IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/106321.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economic preferences over risk-taking and corporate finance

Author

Listed:
  • Delis, Manthos
  • Iosifidi, Maria
  • Hasan, Iftekhar
  • Tsoumas, Chris

Abstract

We contend that economic preferences over risk-taking in different subnational regions worldwide affect fundamental aspects of firms’ corporate financing, namely financing costs and capital structure. We study this hypothesis, by hand-matching firms’ regions worldwide with the corresponding regional economic risk-taking preferences. Our baseline results show that credit and bond pricing increase with higher risk-taking preferences, whereas such preferences yield lower ratios of book leverage and short-term debt. We backup our baseline results with an instrumental variables approach, which is based on the premise that high-yield agricultural societies in the pre-industrial era exhibit low risk-taking preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Delis, Manthos & Iosifidi, Maria & Hasan, Iftekhar & Tsoumas, Chris, 2021. "Economic preferences over risk-taking and corporate finance," MPRA Paper 106321, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:106321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/106321/1/MPRA_paper_106321.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luc Laeven & Fabian Valencia, 2020. "Systemic Banking Crises Database II," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 68(2), pages 307-361, June.
    2. Alexander Braun, 2016. "Pricing in the Primary Market for Cat Bonds: New Empirical Evidence," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 83(4), pages 811-847, December.
    3. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2023. "The Preference Survey Module: A Validated Instrument for Measuring Risk, Time, and Social Preferences," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 1935-1950, April.
    4. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    5. Laeven, Luc & Valencia, Fabian, 2020. "Systemic Banking Crises Database: A Timely Update in COVID-19 Times," CEPR Discussion Papers 14569, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Andy C.W. Chui & Sheridan Titman & K.C. John Wei, 2010. "Individualism and Momentum around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 361-392, February.
    7. Edwin J. Elton & Martin J. Gruber & Deepak Agrawal & Christopher Mann, 2001. "Explaining the Rate Spread on Corporate Bonds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 247-277, February.
    8. Oded Galor & Ömer Özak, 2016. "The Agricultural Origins of Time Preference," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(10), pages 3064-3103, October.
    9. Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2016. "The gravity of culture for finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 610-625.
    10. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    11. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David B. Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2017. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," NBER Working Papers 23943, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Focarelli, Dario & Pozzolo, Alberto Franco & Casolaro, Luca, 2008. "The pricing effect of certification on syndicated loans," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 335-349, March.
    13. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    14. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 1645-1692.
    15. Simon Gilchrist & Egon Zakrajsek, 2012. "Credit Spreads and Business Cycle Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1692-1720, June.
    16. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. 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.
    18. Pierre Collin-Dufresn & Robert S. Goldstein & J. Spencer Martin, 2001. "The Determinants of Credit Spread Changes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2177-2207, December.
    19. Anke Becker & Benjamin Enke & Armin Falk, 2020. "Ancient Origins of the Global Variation in Economic Preferences," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 319-323, May.
    20. Mariassunta Giannetti & Yishay Yafeh, 2012. "Do Cultural Differences Between Contracting Parties Matter? Evidence from Syndicated Bank Loans," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 365-383, February.
    21. Liang Shao & Chuck CY Kwok & Omrane Guedhami, 2010. "National culture and dividend policy," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(8), pages 1391-1414, October.
    22. Boubakri, Narjess & Saffar, Walid, 2016. "Culture and externally financed firm growth," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 502-520.
    23. Giampaolo Gabbi & Andrea Sironi, 2005. "Which factors affect corporate bonds pricing? Empirical evidence from eurobonds primary market spreads," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 59-74.
    24. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "Trusting the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2557-2600, December.
    25. Raymond Fisman & Daniel Paravisini & Vikrant Vig, 2017. "Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 457-492, February.
    26. Jiang, Feng & John, Kose & Li, C. Wei & Qian, Yiming, 2018. "Earthly Reward to the Religious: Religiosity and the Costs of Public and Private Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(5), pages 2131-2160, October.
    27. Tobias Berg & Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2016. "The Total Cost of Corporate Borrowing in the Loan Market: Don't Ignore the Fees," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1357-1392, June.
    28. Bai, Jennie & Bali, Turan G. & Wen, Quan, 2019. "Common risk factors in the cross-section of corporate bond returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(3), pages 619-642.
    29. Michael Schwert, 2018. "Bank Capital and Lending Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(2), pages 787-830, April.
    30. Li, Kai & Griffin, Dale & Yue, Heng & Zhao, Longkai, 2013. "How does culture influence corporate risk-taking?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 1-22.
    31. Mourouzidou-Damtsa, Stella & Milidonis, Andreas & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2019. "National culture and bank risk-taking," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 132-143.
    32. Chui, Andy C.W. & Kwok, Chuck C.Y. & (Stephen) Zhou, Gaoguang, 2016. "National culture and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-19.
