Purpose This cross-border study’s main purpose is to examine whether there is a significant association between political institutions and the cost of debt. In addition, it also investigates whether this association is moderated by the country’s corruption levels. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a unique cross-border data set comprising 45,848 firms from 117 countries from 2002 to 2017 to investigate these research questions. Further, the authors use the two-stage least squares method to mitigate issues of endogeneity. Findings This study finds that political institutions are significantly associated with cost of debt. Specifically, the cost of debt is lower in countries with stronger democratic institutions, smaller government bureaucracies and higher adherence to the rule of law. Further, this association is strengthened by low corruption levels. Originality/value This study provides new insights into the relationship between political institutions and the cost of debt. Overall, the results reveal that democratic institutions, government bureaucracy and the rule of law are significantly associated with cost of debt. This association is stronger in countries with low levels of corruption and consistent with Transparency’s International notion that accountability and transparency by government political institutions promote sustainable economic growth.
This study examines whether dissimilar types of politically connected firms (PCFs) are related to corporate tax avoidance. Additionally, it investigates whether this association is moderated by chief executive officer (CEO) shareholding and institutional ownership. Using the dataset of Malaysian public listed companies from 2002 till 2018, our findings suggest that PCFs are associated with higher corporate tax avoidance which is largely driven by older PCFs and government-linked companies (GLCs). Further analyses reveal that the association between older PCFs and GLCs and higher corporate tax avoidance is stronger in firms with higher CEO shareholding and institutional ownership.
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