IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jmathe/v11y2023i7p1670-d1112274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Credit Market Freedom and Corporate Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Alfonsina Iona

    (School of Economics and Finance, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK)

  • Andrea Calef

    (School of Economics, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR 4 7TJ, UK)

  • Ifigenia Georgiou

    (Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, School of Business, University of Nicosia, 2417 Nicosia, Cyprus)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate whether and to what extent credit market freedom affects a firm’s target level of investment, cash holdings, and leverage. To do so, we generalize the standard empirical models, commonly used in the finance literature to estimate those targets, in order to incorporate credit market freedom into the set of regressors. We estimate three augmented models on a large and heterogeneous sample of North American nonfinancial firms over the period 2000–2019. Our empirical results suggest that greater credit market freedom is associated with a healthier corporate capital structure, higher financial flexibility, and a friendlier investment environment. Our paper contributes to both economic freedom and finance literatures by investigating an unexplored issue in economics and corporate finance research. In addition, it informs policymakers that promoting financial reforms that increase credit market freedom can boost a country’s economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfonsina Iona & Andrea Calef & Ifigenia Georgiou, 2023. "Credit Market Freedom and Corporate Decisions," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:11:y:2023:i:7:p:1670-:d:1112274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/7/1670/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/7/1670/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guedhami, Omrane & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & Shao, Liang, 2017. "Political freedom and corporate payouts," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 514-529.
    2. Stijn Claessens & Luc Laeven, 2004. "What drives bank competition? Some international evidence," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 563-592.
    3. Shushu Li & Jinglan Zhang & Yong Ma, 2015. "Financial Development, Environmental Quality and Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-22, July.
    4. de Haan, Jakob & Sturm, Jan-Egbert, 2000. "On the relationship between economic freedom and economic growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 215-241, June.
    5. Azman-Saini, W.N.W. & Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Law, Siong Hook, 2010. "Foreign direct investment, economic freedom and economic growth: International evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1079-1089, September.
    6. Rajan, Raghuram G & Zingales, Luigi, 1998. "Financial Dependence and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 559-586, June.
    7. Xu, Tao, 2019. "Economic freedom and bilateral direct investment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 172-179.
    8. Qi, Yaxuan & Roth, Lukas & Wald, John K., 2010. "Political rights and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 202-226, February.
    9. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    10. Erdal Atukeren, 2005. "Interactions Between Public and Private Investment: Evidence from Developing Countries," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 307-330, July.
    11. Zhu, Hui & Zhu, Steven X., 2017. "Corporate innovation and economic freedom: Cross-country comparisons," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 50-65.
    12. Angulo-Guerrero, María J. & Pérez-Moreno, Salvador & Abad-Guerrero, Isabel M., 2017. "How economic freedom affects opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship in the OECD countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 30-37.
    13. Feldmann, Horst, 2009. "The unemployment effects of labor regulation around the world," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 76-90, March.
    14. Chortareas, Georgios & Kapetanios, George & Ventouri, Alexia, 2016. "Credit market freedom and cost efficiency in US state banking," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 173-185.
    15. 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.
    16. Petra Valickova & Tomas Havranek & Roman Horvath, 2015. "Financial Development And Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 506-526, July.
    17. Opler, Tim & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Rene & Williamson, Rohan, 1999. "The determinants and implications of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 3-46, April.
    18. Tag, Mehmet Nasih & Degirmen, Suleyman, 2022. "Economic freedom and foreign direct investment: Are they related?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 737-752.
    19. De Vanssay, Xavier & Spindler, Z A, 1994. "Freedom and Growth: Do Constitutions Matter?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 78(3-4), pages 359-372, March.
    20. Nelson, Michael A & Singh, Ram D, 1998. "Democracy, Economic Freedom, Fiscal Policy, and Growth in LDCs: A Fresh Look," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(4), pages 677-696, July.
    21. Zhenhui Xu & Haizheng Li, 2008. "Political freedom, economic freedom, and income convergence: Do stages of economic development matter?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 183-205, June.
    22. Kiviet, Jan F., 1995. "On bias, inconsistency, and efficiency of various estimators in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 53-78, July.
    23. Asteriou, Dimitrios & Pilbeam, Keith & Tomuleasa, Iuliana, 2021. "The impact of corruption, economic freedom, regulation and transparency on bank profitability and bank stability: Evidence from the Eurozone area," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 150-177.
    24. Hayashi, Fumio, 1982. "Tobin's Marginal q and Average q: A Neoclassical Interpretation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(1), pages 213-224, January.
    25. Boubakri, Narjess & El Ghoul, Sadok & Saffar, Walid, 2014. "Political rights and equity pricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 326-344.
    26. Larissa Batrancea, 2021. "The Influence of Liquidity and Solvency on Performance within the Healthcare Industry: Evidence from Publicly Listed Companies," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(18), pages 1-15, September.
    27. Blau, Benjamin M., 2017. "Economic freedom and crashes in financial markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 33-46.
