IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reecon/v70y2016i1p170-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To borrow or not to borrow? An analysis of university leverage decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Rosen, Harvey S.
  • Sappington, Alexander J.W.

Abstract

This paper investigates the decisions of universities to issue debt. We test whether the expected value and uncertainty of a university׳s nonfinancial income (the income generated by sources other than its endowment) affect its leverage (the ratio of the value of an institution׳s liabilities to the value of its assets). We find that leverage is negatively related to both the expected value and the uncertainty of nonfinancial income. On average, increasing the expected value of nonfinancial income by one standard deviation decreases a university׳s debt by about $5.1 million, while increasing the uncertainty of nonfinancial income by one standard deviation decreases debt by about $2.7 million. This behavior is consistent with the pecking order theory of capital structure, which posits that managers deplete available internal funds before issuing debt. We also show that the leverage decisions of universities have become less sensitive to expected nonfinancial income but more sensitive to its uncertainty since the Great Recession.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosen, Harvey S. & Sappington, Alexander J.W., 2016. "To borrow or not to borrow? An analysis of university leverage decisions," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 170-185.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reecon:v:70:y:2016:i:1:p:170-185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rie.2015.10.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090944315301010
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rie.2015.10.005?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. Jeffrey R. Brown & Stephen G. Dimmock & Jun-Koo Kang & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2014. "How University Endowments Respond to Financial Market Shocks: Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(3), pages 931-962, March.
    2. Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2000. "Towards an Explanation of Household Portfolio Choice Heterogeneity: Nonfinancial Income and Participation Cost Structures," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 1102, Econometric Society.
    3. Bradley, Michael & Jarrell, Gregg A & Kim, E Han, 1984. "On the Existence of an Optimal Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 857-878, July.
    4. Alan S. Blinder & Angus Deaton, 1985. "The Time Series Consumption Function Revisited," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 16(2), pages 465-521.
    5. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    6. Mark T. Leary & Michael R. Roberts, 2005. "Do Firms Rebalance Their Capital Structures?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2575-2619, December.
    7. repec:mpr:mprres:6108 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    9. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1991. "The Theory of Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 297-355, March.
    10. Josh Lerner & Antoinette Schoar & Jialan Wang, 2008. "Secrets of the Academy: The Drivers of University Endowment Success," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 207-222, Summer.
    11. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2015. "What Do University Endowment Managers Worry About? An Analysis of Alternative Asset Investments and Background Income," NBER Working Papers 21271, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Kyle Jurado & Sydney C. Ludvigson & Serena Ng, 2015. "Measuring Uncertainty," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(3), pages 1177-1216, March.
    13. Wenli Yan & Dwight V. Denison & J.S. Butler, 2009. "Revenue Structure and Nonprofit Borrowing," Public Finance Review, , vol. 37(1), pages 47-67, January.
    14. Geoffrey Peter Smith, 2010. "What are the Capital Structure Determinants for Tax‐Exempt Organizations?," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 45(3), pages 845-872, August.
    15. Robert Lowry, 2004. "Markets, governance, and university priorities: Evidence on undergraduate education and research," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 29-51, April.
    16. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Hansmann, Henry, 1990. "Why Do Universities Have Endowments?," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 3-42, January.
    18. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    19. Orazio Attanasio & Costas Meghir & Corina Mommaerts, 2015. "Insurance in extended family networks," NBER Working Papers 21059, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Gentry, William M., 2002. "Debt, investment and endowment accumulation: the case of not-for-profit hospitals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 845-872, September.
    21. Brown, Jeffrey R. & Hoxby, Caroline M. (ed.), 2015. "How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226201832, September.
    22. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1995. "What Do We Know about Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1421-1460, December.
    23. Kale, Jayant R & Noe, Thomas H & Ramirez, Gabriel G, 1991. "The Effect of Business Risk on Corporate Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(5), pages 1693-1715, December.
    24. Wedig, Gerard J., 1994. "Risk, leverage, donations and dividends-in-kind: A theory of nonprofit financial behavior," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 257-278.
