domestic firms. We also show that affiliates with minority owners have less debt than wholly owned affiliates and a less tax-efficient financing structure. The latter is due to an externality whereby minority ownership dampens the incentive to avoid taxes through the use of internal debt.multinationals, tax-efficient financing structures, minority ownership

An Impact Analysis of Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper applies the financing constraint approach to study whether microfinance institutions improved access to credit for microenterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to this approach, microenterprises with improved assess to credit rely less on internal funds for their investments. Thus, we compare investment sensitivity to internal funds of micorenterprises in municipalities with significant presence of MFIs to that of micorenterprises in municipalities with no (or limited) presence of MFIs using Living Standards Measurement Survey and MFI branch location data. Results indicate that MFIs alleviated microbusinesses’ financing constraint. This approach is applicable to evaluating microfinance impact in other countries.microfinance, impact study, Microfinance Institutions, financing constraints, Eastern Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina

An Impact Analysis of Microfinance in Bosnia and Herzegovina

This paper applies the financing constraint approach to study whether microfinance institutions improved access to credit for microenterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to this approach, microenterprises with improved assess to credit rely less on internal funds for their investments. Thus, we compare investment sensitivity to internal funds of micorenterprises in municipalities with significant presence of MFIs to that of micorenterprises in municipalities with no (or limited) presence of MFIs using Living Standards Measurement Survey and MFI branch location data. Results indicate that MFIs alleviated microbusinessesí financing constraint. This approach is applicable to evaluating microfinance impact in other countries.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64359/1/wp915.pd

Convergence of European financial system: Single financial space?

This paper tests the extent to which convergence has been occurring between EU member states in the sources of funding for investment by non-financial corporations. The evidence from time series on 9 EU member countries during 1971-1996 suggests that bank lending (credit) remains the most important source of external financing, although internal financing is increasing in importance. There is also evidence of convergence amongst the financial systems of the 9 EU member countries, for which data were readily available, and a shift from bank financing to direct financing in response to the financial liberalisation in the 1980's (securitisation). These findings suggest an evolving single financial space in Europe.

Firms’ Investment in the Presence of Labor and Financial Market Imperfections

This paper analyses how financial and labor market imperfections jointly influence investment. The contemporaneous presence of imperfections in both markets gives rise to a negative correlation between EPL and investment: firms facing negative shocks see their financial constraints worsen in countries with greater labor market rigidities. Internal funds have an overall positive impact on investment, notwithstanding the presence of labor market rigidities acts as a disincentive to the use internal funds for financing new projects. If capital is sunk and the legal environment favors ex-post profit appropriation by workers, firms use internal funds for ends alternative to fixed investment. Our results support the effort put forward by European institutions to reform both markets.Investment Models, Financing Constraints, Labor Protection Legislation, Panel Data Models

Internal capital markets and capital structure: Bank versus internal debt.

Recent empirical evidence has shown that internal capital markets within multinational corporations are used to reduce overall financing costs by optimizing the mix of internal and external debt of affiliates in different countries. We show that this cost saving use of internal capital markets is not limited to multinationals, but that domestic business groups actively optimize the internal/external debt mix across their subsidiaries as well. We use both subsidiary and group level financial statement data to model the bank and internal debt concentration of Belgian private business group affiliates and show that a pecking order of internal debt over bank debt at subsidiary level leads to a substantially lower bank debt concentration for group affiliates as compared to stand-alone companies. However, as the group's overall debt level mounts, groups increasingly locate bank borrowing in subsidiaries with low costs of external financing (i.e. large subsidiaries with important collateralable assets) to limit moral hazard and dissipative costs.Internal capital markets; Capital structure; Debt source concentration; Ownership structure; Bank debt;

Financing for Development in the Emerging Markets of the ECE Region: A 2007 Perspective

This report was prepared as an input into the addendum of the Report of the U.N. Secretary-General on Financing for Development for the 2007 General Assembly High Level Review of the Monterrey Consensus. It evaluates the progress that has been made in the transition economies in terms of increasing internal and external sources of development finance.FfD, financing, development, transition economies, MDG, Monterrey consensus

Private Equity, Investment and Financial Constraints – Firm-Level Evidence for France and the United Kingdom

The welfare effects of private equity transactions are debated controversially. We analyze the impact of expansion financing and buyouts by private equity investors on investment of portfolio firms in the UK and France – two countries with different financial systems. Unobserved heterogeneity and the endogeneity of private equity transactions financed by venture capital companies are addressed using dynamic panel data techniques. In both countries we find that portfolio firms display higher investment levels and a lower dependence on internal funds after expansion financing. Buyouts financed by venture capital companies are neither associated with a decrease in investment spending nor with an increase in the dependence on internal finance. In contrary, private equity based buyouts in the UK outperform non-private equity backed British firms in terms of both indicators. Contrasting the notion of several policy makers,we cannot detect that private equity based buyout financing yields higher financial constraints on average.Investment, financial constraints, private equity employer-to-employer, linked employer-employee

"Investment Frictions versus Financing Frictions"

Bertola/Caballero (1994) and Abel/Eberly (1996) extended Jorgenson's classical model of firms' optimal investment. By introducing investment frictions, they were able to capture the role of future anticipations in investment decisions as well as the lumpy and intermittent nature of investment dynamics. We extend Jorgenson's model to the other direction of financing frictions. We construct a model of an equity-only firm, who must pay a linear financing cost for issuing new shares. We show that the firm's optimal investment-financing is a two-trigger policy in which the firm finances investment by issuing new shares (supplementing internal funds) when the shadow price of capital hits the upper trigger value. When the shadow price hits the lower trigger value, she sells a portion of her capital stock and buys back shares (or pays dividends). Values of the shadow price of capital between the two trigger values define a range of "inaction", in which the firm does neither issue nor buy back shares and invests all of her internal funds for expansion.

Developing country capital structures and emerging stock markets

In the developing world financing patterns vary greatly from what we observe in developed countries. In the poorest developing countries firms rely mostly on internal resources and informal credit markets for financing. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of emerging stock markets on the financing patterns of developing country corporations. The focus is to test whether equity markets and banking systems are complements or substituteds in providing financing to corporations. It is possible to answer this question by investigating capital structures of firms across a sample of countries with different levels of stock market development. If equity is substituted for debt financing one would expect countries with less developed stock markets to have higher leverage. However, if the opposite is true and there is complementarity between equity markets and banks, leverage would increase as stock markets become more developed. This paper discusses key properties of debt and equity contracts in financing decisions and reviews the literature on capital structure to identify relevant factors, other than stock market development, that may affect the financing pattern of corporations. It also presents preliminary empirical findings and identifies directions for further research.Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Environmental Economics&Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism