scholarly journals Environmental Reporting and Speed of Adjustment to Target Leverage: Evidence from a Dynamic Regime Switching Model

Organizacija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hafezali Iqbal Hussain ◽  
Sebastian Kot ◽  
Hassanudin Mohd Thas Thaker ◽  
Jason J Turner
Keyword(s):  
Regime Switching ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Adjustment Costs ◽  
Adjustment Cost ◽  
External Financing ◽  
Environmental Reporting ◽  
Switching Model ◽  
Speed Of Adjustment ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBackground and Purpose: This study investigates the impact of environmental reporting on speed of adjustment and adjustment costs which is evaluated based on the ability of firms to adjust to target leverage level for non-financial firms listed in the Malaysian Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia).Design/Methodology/ Approach: The study selects Malaysian firms based on the contracting and political cost of the economy which is seen as a relationship-based economy. This in turn influences a firm’s ability to obtain external financing and thus has an important impact on capital structure decisions. In addition, the method employed allows for a direct measure on adjustment cost for firms. The current study utilises a dynamic regime switching model based on the DPF estimator to estimate rate of adjustment to optimal target levels based on the distinction of environmental reporting of public listed firms. The approach allows statistical inferences to control for potential serial correlation, endogeneity and heterogeneity concerns which accounts for firm specific characteristics.Results: The empirical findings suggest voluntary disclosure on environmental reporting increases a firm’s ability to access external financing at a cheaper cost as evidenced by a more rapid rate of adjustment. The findings are consistent across differing endogenous and exogenous factors indicating that these firms tend to face lower adjustment costs.Conclusion: The current study provides a direct measure on the ability of firms to adjust to target levels via security issues and repurchases in the capital markets. This in turn is a reflection of perceived riskiness and value from the investors’ point of view in an emerging market. Prior studies have focused on environmental reporting and equity risk premiums and have not evaluated the direct impact on firm value given that the trade-off theory of capital structure predicts that firm value is maximised at target i.e. optimal levels of leverage. This study addresses the current gap in the literature by evaluating the impact on firms’ value, based on the adjustment cost.

Heterogeneity and Asymmetry in Speed of Leverage Adjustment: The Indian Experience

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (03) ◽  
pp. 1650019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surenderrao Komera ◽  
P. J. Jijo Lukose
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cash Flow ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Adjustment Costs ◽  
Group Affiliation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Speed Of Adjustment ◽  
Business Group Affiliation ◽  
Optimal Leverage ◽  
Target Leverage

In this paper, we examine firms' capital structure adjustment behavior and estimate their “speed of adjustment” toward optimal leverage ratios by employing a dynamic, partial adjustment model. We find that sample firms on an average offset half of the deviation from their target leverage ratios in less than one and half (1.41) years. Such evidence suggests optimal capital structure behavior among sample firms. Further, we report cross sectional heterogeneity and asymmetry in speed of adjustment estimates, resulting from varied leverage adjustment costs across the sample firms. We find higher speed of adjustment estimates among larger sample firms suggesting higher leverage adjustment costs for smaller firms. Business group affiliation does not seem to influence the costs of sample firms' leverage adjustment. Over-levered firms report higher speed of adjustment estimates, suggesting that sample firms do not consider debt financing as a “disciplining mechanism” for managers. Further, we find lower speed of adjustment estimates for sample firms with higher cash flow, implying that Indian markets do not actively accommodate firms' cash flow needs. Thus, our findings reveal complex asymmetric information problems and consequent varied leverage adjustment costs among emerging market firms.

Impact of volatility and equity market uncertainty on herd behaviour: evidence from UK REITs

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omokolade Akinsomi ◽  
Yener Coskun ◽  
Rangan Gupta ◽  
Chi Keung Marco Lau
Keyword(s):  
Asset Allocation ◽  
Regime Switching ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Market Uncertainty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regime Switching Model ◽  
Switching Model ◽  
Market Sentiment ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper aims to examine herding behaviour among investors and traders in UK-listed Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) within three market regimes (low, high and extreme volatility periods) from the period June 2004 to April 2016.Design/methodology/approachObservations of investors in 36 REITs that trade on the London Stock Exchange as at April 2016 were used to analyse herding behaviour among investors and traders of shares of UK REITs, using a Markov regime-switching model.FindingsAlthough a static herding model rejects the existence of herding in REITs markets, estimates from the regime-switching model reveal substantial evidence of herding behaviour within the low volatility regime. Most interestingly, the authors observed a shift from anti-herding behaviour within the high volatility regime to herding behaviour within the low volatility regime, with this having been caused by the FTSE 100 Volatility Index (UK VIX).Originality/valueThe results have various implications for decisions regarding asset allocation, diversification and value management within UK REITs. Market participants and analysts may consider that collective movements and market sentiment/psychology are determinative factors of risk-return in UK REITs. In addition, general uncertainty in the equity market, proxied by the impact of the UK VIX, may also provide a signal for increasing herding-related risks among UK REITs.

