Financial Market Imperfections and Corporate Decisions: Lessons from the Transition Process in Hungary

ISBN-13: 9783790815818 / Angielski / Miękka / 2005 / 174 str.

Emilio Colombo; Luca Stanca

Opis

We would like to thank Akos Valentinyi and Mark Schaffer for their advice on various stages of this research project. We also would like to thank our col leagues at the Department of Economics of the University of Milan - Bicocca for their advice and support. This book is the result of a long term project financed by various research grants: in particular the Phare-Ace programme (Project P-96-6151-R) and a research grant from the Italian Ministry of Education under the young researchers scheme. Milan, March 2005 Emilio Colombo Luca Stanca Contents Introduction 1 Financial market imperfections and corporate decisions: theory and evidence 7 2. 1 Introduction 7 2. 2 Financial market imperfections, investment and cycles 9 2. 2. 1 The Stiglitz view 9 2. 2. 2 Agency costs and macroeconomic fluctuations 15 2. 2. 3 Assessing the differences 18 2. 2. 4 Further developments 20 2. 2. 5 Empirical evidence 22 2. 3 Financial market imperfections and corporate capital structure 24 2. 3. 1 Asymmetric information and capital structure choice . . 25 2. 3. 2 Agency costs and capital structure choice 30 2. 3. 3 Empirical evidence 32 The transformation of the Hungarian financial system 35 3. 1 Introduction 35 3. 2 Macroeconomic background 36 3. 3 Liberalisation, privatisation and financial development 44 3. 3. 1 Banking and credit 45 3. 3. 2 Equity market 48 3. 3. 3 Foreign direct investment 49 3. 4 Financial sector reform 50 3. 4."

Spis treści

Financial market imperfections and corporate decisions: theory and evidence.- The transformation of the Hungarian financial system.- Patterns of corporate financial positions.- The determinants of corporate capital structure.- Financial constraints and investment decisions.- Conclusions.

Blurb

The book presents the results of an empirical investigation of the behaviour of Hungarian firms during the transition process focusing in particular on the role of financial market imperfections for corporate capital structure and investment decisions. The results suggest that financial market reforms have succeeded, albeit partially, in hardening firms's budget constraints and improving the efficiency of the credit allocation process. In particular, following the introduction of the banking sector reform and of the new bankruptcy law, budget constraints became more binding for small private firms, while informational costs became less relevant for foreign-owned firms.