The role of exporting on capital structure: A firm-level investigation

Capital structure is a subject that researchers have been working on for many years. In this study, the effect of exports on capital structure decisions has been investigated at the firm-level. In this study, the 2005-2019 annual data of 208 companies exporting in Turkey has been used. Leverage has been used as the dependent variable, and the export intensity, calculated by dividing exports by total sales, as the main independent variable. In addition, asset structure, cash flow, and firm size variables has been added as control variables in the study. In order to test the estimation results of the model, the variables of current ratio, real gross domestic product, and real effective exchange rate has been added. Panel data regression analysis has been used in this study. According to the analysis results, a positive relationship has been found between export intensity and leverage, however this relationship is statistically insignificant. A positive and statistically significant relationship has been found between asset structure, firm size, and leverage, and a negative correlation has been found between cash flow and leverage. Among the variables added to the model for robustness checks, a negative but statistically insignificant relationship has been found between current ratio and leverage. It has been found a negative relationship between leverage and real effective exchange rate, and this is statistically significant. A positive but statistically insignificant relationship has been found between gross domestic product and leverage.