Unit:
Deparment of EconomicsLibrary of the Faculty of Economics and of the Faculty of Business Administration
Author:
Savvakis Georgios
Dissertation committee:
Καινούργιος Δημήτριος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Πετράκης Παναγιώτης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Δότσης Γεώργιος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Αλεξάκης Παναγιώτης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Μπάλιος Δημήτριος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Ηρειώτης Νικόλαος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Βασιλείου Δημήτριος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Essays on capital structure of european listed small and medium enterprises
Translated title:
Essays on capital structure of european listed small and medium enterprises
Summary:
We investigate the influence of firm-specific characteristics, macroeconomic environment and institutional factors on corporate leverage of listed European SMEs. First, I provide evidence that the firms’ leverage ratio is negatively related to profitability and positively related to asset structure and firm size (measured as sales evolution), regardless of the category (e.g. micro, small and medium) of the companies and the country group (e.g. core, periphery, new members and new technology countries). Taxation is significant for all the subgroups and subcategories as well. Moreover, I verify that firms belong to the European periphery, the new member countries and the high technology countries were affected negatively (increased leverage) during the ESDC and the opposite stands for the core European countries.
Secondly, the macroeconomic impacts on leverage are different inside the EMU and outside the EMU. Long-run and short-run relations of leverage and macroeconomic conditions exhibit differences: a) in the signs of the coefficients, b) in the magnitude of the coefficients, and c) in the speed of adjustment, when they are examined inside the EMU and outside the EMU. To EMU or not to EMU is also evident when looking at the size categories.
Thirdly, TFP and human capital significantly influence listed European SMEs’ capital structure choices. TFP is important and its short run shocks are transmitted in a faster way into the leverage of the enterprises for the countries inside the EMU, compared to those outside the EMU. On the other hand, I find stronger relations in the non-EMU compared to EMU in relation to the long-run relationships between leverage and TFP. On the other hand, TFP fluctuations affect the most the small-sized enterprises of the EMU, which is mainly attributed to the fact that this category of firms have the lower share of intangible assets and the higher leverage ratios among the three distinctive size categories. Furthermore, based on my findings, I can conclude that inside and outside of the EMU, the response of the SMEs to macroeconomic shocks differs.
Finally, I find that better governmental institutions, legal traditions, and lower levels of country corruption significantly correlate with firm’s leverage. Institutional quality and judicial effectiveness effect leverage negatively and corruption has the opposite effect. Enhanced institutions functionality, better legal systems effectiveness combined with lower corruption offset some of the adverse effects of political risk.
Main subject category:
Finance
Other subject categories:
Οικονομικά
Keywords:
leverage, capital structure, stock exchange, TFP
Number of references:
135
