عوامل تعیین کننده در سررسید بدهی های شرکت های بزرگ در جنوب امریکا: آیا کیفیت نهادی و توسعه مالی مهم است؟

We test whether a country's level of financial development or institutional quality (or both) has a first‐order effect on corporate debt maturity decisions on a sample of 359 non-financial firms from five South American countries over a 12‐year period. We find that there is a substantial dynamic component in the determination of a firm's debt maturity, and firms face moderate adjustment frictions toward their optimal maturities. More importantly, the level of financial development does not influence debt maturity, whereas the institutional quality of a country has a significant positive effect on the level of long-term debt in a firm's financial structure. Our results support the hypothesis that the quality of national institutions is an important determinant of corporate financing in general and of debt maturity in particular.

The literature in law and finance shows that laws and the quality of their enforcement are important determinants of the shape and complexity of financial contracts pertaining to debt and equity. According to this literature, the level of protection investors receive determines their disposition toward providing funding to firms. Therefore, corporate financial decisions may critically rely on the legal framework and the quality of legal enforcement (La Porta et al., 1998). Further, some authors argue that corporate finance decisions are also affected by a country's financial development, since markets and financial intermediaries source capital to firms and provide information to investors (Demirgüç-Kunt and Maksimovic, 1998).

This paper investigates the determinants of debt maturity for a sample of 359 non-financial firms from five economies in South America over a 12-year period. Employing dynamic panel data analysis, we test the effect of some of the best-known explanatory variables suggested by theory, covering agency cost, signaling, tradeoff, and maturity-matching arguments. Moreover, we test whether financial development or institutional quality (or both) have a first-order effect on corporate debt maturity decisions. Our main findings indicate that: (1) there is a substantial dynamic component in the determination of firm maturity structure; (2) firms face moderate adjustment frictions with respect to optimal maturity; (3) Firm Size, Business Risk, and Tangibility have positive and significant effects on firm debt maturity, corroborating tradeoff and agency theory; (4) Tax Effects and Synthetic Low Rating have negative and significant effects on firm debt maturity; (5) the level of financial development is not significantly related to debt maturity; and (6) the quality of national institutions has a positive effect on maturity structure. Thus, we find support for the La Porta et al. (2000b) claim that the quality of national institutions influences corporate financing and that the level of financial development may be an outcome of better institutions.