從融資限制角度探討租賃與舉債之關聯性

Abstract

租賃與舉債都是現今公司重要的對外融資決策。過去的研究對於租賃與舉債 之間的關係並無定論。本篇研究主要目的是從融資限制的角度來檢視租賃與舉債之間的替代或互補關係。同時，本篇研究加入了公司財務危機以及公司治理；分別討論公司財務危機是否會影響融資限制對租賃的重要性以及公司財務限制是否會影響公司治理與租賃之間的關係。本文使用內生性轉換模型，此模型方便讓我們利用多個變數來決定樣本如何分群，同時也解決了可能存在的內生性問題。實證結果顯示財務危機公司若內部資金愈少、成長機會越愈少、資產實質性越愈低及公司規模愈小，則偏好租賃。換句話說，財務危機公司若融資限制較高的話，則越傾向租賃。對於財務危機公司而言，租賃與舉債之間存在著替代關係；相對的，對於無財務危機公司，租賃與舉債之間則存在著互補關係。此外，研究結果也發現融資相較受限制的公司，若有較強的公司治理機制，則傾向租賃。而融資限制並不影響租賃與舉債之間的關係，不論公司融資限制的程度為何，租賃與舉債皆為替代品。

Leasing and debt are important financing instruments among corporations.However, prior studies on the relationship between leasing and debt are mixed. In comparison of previous studies, this study concentrates on the relationship between operating lease and debt from the perspective of financial constraints. In addition, we extend our analysis to financial distress and corporate governance. We employ an endogenous switching model controlling for endogeneity and heteroskedasticity; this approach allows us to separate our data into two regimes using multiple variables. The empirical results show that financially distressed firms with lower internal funds, smaller size, lower asset tangibility and less growth opportunities tend to lease more and borrow less. In addition, leasing and debt are substitutes for financially distressed firms, while complements for financially healthy firms. Furthermore, financially constrained firms with strong corporate governance mechanism tend to lease more. Finally, leasing and debt are substitutes regardless of the extent to which firms are constrained.