IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/serxxx/v68y2023i03ns0217590819500498.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact Of Financial Crises On The Dynamics Of Capital Structure: Evidence From Korean Listed Companies

Author

Listed:
  • TSOY LYUBOV

    (Department of Economics, Room GN702, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro (Sinsu-dong #1), Mapo-gu, Seoul 04107, Korea)

  • ALMAS HESHMATI

    (Department of Economics, Room GN702, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro (Sinsu-dong #1), Mapo-gu, Seoul 04107, Korea)

Abstract

This study examines the impact of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 Global economic crisis on the capital structures of Korean non-financial listed companies. Using a panel data covering 1,159 Korean listed non-financial firms from 10 industrial sectors over a 31-year period (1985–2015), this study investigates the patterns of firms’ capital structures before and after the crises and identifies their speeds of adjustment toward the optimal leverage. This study finds different effects of the two crises on both capital structures and adjustment speeds. The average debt ratio fell significantly after the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The distance between the optimal and the observed debt ratios shrank after the Asian crisis, while the speed of adjustment increased two-fold. Unlike the Asian financial crisis, the global economic crisis of 2008 had a positive effect on companies’ debt ratios and the speeds of adjustments toward the optimal leverage. Our empirical analysis shows that, on average, the Korean non-financial listed companies decreased their debt ratios over the entire period of observation, with the leverage being the highest before the Asian financial crisis and lowest after the global economic crisis. Our results also show that the debt ratios of Korean chaebols were higher than that of non-chaebols. Moreover, we find that the high level of leverage of Korean firms was associated with tangible assets, income variability, size and age of the firm, non-debt tax shield and uniqueness.

Suggested Citation

  • Tsoy Lyubov & Almas Heshmati, 2023. "Impact Of Financial Crises On The Dynamics Of Capital Structure: Evidence From Korean Listed Companies," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(03), pages 867-898, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:68:y:2023:i:03:n:s0217590819500498
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590819500498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0217590819500498
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0217590819500498?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Harris, Milton & Raviv, Artur, 1991. "The Theory of Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 297-355, March.
    4. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    5. Maria Psillaki & Nikolaos Daskalakis, 2009. "Are the determinants of capital structure country or firm specific?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 319-333, October.
    6. 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.
    7. Titman, Sheridan, 1984. "The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 137-151, March.
    8. Deesomsak, Rataporn & Paudyal, Krishna & Pescetto, Gioia, 2004. "The determinants of capital structure: evidence from the Asia Pacific region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(4-5), pages 387-405.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:1:p:19-40 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. 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.
    13. Minsoo Lee & Ruben Carlo Asuncion & Jungsuk Kim, 2016. "Effectiveness of Macroprudential Policies in Developing Asia: An Empirical Analysis," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 923-937, April.
    14. Ralph de Haas & Marga Peeters, 2006. "The dynamic adjustment towards target capital structures of firms in transition economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(1), pages 133-169, March.
    15. Michael J. Barclay & Erwan Morellec, 2006. "On the Debt Capacity of Growth Options," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(1), pages 37-60, January.
    16. Akbar, Saeed & Rehman, Shafiq ur & Ormrod, Phillip, 2013. "The impact of recent financial shocks on the financing and investment policies of UK private firms," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 59-70.
    17. Zeitun, Rami & Temimi, Akram & Mimouni, Karim, 2017. "Do financial crises alter the dynamics of corporate capital structure? Evidence from GCC countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 21-33.
    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. Joel , ISABIRYE, 2021. "Impact Of Economic Crises On Firms: A Literature Review," Annals of Spiru Haret University, Economic Series, Universitatea Spiru Haret, vol. 21(3), pages 225-250.
    2. Halil D. Kaya & Engku N Engkuchik, 2022. "A Study Of The Impact Of The 2008-2009 Global Crisis In Eastern Europe And Central Asia: Retailers’ And Core Industry Firms’ Fixed Asset Purchases," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 4, pages 173-178, August.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Alessandra Amendola & Marinella Boccia & Gianluca Mele & Luca Sensini, 2020. "Tax Policy and Firms' Financial Choices: Empirical Evidence from the Dominican Republic," MIC 2020: The 20th Management International Conference,, University of Primorska Press.
    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. Zeitun, Rami & Temimi, Akram & Mimouni, Karim, 2017. "Do financial crises alter the dynamics of corporate capital structure? Evidence from GCC countries," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 21-33.
    7. Antonczyk, Ron Christian & Salzmann, Astrid Juliane, 2014. "Overconfidence and optimism: The effect of national culture on capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 132-151.
    8. Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2017. "Determinants of capital structure in emerging markets: Evidence from Vietnam," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 105-113.
    9. Raja Zekri Ben Hamouda & Nessrine Hamzaoui & Faouzi Jilani, 2023. "Capital Structure Determinants: New Evidence from the MENA Region Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(1), pages 144-163, January.
    10. Antonio D’Amato, 2020. "Capital structure, debt maturity, and financial crisis: empirical evidence from SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 919-941, December.
    11. 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.
    12. Mohamed, Hisham Hanifa & Masih, Mansur & Bacha, Obiyathulla I., 2015. "Why do issuers issue Sukuk or conventional bond? Evidence from Malaysian listed firms using partial adjustment models," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 233-252.
    13. David K. Chalmers & Marco Della Porta & Luca Sensini, 2020. "Export Intensity and Leverage: An Empirical Analysis of Spanish SMEs," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(5), pages 382-386.
    14. Pinto, João M. & Silva, Cátia S., 2021. "Does export intensity affect corporate leverage? Evidence from Portuguese SMEs," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    15. Rizov, Marian, 2008. "Corporate capital structure and how soft budget constraints may affect it," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 648-684.
    16. Jacek Barburski & Artur Hołda, 2023. "Determinants of the Corporate Financing Structure in the Energy and Mining Sectors; A Comparative Analysis Based on the Example of Selected EU Countries for 2012–2020," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-29, June.
    17. Li, Larry & Islam, Silvia Z., 2019. "Firm and industry specific determinants of capital structure: Evidence from the Australian market," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 425-437.
    18. Sohrabi, Narges & Movaghari, Hadi, 2020. "Reliable factors of Capital structure: Stability selection approach," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 296-310.
    19. Sakshi Khanna & Amit Srivastava & Yajulu Medury, 2015. "The Effect of Macroeconomic Variables on the Capital Structure Decisions of Indian Firms: A Vector Error Correction Model/Vector Autoregressive Approach," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 5(4), pages 968-978.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital structure; optimal leverage; speed of adjustment; Korean listed companies; panel data; financial crises; dynamic model; chaebols;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    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:wsi:serxxx:v:68:y:2023:i:03:n:s0217590819500498. 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: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ser/ser.shtml .

    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.