What is it about?

In the recent years, an increasing number of papers deepened cross-disciplinary studies, examining how different cultural values influence financial variables. The main objective of our paper is to test if the dominant world religions (Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Judaic), and, moreover, some Christian denominations (Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity) are related to some patterns in capital structure. Our paper considers distinctly the category of countries in which Agnostics, Atheists and non-religious people are predominant. The results are promising. Companies located in the states with predominance of Islamic religion have a lower leverage, while the ones from predominantly Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Hindu and Judaic countries, as well as those in mainly Agnostic, Atheist and non-religious ones, are indebted more than those from mainly Protestant countries. The debt maturity seems to be correlated to the dominant religions or denominations, with companies in the predominantly Eastern Orthodox, Buddhist and Agnostic, Atheist and non-religious countries relying more on short term debt, and those in the majority Catholic, Judaic and Hindu countries on long term debt.

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Why is it important?

Comparative to previous studies, we consider more religions. Moreover, we used different indicators for capital structure, both in book and market values. A large database, consisting in companies from different countries, is used.

Perspectives

I HOPE THAT ARTICLE TO ADD NEW EVIDENCE FOR THE LINK BETWEEN CULTURE AND FINANCIAL INDICATORS RELATED TO CAPITAL STRUCTURE.

Prof. INGRID-MIHAELA DRAGOTA
THE BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES

Finally, our article is a matter of cultural finance. In our case, about the connections between culture and decision-making in finance. It was a great effort, but finally our article analyses a less studied topic in corporate finance and finds some interesting insights.

Victor Dragota
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucuresti

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This page is a summary of: Capital structure and religion. Some international evidence, Acta Oeconomica, September 2018, Akademiai Kiado,
DOI: 10.1556/032.2018.68.3.5.
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