THE HETEROGENEITY OF THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE OF COMPANIES FROM DEVELOPED COUNTRIES – G7: A QUANTILE ANALYSIS

Abstract

In the last decades the cross-country studies stood out for trying to verify the determinants of the capital structure in the most diverse countries. However, it is worth mentioning that in times of crisis and recession, financing decisions become more important, since resources in the financial market may become scarcer, impacting on possible investments and production activities of companies. The objective of this study was to verify if companies in the main developed countries (G7 member countries) maintain their capital structures through the crisis scenario. The econometric technique called quantile regression was used as the main analysis tool, since its characteristics allow a more detailed reading of the data, considering the heterogeneity of the companies. The main results point to different financing strategies among the companies in the countries analyzed, influenced by the context of the global economic crisis.

Keywords: Developed countries; Pecking order; Trade-off; crisis.