This paper investigates private and public credit registries and legal creditor rights as determinants of corporate debt maturity in 45 countries. We find that information sharing among creditors and legal protection of creditor rights are associated with higher ratios of long-term corporate debt to total corporate debt. Information sharing acts as a substitute for creditor protection in lengthening debt maturity in less developed countries. Regulations requiring that both positive and negative credit information are distributed and that secured creditors are paid first in bankruptcy influence corporate debt maturity across countries.
A common problem faced by many firms around the world is the scarce availability of long-term sources of funds. Exclusive reliance on short-term borrowing may expose companies to illiquidity risks and reduce their overall growth potential. 1 To address these issues, many countries have embarked on policies promoting the development of long-term loan or bond markets with mixed results. However, while the negative implications of excessive short-term borrowing on growth and stability are well known (eg. Chang and Velasco, 2001 and Demirguc-Kunt and Maksimovic, 1998), there is no consensus on its underlying determinants and hence the main priorities for reform.
Herbal syrups come in handy this time of year and are easy to make. It is best not to take a lot of sugar when you are not feeling well, but if a little bit of sweetener makes the difference if someone takes their medicine or not, then it is worth it. A spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. Often when someone is really sick, it can be difficult for them to stomach harsh tasting herbal medicines, so turning your herbal teas into syrups is a great way to make your herbal preparations taste good.
The best known empirical failures of consumption-based asset pricing models are the equity premium puzzle and the risk-free rate puzzle. Mehra and Prescott (1985) investigate U.S. data from 1889 to 1978 and find that the mean annual premium of equity return over the riskless rate was around 6% which is too large to be justified by the standard Arrow-Debreu model with a plausible degree of risk aversion. In other words, stocks are not sufficiently riskier than Treasury bills to explain the spread in their returns.
