Determinantes da estrutura de capital na América Latina e nos Estados Unidos

Abstract

The study of a firm´s capital structure is extremely controversial in finance. Theoretical debates and empirical evidences in the last forty years, based on the traditional models, the Modigliani and Miller (MM) models, Pecking Order Theory (POT) and Static Tradeoff Theory (STT), have generated few orientations about how to choose between debt and equity, since in many situations these theories have reached conflicting hypotheses. Despite the controversy around the existence of an optimal capital structure, this debate around the Traditional Model and the MM Model, the approach generated by POT and STT has suggested that companies choose their capital structure according to some theoretical relevant attributes. This paper concentrates in the STT and POT approach and analyses, in the latinamerican and north-american markets, if attributes such as the size of a firm, some business growth opportunities, tangibility of assets, profitability and business risk would affect the indebtedness of firms. The research was made with 740 companies in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, México and US from 1996 to 2005. Considering three proxies variables of indebtedness in the first model, three regressions were estimated by Ordinary Least Square (OLS) with consistent errors to heterocedasticity according to White, relating independent variables from the investigated attributes and a dummy, in order to measure the impact of financial systems on capital structure. In a second model, from three proxy variables of indebtedness, a main component was extracted in order to be used as a dependent variable in the general model. This model was estimated, including dummy variables for the countries and sectors of each firm. In a specific way, it was concluded that capital structures between countries posses meaningful differences, showing the impact of models/financing systems in the indebtedness of firms. Generally, the results indicate that: 1) the tangibility of asset seems not to be an important attribute to explain the capital structure of latin-american and north-american companies; 2) there is an inverse relationship between the indebtedness level and profitability, according to POT; 3) the size of a company is positive related to its capital structure, according to STT; 4) the indebtedness level is inversely related to growth opportunities, according to POT and STT; 5) the higher the business risk, the lower the indebtedness risk, according to the hypotheses raised by POT and STT theories. The results also show the strong impact of financial systems to capital structures for companies in Latin America and the US.