Regional variation in the capital structure adjustment speed of listed firms: Evidence from China

•There was apparent regional variation in the speed of adjustment in capital structure.•The fastest adjustment in capital structure was found in East China.•More credit could be granted to regions that have faster adjustment in capital structure.•The acceleration of economic recovery in East regions could spillover to other regions.

This paper investigates whether in China, a country large in size, geographically diverse and imbalanced in regional economic development, variation in firm capital structure1 is systematically related to regional economic environment. In addition, we examine whether during macroeconomic recovery there is significant difference in the speed of adjustment in capital structure of firms located in different regions. The empirical analyses are based on 783 firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges during a sample period of year 2000 through 2014. Using GMM and Logit QMLE, we found strong evidence that the regional variation in the capital structure of listed firms is linked to growth indicator (the Market-to-Book value, MB), EBIT ratio, size of the firm and tangible assets (the value of Net Property, Plant and Equipment, PPE). In the process of economic recovery, there was apparent regional variation in the speed of adjustment in capital structure, i.e. the fastest adjustment in capital structure was found in East China while that of West China followed and that of Mid China the slowest, that is to say within a given period the leverage ratio of listed firms in East China rises or falls faster than in the other two regions.