Macroeconomic risks and capital structure adjustment speed: The Chinese evidence

Using both integrated and two-stage dynamic partial adjustment capital structure models, we find evidence that macroeconomic conditions affect Chinese firms' capital structure adjustment speeds towards target leverage. Chinese firms revert towards target leverages faster in high economic growth states than in low economic growth states as measured by bond and stock market capitalization relative to GDP, banking sector development, real interest rate and risk premiums. Overall, firms that are financially unconstrained, of large size, and those with small deviation of actual leverage from target leverage rebalance faster towards the target leverage than the counterparts. The same findings occur during high economic growth states, while variations in adjustment speeds exist among firms with different financial constraints and distance to target leverage during low economic growth states. The firms' leverage adjustment speed depends on the adjustment cost associated with added debt or debt replaced with internal funds or equity.