    25. repec:bla:jfinan:v:43:y:1988:i:1:p:1-19 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    27. Jeffrey R. Brown & Stephen G. Dimmock & Scott Weisbenner, 2012. "The Supply of and Demand for Charitable Donations to Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: How the Financial Crisis and Great Recession Affected Higher Education, pages 151-174, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    29. Stephen G. Dimmock, 2012. "Background Risk and University Endowment Funds," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 789-799, August.
    30. Linda Schmid Klein & Thomas J. O’Brien & Stephen R. Peters, 2002. "Debt vs. Equity and Asymmetric Information: A Review," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 37(3), pages 317-349, August.
    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. Han Jiang & Aggey Simons, 2021. "Charitable Giving and NPOs Investment Decision in a Stochastic Dynamic Economy," Working Papers 2113E Classification-H41., University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    2. Matteo Binfarè & Kyle Zimmerschied, 2024. "The Role of Debt in Financing Higher Education," NBER Chapters, in: Financing Institutions of Higher Education, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    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. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J. W. Sappington, 2016. "To Borrow or Not to Borrow? An Analysis of University Leverage Decisions," NBER Working Papers 21951, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Harvey S. Rosen & Alexander J.W. Sappington, 2016. "To Borrow or Not to Borrow? An Analysis of University Leverage Decisions," Working Papers 249, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    3. Dang, Viet Anh & Kim, Minjoo & Shin, Yongcheol, 2012. "Asymmetric capital structure adjustments: New evidence from dynamic panel threshold models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-482.
    4. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.
    5. Valeriya Valer’evna Metel’skaya, 2021. "Correlation-and-regression analysis of the influence of macroeconomic factors on capital structure of Russian corporations under crisis conditions," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-34, December.
    6. Viet Anh Dang, 2011. "Testing Capital Structure Theories Using Error Correction Models: Evidence From The Uk, France And Germany," Post-Print hal-00732527, HAL.
    7. Rana El Bahsh & Ali Alattar & Aziz N. Yusuf, 2018. "Firm, Industry and Country Level Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Jordan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 175-190.
    8. Imran Yousaf & Arshad Hassan, 2016. "Effect of Family Control on Corporate Financing Decisions: A Case of Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2016:138, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    9. Mário Santos & António Moreira & Elisabete Vieira, 2014. "Ownership concentration, contestability, family firms, and capital structure," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 18(4), pages 1063-1107, November.
    10. Bayan M Arqawi & William J Bertin & Laurie Prather, 2014. "The impact of product warranties on the capital structure of Australian firms," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 39(2), pages 207-225, May.
    11. Mohamed Soufeljil & Asma Sghaier & Zouhayer Mighri & Hanène Kheireddine, 2017. "The financial structure of the Tunisian listed businesses: an application on panel data," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, December.
    12. Xu, Jin, 2012. "Profitability and capital structure: Evidence from import penetration," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 427-446.
    13. Amini, Shahram & Elmore, Ryan & Öztekin, Özde & Strauss, Jack, 2021. "Can machines learn capital structure dynamics?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Yousry Ahmed & Tamer Elshandidy, 2021. "Effect of leverage deviation on choices and outcomes of public versus non‐public acquisitions," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(3), pages 3436-3459, July.
    15. Zhang, Dongyang & Liu, Deqiang, 2017. "Determinants of the capital structure of Chinese non-listed enterprises: Is TFP efficient?," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 179-202.
    16. Anton Miglo, 2012. "Managers versus Students: New Approach in Improving Capital Structure Education," Journal of Education and Vocational Research, AMH International, vol. 3(11), pages 353-369.
    17. Giorgio Canarella & Stephen M. Miller, 2019. "Determinants of Optimal Capital Structure and Speed of Adjustment: Evidence from the U.S. ICT Sector," Working papers 2019-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    18. Faisal Seraj Alnori & Ali Mohsen Shaddady, 2019. "Corporate Debt Choice and Board Size: The Case of Oil Exporting Economy," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 9(5), pages 1-6.
    19. Meskat Ibne Sharif, 2019. "Fundamental Drivers of Capital Structure: Evidence from Publicly Traded Non-financial U.S. Firms," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(6), pages 113-122.
    20. Yildirim, Ramazan & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla Ismath, 2018. "Determinants of capital structure: evidence from Shari'ah compliant and non-compliant firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 198-219.

    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:reecon:v:70:y:2016:i:1:p:170-185. 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/622941 .

    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.