IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v45y2016icp134-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Labor protection and corporate Debt maturity: International evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Belkhir, Mohamed
  • Ben-Nasr, Hamdi
  • Boubaker, Sabri

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of labor protection on corporate debt maturity structure. We hypothesize that stronger labor protection is conducive to a greater use of short-term debt maturity by firms. Using various country-level indicators as measures of labor protection, and a sample of 114,594 firm-years from 43 countries over the 1990–2010 period, we document robust evidence that firms located in countries where labor enjoys a strong protection tend to borrow more short-term. Our analysis suggests that labor protection is an important institutional factor that plays a role in determining the maturity structure of corporate debt over-and-above economic, legal, and political factors identified in prior research.

Suggested Citation

  • Belkhir, Mohamed & Ben-Nasr, Hamdi & Boubaker, Sabri, 2016. "Labor protection and corporate Debt maturity: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 134-149.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:45:y:2016:i:c:p:134-149
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2016.01.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521916000132
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2016.01.012?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kee‐Hong Bae & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 823-860, April.
    2. Zheng, Xiaolan & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y., 2012. "National culture and corporate debt maturity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 468-488.
    3. Guedes, Jose & Opler, Tim, 1996. "The Determinants of the Maturity of Corporate Debt Issues," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(5), pages 1809-1833, December.
    4. Hefeker, Carsten & Neugart, Michael, 2010. "Labor market regulation and the legal system," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 218-225, September.
    5. Barnea, Amir & Haugen, Robert A & Senbet, Lemma W, 1980. "A Rationale for Debt Maturity Structure and Call Provisions in the Agency Theoretic Framework," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 35(5), pages 1223-1234, December.
    6. Papanastasopoulos, Georgios A. & Tsiritakis, Emmanuel, 2015. "The accrual anomaly in Europe: The role of accounting distortions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 176-185.
    7. Shane A. Johnson, 2003. "Debt Maturity and the Effects of Growth Opportunities and Liquidity Risk on Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(1), pages 209-236.
    8. Morris M. Kleiner & Marvin L. Bouillon, 1988. "Providing Business Information to Production Workers: Correlates of Compensation and Profitability," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(4), pages 605-617, July.
    9. Campbell, John Y, 1996. "Understanding Risk and Return," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(2), pages 298-345, April.
    10. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27.
    11. Witold Jerzy Henisz, 2004. "Political Institutions and Policy Volatility," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(1), pages 1-27, March.
    12. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    13. Allen N. Berger & Marco A. Espinosa‐Vega & W. Scott Frame & Nathan H. Miller, 2005. "Debt Maturity, Risk, and Asymmetric Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2895-2923, December.
    14. Juan C. Botero & Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "The Regulation of Labor," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(4), pages 1339-1382.
    15. Douglas W. Diamond, 1991. "Debt Maturity Structure and Liquidity Risk," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(3), pages 709-737.
    16. Barclay, Michael J. & Marx, Leslie M. & Smith, Clifford Jr., 2003. "The joint determination of leverage and maturity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 149-167, March.
    17. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 1999. "Institutions, financial markets, and firm debt maturity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 295-336, December.
    18. Potrafke, Niklas, 2013. "Globalization and labor market institutions: International empirical evidence," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 829-842.
    19. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1447-1479 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Freeman, Richard B., 2010. "Labor Regulations, Unions, and Social Protection in Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4657-4702, Elsevier.
    21. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    22. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    23. Flannery, Mark J, 1986. "Asymmetric Information and Risky Debt Maturity Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(1), pages 19-37, March.
    24. Mr. Martin Schindler & Ms. Mariya Aleksynska, 2011. "Labor Market Regulations in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries: A New Panel Database," IMF Working Papers 2011/154, International Monetary Fund.
    25. Djankov, Simeon & La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei, 2008. "The law and economics of self-dealing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 430-465, June.
    26. Kirch, Guilherme & Terra, Paulo Renato Soares, 2012. "Determinants of corporate debt maturity in South America: Do institutional quality and financial development matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 980-993.
    27. Cumming, Douglas & Li, Dan, 2013. "Public policy, entrepreneurship, and venture capital in the United States," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 345-367.
    28. Gilles Hilary, 2006. "Organized Labor and Information Asymmetry in the Financial Markets," Post-Print hal-00482326, HAL.
    29. Morris, James R, 1976. "On Corporate Debt Maturity Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(1), pages 29-37, March.
    30. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    31. Fan, Joseph P. H. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2012. "An International Comparison of Capital Structure and Debt Maturity Choices," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 23-56, February.
    32. Custódio, Cláudia & Ferreira, Miguel A. & Laureano, Luís, 2013. "Why are US firms using more short-term debt?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 182-212.
    33. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:6:p:2107-2137 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. Elena Simintzi & Vikrant Vig & Paolo Volpin, 2015. "Labor Protection and Leverage," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(2), pages 561-591.
    35. Barclay, Michael J & Smith, Clifford W, Jr, 1995. "The Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 609-631, June.
    36. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kashefi Pour, Eilnaz & Lasfer, Meziane, 2019. "Taxes, governance, and debt maturity structure: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 136-161.
