Natural disasters, public attention and changes in capital structure: international evidence

Balbinder Singh Gill ()
Additional contact information
Balbinder Singh Gill: Stevens Institute of Technology

Annals of Finance, 2024, vol. 20, issue 2, No 2, 199-238

Abstract: Abstract In this study, I examine whether public attention to a natural disaster affects the likelihood of firms using external financing (only debt, only equity, or a mix of debt and equity) following the disaster. The helpful (or harmful) view of public attention predicts that increasing public attention to the disaster can help companies to use (or hinder them from using) external financing following the disaster. For this investigation, I construct two indices: (1) an index of public attention to natural disasters and (2) an index of natural disaster intensity. Consistent with the prediction of the helpful view, the likelihood of using a combination of debt and equity financing in the aftermath of a severe disaster is higher when people pay more attention to it. By contrast, when people pay less attention to severe disasters, firms are more likely to use only debt or equity financing, which confirms the harmful view. I provide evidence that the moderating effect of public attention on the relationship between the likelihood of using external financing and natural disaster intensity varies across types of natural disasters and types of online information sources (websites, online news, images, and YouTube videos). Furthermore, smaller firms that often face difficulties obtaining external financing are more likely to benefit from increased public attention to disasters when they want to use only debt financing and less likely to benefit when using equity financing. Finally, I provide evidence that the substitution of internal funding sources for external sources in the aftermath of a disaster depends on the level of public attention to the disaster.

Keywords: Corporate debt; Public attention; Natural disasters; Climate change; Sustainable finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G32 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10436-024-00442-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:annfin:v:20:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10436-024-00442-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/finance/journal/10436/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10436-024-00442-9

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of Finance is currently edited by Anne Villamil

More articles in Annals of Finance from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().