    28. Hou, Tony Chieh-Tse & Gao, Simon, 2021. "The impact of economic freedom on financial analysts' earnings forecast: Evidence from the Asia-Pacific region," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    29. repec:bla:kyklos:v:53:y:2000:i:4:p:527-44 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Chortareas, Georgios E. & Girardone, Claudia & Ventouri, Alexia, 2013. "Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1223-1231.
    31. Barth, James R. & Caprio, Gerard Jr. & Levine, Ross, 2004. "Bank regulation and supervision: what works best?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 205-248, April.
    32. Mariusz Prochniak & Katarzyna Wasiak, 2017. "The impact of the financial system on economic growth in the context of the global crisis: empirical evidence for the EU and OECD countries," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 44(2), pages 295-337, May.
    33. Julio H. Cole, 2003. "The Contribution of Economic Freedom to World Economic Growth: 1980-99," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 23(2), pages 189-198, Fall.
    34. Gropper, Daniel M. & Jahera, John S. & Park, Jung Chul, 2015. "Political power, economic freedom and Congress: Effects on bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 76-92.
    35. Mohammed Ziaur Rehman & Nasir Ali & Najeeb Muhammad Nasir, 2015. "Financial Development, Savings and Economic Growth: Evidence from Bahrain Using VAR," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(2), pages 112-123, April.
    36. Lee C. Adkins & Ronald L. Moomaw & Andreas Savvides, 2002. "Institutions, Freedom, and Technical Efficiency," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(1), pages 92-108, July.
    37. de Haan, Jakob & Siermann, Clemens L J, 1998. "Further Evidence on the Relationship between Economic Freedom and Economic Growth," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 95(3-4), pages 363-380, June.
    38. Lee C. Adkins & Ronald L. Moomaw & Andreas Savvides, 2002. "Institutions, Freedom, and Technical Efficiency," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(1), pages 92-108, July.
    39. Hamdi Ben‐Nasr & Narjess Boubakri & Jean‐Claude Cosset, 2012. "The Political Determinants of the Cost of Equity: Evidence from Newly Privatized Firms," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 605-646, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Iona, Alfonsina & Leonida, Leone & Limosani, Michele & Maimone Ansaldo Patti, Dario & Navarra, Pietro, 2024. "Does economic liberalization foster corporate investment? Theory and evidence from US and Canadian firms," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Doucouliagos, Chris & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet Ali, 2006. "Economic freedom and economic growth: Does specification make a difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 60-81, March.
    3. Asteriou, Dimitrios & Pilbeam, Keith & Tomuleasa, Iuliana, 2021. "The impact of corruption, economic freedom, regulation and transparency on bank profitability and bank stability: Evidence from the Eurozone area," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 150-177.
    4. Chortareas, Georgios E. & Girardone, Claudia & Ventouri, Alexia, 2013. "Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1223-1231.
    5. Martin Hodula & Ngoc Anh Ngo, 2022. "Finance, growth and (macro)prudential policy: European evidence," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 537-571, May.
    6. Larissa Batrancea & Malar Kumaran Rathnaswamy & Ioan Batrancea, 2022. "A Panel Data Analysis on Determinants of Economic Growth in Seven Non-BCBS Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(2), pages 1651-1665, June.
    7. Mirzaei, Ali & Grosse, Robert, 2019. "The interaction of quantity and quality of finance: Did it make industries more resilient to the recent global financial crisis?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 493-512.
    8. Wang, Wei & Yang, Haoxi & Wang, Xi, 2023. "Financial development and wage income: Evidence from the global football market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    9. Olalekan Charles Okunlola & Anthony E. Akinlo, 2021. "Does economic freedom enhance quality of life in Africa?," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 68(3), pages 357-387, September.
    10. Lai, Karen M.Y. & Saffar, Walid & Zhu, Xindong (Kevin) & Liu, Yiye, 2020. "Political institutions, stock market liquidity and firm dividend policy: Some international evidence," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    11. Richard J. Cebula & J.R. Clark, 2011. "Migration, Economic Freedom, and Personal Freedom: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 27(Fall 2011), pages 43-62.
    12. Marc Steffen Rapp & Iuliia A. Udoieva, 2018. "What matters in the finance–growth nexus of advanced economies? Evidence from OECD countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(6), pages 676-690, February.
    13. Marcin Humanicki & Krzysztof Olszewski, 2020. "The Heterogeneous Nature of FDI in Central and Eastern Europe. Impact of the Entry Mode on the Host Country’s Economic Growth," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 70(6), pages 541-565, December.
    14. Iftekhar Hasan & Roman Horvath & Jan Mares, 2018. "What Type of Finance Matters for Growth? Bayesian Model Averaging Evidence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 383-409.
    15. Ceyhun Haydaroglu, 2016. "The Effect of Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Freedom on Economic Growth: The Case of BRICS Countries," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, June.
    16. Faisal Abbas & Shoaib Ali, 2022. "Is Economic Freedom a Moderator of the Relationship Between Bank Capital and Profitability?," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business (continues Analele Stiintifice), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 69(2), pages 273-292, June.
    17. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Nair, Mahendhiran & Bennett, Sara E., 2020. "Unveiling the causal relationships among banking competition, stock and insurance market development, and economic growth in Europe," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 74-87.
    18. Hatice KÜÇÜKKAYA, 2017. "EUREFE’17 International Conference," Turkish Economic Review, KSP Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 343-344, September.
    19. Jan Libich & Liam Lenten, 2022. "Hero or villain? The financial system in the 21st century," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 3-40, February.
    20. Angeloni, Ignazio & Kasinger, Johannes & Chantawit Tantasith, 2021. "The geography of banks in the United States (1990-2020)," SAFE Working Paper Series 321, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic freedom; corporate decisions; capital structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

    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:gam:jmathe:v:11:y:2023:i:7:p:1670-:d:1112274. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.