    2. Boubaker, Sabri & Chourou, Lamia & Haddar, Marwa & Hamza, Taher, 2019. "Does employee welfare affect corporate debt maturity?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 674-686.
    3. Rama Iyer, Subramanian & Sankaran, Harikumar & Walsh, Steve T., 2020. "Influence of Director Expertise on Capital Structure and Cash Holdings in High-Tech Firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    4. Bai, Min & Ho, Ly & Lu, Yue & Qin, Yafeng, 2023. "Labor protection and dynamic leverage adjustments in the OECD countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 502-527.
    5. Nguyen, Van Ha & Choi, Bobae & Agbola, Frank W., 2020. "Corporate social responsibility and debt maturity: Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Ugur, Mehmet & Solomon, Edna & Zeynalov, Ayaz, 2022. "Leverage, competition and financial distress hazard: Implications for capital structure in the presence of agency costs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    7. Awartani, Basel & Belkhir, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2016. "Corporate debt maturity in the MENA region: Does institutional quality matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 309-325.
    8. Ghouma, Hatem H. & Ouni, Zeineb, 2022. "SWF investments and debt maturity of target firms: An international evidence," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    9. Atawnah, Nader & Zaman, Rashid & Liu, Jia & Atawna, Thaer & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2023. "Does foreign competition affect corporate debt maturity structure? Evidence from import penetration," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Boubaker, Sabri & Chourou, Lamia & Saadi, Samir & Zhong, Ligang, 2019. "Does institutional investor horizon influence US corporate financing decisions?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 382-394.
    11. Liu, Haiming & Chiang, Yao-Min, 2024. "Employment protection and environmental corporate social responsibility: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    12. Wu, Julia Yonghua & Opare, Solomon & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Habib, Ahsan, 2022. "Determinants and consequences of debt maturity structure: A systematic review of the international literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Chandera, Yane & Setia-Atmaja, Lukas & Utama, Cynthia Afriani & Husodo, Zaäfri Ananto, 2021. "Ownership dispersion across large shareholders and loan-syndicate structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    14. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Asad, Suzona & Wong, Jin Boon, 2022. "Oil price uncertainty and corporate debt maturity structure," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA).
    15. Guo, Jing & Tang, Qi & Jin, Guangzhu, 2021. "Labor protection and the efficiency of human capital investment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 195-207.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kashefi Pour, Eilnaz & Lasfer, Meziane, 2019. "Taxes, governance, and debt maturity structure: International evidence," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 136-161.
    2. Wu, Julia Yonghua & Opare, Solomon & Bhuiyan, Md. Borhan Uddin & Habib, Ahsan, 2022. "Determinants and consequences of debt maturity structure: A systematic review of the international literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Awartani, Basel & Belkhir, Mohamed & Boubaker, Sabri & Maghyereh, Aktham, 2016. "Corporate debt maturity in the MENA region: Does institutional quality matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 309-325.
    4. Orman, Cüneyt & Bülent, Köksal, 2015. "Structure of Debt Maturity across the Firm Type Spectrum," MPRA Paper 64860, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Orman, Cüneyt & Köksal, Bülent, 2017. "Debt maturity across firm types: Evidence from a major developing economy," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 169-199.
    6. Boubaker, Sabri & Chourou, Lamia & Haddar, Marwa & Hamza, Taher, 2019. "Does employee welfare affect corporate debt maturity?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 674-686.
    7. Kirch, Guilherme & Terra, Paulo Renato Soares, 2012. "Determinants of corporate debt maturity in South America: Do institutional quality and financial development matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 980-993.
    8. Cuneyt Orman & Bulent Koksal, 2015. "Structure of Debt Maturity across Firm Types," Working Papers 1521, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
    9. Mohammed Benlemlih, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Debt Maturity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 491-517, September.
    10. Silvia Magri, 2010. "Debt Maturity Choice of Nonpublic Italian Firms," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(2‐3), pages 443-463, March.
    11. Anjala Kalsie & Aishwarya Nagpal, 2018. "The Determinants of Corporate Debt Maturity for NSE-Listed Corporates," FIIB Business Review, , vol. 7(1), pages 43-56, March.
    12. Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan & Zhang, Chengsi, 2021. "Human capital in the financial sector and corporate debt maturity," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    13. Dang, Viet A. & Phan, Hieu V., 2016. "CEO inside debt and corporate debt maturity structure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 38-54.
    14. Henrique Castro Martins & Eduardo Schiehll & Paulo Renato Soares Terra, 2020. "Do shareholder protection and creditor rights have distinct effects on the association between debt maturity and ownership structure?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 708-729, May.
    15. Jorge A. Muñoz Mendoza & Sandra M. Sepúlveda Yelpo & Carmen L. Veloso Ramos, 2019. "Non-linear Effects of Ownership Structure, Growth Opportunities and Leverage on Debt Maturity in Chilean Firms," Remef - Revista Mexicana de Economía y Finanzas Nueva Época REMEF (The Mexican Journal of Economics and Finance), Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas, IMEF, vol. 14(1), pages 21-40, Enero-Mar.
    16. Li, Tongxia & Lu, Chun & Routledge, James, 2023. "Brand capital on debt maturity structure," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    17. Díaz-Díaz, Nieves Lidia & García-Teruel, Pedro J. & Martínez-Solano, Pedro, 2016. "Debt maturity structure in private firms: Does the family control matter?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 393-411.
    18. Zheng, Xiaolan & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y., 2012. "National culture and corporate debt maturity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 468-488.
    19. Hong, Jieying, 2019. "Managerial compensation incentives and corporate debt maturity: Evidence from FAS 123R," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 388-414.
    20. González, Víctor M., 2015. "The financial crisis and corporate debt maturity: The role of banking structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 310-328.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labor protection; Debt maturity; Institutions; Agency theory; Information asymmetry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:45:y:2016:i:c:p:134-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.