Comparisons of financing decisions of domestic and multinational firms provide contrasting results. Some indicate that multinationals operate at higher levels of debt, whilst others suggest domestic firms use more leverage. We test whether managers of multinational firms increase the use of debt capital or prefer theoretically more expensive equity financing as internationalization increases. We find that multinational companies use similar or lower leverage than domestic firms and are more likely to raise new equity capital than new debt. Our evidence indicates that internationalization leads to the use of more expensive capital from the domestic market at a cost to shareholders. International markets are used sparingly.

国内公司与跨国公司融资决策的比较提供了相反的结果。一些表明跨国公司的债务水平较高，而另一些表明国内公司使用更多的杠杆。我们测试了随着国际化程度的提高，跨国公司的管理者是否增加了债务资本的使用，或者从理论上讲是更昂贵的股权融资。我们发现，跨国公司使用的杠杆率与国内公司的杠杆率相近或更低，并且与新债务相比，更可能筹集新的股本资本。我们的证据表明，国际化导致国内市场使用了更为昂贵的资本，而这给股东带来了损失。很少使用国际市场。