Essays on capital structure in Turkey

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Tezin Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, işletme, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2021

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: SARP KALKAN

Danışman: Adil Oran

Özet:

This dissertation attempts to find answers to three research questions related to the capital structure of firms operating in Turkey. Using a relatively more comprehensive data set, possible factors that characterize capital structures of Turkish firms are explored. In the first essay, firm-level variables related to size, profitability, tangibility, growth and contracting problems are included into different models in order to explain the leverage measures of Turkish firms. Pooled panel and fixed effect estimation results provide evidence that the pecking order theory fits better to the capital structure choices of Turkish firms compared to trade-off theory. In the second essay, it is found that private firms have higher debt ratios than public firms do. Moreover, it is observed that the sensitivity effect of Brav (2009) cannot be validated in the present dissertation. In the last essay, the rebalancing behavior of both public and private Turkish firms are investigated for the first time in the literature. In this essay, the analysis supports the view that Turkish firms rebalance their financial structure to a target level. Moreover, compared to the public firms, the private firms finance their deficits through more debt issuance.