The sharp distinction drawn between firms rated narrowly above (BBB–) and below (BB+) the investment-grade cutoff provides variation in debt financing availability unrelated to firm fundamentals. We exploit this market segmentation to identify an asymmetric effect of debt capital supply on voluntary disclosure: BB+ firms step up disclosure in response to high-yield bond mutual fund outflows. Th...

The purpose of this paper is to examine the financing behaviour of Dutch corporations and its impact on firm performance. First, I present some stylised facts of corporate financing in the Netherlands. I show how the Dutch financial system differs from other major financial systems. Second, I analyse the valuation effect of different types of security offerings made by Dutch quoted firms. An ev...

This article analyses the redistributive effect caused by health financing and the distribution of healthcare utilization in Argentina before and during the severe 2001/2002 economic crisis. Both dramatically changed during this period: the redistributive effect became much more positive and utilization shifted from pro-poor to pro-rich. This clearly demonstrates that when utilization is contin...

We examine the effect of introducing credit default swaps (CDSs) on firms’ investment and financing policies. Our model allows for dynamic investment and dynamic financing using equity and debt, and debt holders can trade in the CDS market. After calibrating the model, we compare an economy with a CDS market to an economy without one. The model contains both positive and negative effects of CDS...

In its 2010 world health report, the World Health Organization noted that there is no single, best path for reforming health financing arrangements to move systems closer to universal health coverage, i.e. to improve access to needed, effective services while protecting users from financial ruin. However, this lack of a blueprint for health financing reforms was not meant to convey the message ...

This paper makes use of a database of Spanish manufacturing firms to explore the effect of a firm’s ownership structure on its inventory policy. We have argued that the presence of institutional investors reduces a firm’s liquidity needs and nts overinvestment policies. This, in turn, leads to lower equilibrium inventory levels. Also, we expect, on average, ventory investment when bank-equity f...

We examine how executive compensation affects the cost of debt financing. Analyzing CEO pay data from the UK, we find that debt-like and equity-like pay components have opposite effects on the cost of debt. An increase in defined benefit pensions is associated with lower bond yield spread, while an increase in executive stock options intensifies it. In addition, we find some evidence that cash ...

This paper presents further international comparisons of progressivity of health care financing systems. The paper builds on the work of Wagstaff et al. [Wagstaff, A., van Doorslaer E., et al., 1992. Equity in the finance of health care: some international comparisons, Journal of Health Economics 11, pp. 361-387] but extends it in a number of directions: we modify the methodology used there and...

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We owe thanks to Frans Tempelaar and Luigi Zingales for useful comments. We retain all responsibility for content. Abstract We argue that in an unreliable enforcement regime, transactions tend to become intermediated through institutions or concentrated among agents bound by some form of private enforcement. Provision of funding shifts from risk capital to debt, and from markets to institutions...