This post is part of a series highlighting the key findings of the Global Financial Development Report 2015 | 2016: Long-Term Finance. You can view the entire series at gfdr2015.
Many governments are concerned about providing long-term finance for corporations. In fact, having access to long-term funds allows firms to finance large investments as well as to reduce rollover and liquidity risks and the potential for runs that could lead to costly crises. Moreover, “short-termism” explains several well-known financial crises in both developing and developed economies. But to what extent do corporations borrow long term? And in which markets?
To help understand whether firms from different countries access short- and long-term financing, Chapter 3 of the Global Financial Development Report (GFDR) 2015 and the respective background paper (Cortina, Didier, and Schmukler, 2015) document the use of equity, bond, and syndicated loan markets by firms from around the world between 1991 and 2013.