    33. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    34. 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.
    35. Ahern, Kenneth R. & Daminelli, Daniele & Fracassi, Cesare, 2015. "Lost in translation? The effect of cultural values on mergers around the world," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 165-189.
    36. 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.
    37. John R. Graham & Mark T. Leary, 2011. "A Review of Empirical Capital Structure Research and Directions for the Future," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 3(1), pages 309-345, December.
    38. Stewart C. Myers, 2001. "Capital Structure," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 81-102, Spring.
    39. Lievenbrück, Martin & Schmid, Thomas, 2014. "Why do firms (not) hedge? — Novel evidence on cultural influence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 92-106.
    40. Ortiz-Molina, Hernan, 2006. "Top Management Incentives and the Pricing of Corporate Public Debt," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 317-340, June.
    41. Flannery, Mark J. & Rangan, Kasturi P., 2006. "Partial adjustment toward target capital structures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 469-506, March.
    42. 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.
    43. Graham, John R. & Leary, Mark T. & Roberts, Michael R., 2015. "A century of capital structure: The leveraging of corporate America," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 658-683.
    44. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2002. "Market Timing and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 1-32, February.
    45. Andy C W Chui & Alison E Lloyd & Chuck C Y Kwok, 2002. "The Determination of Capital Structure: Is National Culture a Missing Piece to the Puzzle?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 33(1), pages 99-127, March.
    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. Delis, Manthos D. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Iosifidi, Maria & Tsoumas, Chris, 2023. "Economic preferences for risk-taking and financing costs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    2. Kostas Pappas & Alice Liang Xu, 2023. "Do foreign lenders' national cultures affect loan pricing?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 2006-2036, April.
    3. Jackowicz, Krzysztof & Kowalewski, Oskar & Kozłowski, Łukasz, 2022. "Foreign bank lending: The role of home country culture during prosperous and crisis periods," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    4. Mogha, Vipin & Williams, Benjamin, 2021. "Culture and capital structure: What else to the puzzle?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Iván Arribas & Emili Tortosa-Ausina & TingTing Zhu, 2021. "Optimal capital structure, model uncertainty, and European SMEs," Working Papers 2021/11, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    6. Chui, Andy C.W. & Li, Xiao & Saffar, Walid, 2021. "National culture and the choice between bank debt and public debt," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    7. Panagiota Papadimitri & Fotios Pasiouras & Menelaos Tasiou, 2019. "Culture and collateral requirements: Evidence from developing countries," Working Papers in Economics & Finance 2019-04, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth Business School, Economics and Finance Subject Group.
    8. Allini, Alessandra & Rakha, Soliman & McMillan, David G. & Caldarelli, Adele, 2018. "Pecking order and market timing theory in emerging markets: The case of Egyptian firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 297-308.
    9. Peng Huang & Yue Lu & Robert Faff, 2021. "Social trust and the speed of corporate leverage adjustment: evidence from around the globe," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(2), pages 3261-3303, June.
    10. Ampenberger, Markus & Schmid, Thomas & Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Kaserer, Christoph, 2009. "Capital structure decisions in family firms: empirical evidence from a bank-based economy," CEFS Working Paper Series 2009-05, Technische Universität München (TUM), Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS).
    11. İbrahim Yarba & Z. Nuray Güner, 2020. "Leverage dynamics: Do financial development and government leverage matter? Evidence from a major developing economy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2473-2507, November.
    12. Barclay, Michael J. & Fu, Fangjian & Smith, Clifford W., 2021. "Seasoned equity offerings and corporate financial management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Shoaib Ali & Attiya Yasmin Javid, 2015. "Relationship between Credit Rating, Capital Structure and Earning Management Behaviour: Evidence from Pakistani Listed Firms," PIDE-Working Papers 2015:121, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    14. Quratulain Zafar & Winai Wongsurawat & David Camino, 2019. "The determinants of leverage decisions: Evidence from Asian emerging markets," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1598836-159, January.
    15. Bontempi, Maria Elena & Bottazzi, Laura & Golinelli, Roberto, 2020. "A multilevel index of heterogeneous short-term and long-term debt dynamics," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Goodell, John W. & Kumar, Satish & Lahmar, Oumaima & Pandey, Nitesh, 2023. "A bibliometric analysis of cultural finance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Bitar, Mohammad & Tarazi, Amine, 2022. "Individualism, formal institutional environments, and bank capital decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Bermpei, Theodora & Degl’Innocenti, Marta & Kalyvas, Antonios Nikolaos & Zhou, Si, 2023. "Lender individualism and monitoring: Evidence from syndicated loans," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    19. Elsas, Ralf & Florysiak, David, 2008. "Empirical Capital Structure Research: New Ideas, Recent Evidence, and Methodological Issues," Discussion Papers in Business Administration 4743, University of Munich, Munich School of Management.
    20. Viet Anh Dang, 2013. "Testing capital structure theories using error correction models: evidence from the UK, France and Germany," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 171-190, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic preferences; Risk-taking; Financing costs; Loan spreads; Bond spreads; Capital structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:106321. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.