The Differential Impact of Leverage on Firm Investment: Evidence From Advanced and Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper examines the differential impact of leverage on investment across firms with varying levels of growth opportunities in both advanced and developing countries. Contradictory research findings on the strength of this relationship for firms with low or high growth opportunities are reported; where even divergent results in previous studies using the same country for analysis are found. By using a multi-country framework, we confirm a negative impact of leverage on firm investment, where a stronger negative impact is consistently found for firms with low growth opportunities in both advanced and developing countries.

Keywords: Leverage; Investment; Advanced countries; Developing countries; Corporate finance

JEL Classification: G10, G30, G32