Asymmetric Labor Market Reforms: Effects on Wage Growth and Conversion Probability of Fixed-Term Contracts

ILR Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 760-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Silva ◽  
Luis Filipe Martins ◽  
Helena Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Regime Switching ◽  
Wage Growth ◽  
Employment Protection ◽  
Hourly Wage ◽  
Regime Switching Model ◽  
Switching Model ◽  
Term Contract ◽  
Labor Market Reforms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Employee Data

The authors investigate the impact of a change in employment protection laws in Portugal that increased the maximum legal duration of fixed-term contracts. They find that this reform led to a reduction in the probability that a worker on a fixed-term contract would be converted to a permanent contract. In addition, those workers who had their contracts converted experienced a significantly higher hourly wage growth at the time of conversion and faced a lower reduction in wage growth during the years in which the changed legislation was in force. Consequently, the implementation of this law led to a 27% increase in the wage-growth differential between the two contracts. The findings are based on an endogenous regime-switching model using rich administrative linked employer–employee data.

scholarly journals Determinants of Capital Structure for Malaysian Shariah-Compliant Firms: The Impact of Revised Screening Methodology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norfhadzilahwati Rahim ◽  
Fauzias Mat Nor ◽  
Nurainna Ramli ◽  
Ainulashikin Marzuki
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
Method Of Moment ◽  
Speed Of Adjustment ◽  
Lagged Dependent Variable ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates two main objectives. Firstly, the determinants of capital structure were examined for each sector among Malaysian Shariah-compliant firms, and whether the inclusion of Islamic debt (leverage 1 and leverage 2) has led to different results due to changes in the screening methodology. Secondly, this paper analyzes the target Capital Structure and Speed of Adjustment for both before and after the Revised Screening Methodology. This study employs panel data analysis by using generalized method of moment (GMM). The sample consists of 192 Shariah-compliant companies in Malaysia during the period of 1999 to 2017. The results demonstrated that the firm has target capital structure and identified specific determinants that have affected the capital structure of Shariah-compliant firms in Malaysia. Moreover, the findings have also revealed certain implications toward large firms. Large firms tend to generate more income and profit, however at the same time, these firms require more debt to support investment activities. Hence, with regards to profitability, this study identified a negative relationship between profitability and leverage for Shariah-compliant firms for all sectors. Shariah-compliant firms with high profitability will use a lower leverage in their financial activities. Thus, the results strongly support the pecking order theory. Other than that, this study found that the lagged dependent variable (lagged leverage 1 and leverage 2) presented a positive significance, and concluded that the speed of adjustment takes approximately 2 years. This suggests that the Shariah-compliant firms close approximately by 30% to 70% of the gap between current and target capital structure within one and two years. Furthermore, the findings on the target leverage level imply that after the revised screening methodology was introduced in November 2013, the speed of adjustment became faster than before the implementation of the new screening methodology. Thus, it is important for management to maintain the target leverage during financial decision making, which in turn strengthens the firm’s Shariah-compliant financial stability and sustainability, and continue to remain listed as Shariah-compliant securities. This paper provides an overview of capital structure behaviour in Malaysia.  

The impact of global financial market uncertainty on the risk-return relation in the stock markets of G7 countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Loudon
Keyword(s):  
Financial Market ◽  
Stock Markets ◽  
Regime Switching ◽  
Transition Probabilities ◽  
Market Uncertainty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regime Switching Model ◽  
Switching Model ◽  
Risk Return ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of global financial market uncertainty on the relation between risk and return in G7 stock markets. Design/methodology/approach Market uncertainty is quantified using a probability-based measure derived from a regime-switching model in which the state transition probabilities are time-varying in response to leading economic indicators. Time variation in the risk return relation is estimated using a GARCH-M model. Findings While the regime-switching model successfully distinguishes between crisis and normal states, there remains substantial variability through time in the level of uncertainty about which state prevails. Results show that a strong negative relation exists between this uncertainty and the reward-to-variability ratio across all G7 stock markets. This finding is qualitatively consistent at both monthly and weekly horizons. Originality/value Extant evidence on the risk-return relation is conflicting. Most papers assume the relation is time constant. Allowing the reward-to-variability ratio to vary through time in response to return regime uncertainty increases the understanding of asset pricing. It also has important implications for asset allocation decisions by investors.

scholarly journals Dynamic Capital Structure Adjustment and the Impact of Fractional Dependent Variables

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 1105-1133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Elsas ◽  
David Florysiak
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Corporate Finance ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Speed Of Adjustment ◽  
Structure Adjustment ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Target Leverage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Biased Estimates ◽  
Structure Research

AbstractResearchers in empirical corporate finance often use bounded ratios (e.g., debt ratios) as dependent variables in their regressions. Using the example of estimating the speed of adjustment toward target leverage, we show by Monte Carlo and resampling experiments that commonly applied estimators yield severely biased estimates, as they ignore that debt ratios are fractional (i.e., bounded between 0 and 1). We propose a new unbiased estimator for adjustment speed in the presence of fractional dependent variables that also controls for unobserved heterogeneity and unbalanced panel data. This new estimator is suitable for corporate finance applications beyond capital structure research.

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