Corporate Capital Structure and Firm Value: International Evidence on the Special Roles of Bank Debt

We contribute to the corporate capital structure and bank specialness literatures by studying the effects of bank debt on corporate value. We apply novel methodology to almost 60,000 firms in 110 countries over 17 years – over 300,000 total observations. We find that bank term loans and credit lines are strongly positively associated with firm value, but only when employed very intensively – at 90% or more of total corporate debt. These effects are consistent with bank specialness at high-intensity levels. These findings support previously untested theoretical predictions that bank specialness would be stronger or exist only at high bank debt intensities. Our results hold broadly, but are stronger for credit-constrained firms – small firms and those in low-income countries. Channel analysis suggests that term loans boost short-term firm performance more, while credit lines better promote long-run growth. The findings suggest future research topics and have policy implications, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis.

Banking Research in the Time of COVID-19

Despite the devastating worldwide human and economic tolls of the COVID-19 crisis, it has created some positive economic and financial surprises and opportunities for research. We highlight two such favorable surprises – the shortest U.S. recession on record and the avoidance of any banking crisis – and a number of research opportunities. We tie the “economic surprise” of the short recession to the speed and size of U.S. stimulus programs during COVID-19 – faster and larger than for the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). We connect the “financial surprise” of the resilient banking sector to prudential policies put in place during and after the GFC that fortified U.S. banks prior to COVID-19. These twin “surprises” are also mutually reinforcing – if either the economy or banking system had failed, so would the other. We also review extant COVID-19 banking research and suggest paths for future research. We recommend particular attention be paid to research outside of the U.S. – where fewer favorable “surprises” may be present – to best advance the knowledge.