This study examines the effects of firm-level political risk on firm leverage decisions and speed of adjustment. We uncover that firm-level political risk has a negative impact on a firm's total and long-term leverage. We also find that firms facing high political risk tend to prefer debts with short-term maturity. However, firm-level political risk is positively related to debt specialisation, suggesting that firms are more inclined to adopt fewer debt types when they face high political risk. Further analysis reveals that firms with high political risk are associated with a faster speed of adjustment to target than those with low political risk. Our results are robust to endogeneity concerns and the effects of financial crisis.

本研究考察了企业层面的政治风险对企业杠杆决策和调整速度的影响。我们发现公司层面的政治风险对公司的总杠杆和长期杠杆有负面影响。我们还发现，面临高政治风险的公司往往更喜欢短期到期的债务。然而，企业层面的政治风险与债务专业化正相关，这表明企业在面临高政治风险时更倾向于采用较少的债务类型。进一步的分析表明，与政治风险低的公司相比，具有高政治风险的公司对目标的调整速度更快。我们的结果对内生性担忧和金融危机的影响是稳健的。