ABSTRACT

This article examines the association between media attention and debt financing through a number of channels associated with information asymmetry reduction and whether this relationship changes with cross-country institutional environment characteristics. Focusing on a comprehensive international dataset, we find that overall media coverage is negatively related to firm leverage levels. Media-focused variables directly associated with information asymmetry levels, including press-initiated news, non-financial news, and the extent of positive news sentiment, are also negatively related to firm leverage ratios. Furthermore, the country-level institutional environment provided a substituting rather than legitimizing influence on the relationship between media news coverage and firm financing decision-making.

摘要

本文通过与信息不对称减少相关的多个渠道，研究了媒体关注与债务融资之间的关联，以及这种关系是否会随着跨国制度环境特征的变化而变化。着眼于全面的国际数据集，我们发现整体媒体报道与公司杠杆水平呈负相关。与信息不对称水平直接相关的以媒体为中心的变量，包括媒体发起的新闻、非金融新闻和积极新闻情绪的程度，也与公司杠杆率负相关。此外，国家层面的制度环境对媒体新闻报道与公司融资决策之间的关系提供了替代而非合法化的影响。