| Popis: |
This study advances the research on the U.S. corporate debt market by investigating a large sample of firms for the period from 2003 to 2018. I show that a substantial part of U.S. firms' debt is financed by outstanding bonds. Further, with regression analysis, I prove that firms which are less profitable, which have lower growth opportunities, lower leverage, and more cash reserves show a higher bond ratio. Also, a non-linear relationship for the size of a firm with the proportion of bond financing is revealed which implies that very small and very large firms have lower bond ratios. As one of few studies, I also show that firms utilize additional capital raised from bonds to invest in growth opportunities rather than keeping this capital as cash reserves on the balance sheet. Throughout the analysis, this study places special importance on the difference between the time before and after the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. With my results, I provide important implications for policymakers to define the future of the bond market and to answer the question on which firms should have access to it. |
