Firm’s aging perception and debt leverage: A textual analysis

IF 2.8 2区经济学 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Journal of International Money and Finance Pub Date : 2025-02-13 DOI:10.1016/j.jimonfin.2025.103295

Qin Wang , Tong Liu , Dongmin Kong , Wenzhe Zhang

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Abstract

This paper examines the effect of firms’ perceptions of population aging on corporate capital structure at the firm level. We construct a novel aging indicator for firms using textual analysis of the annual reports of China’s A-share listed firms. We find that firms perceiving greater aging tend to have lower leverage. This negative impact exhibits heterogeneity, with a more pronounced effect observed among non-state-owned enterprises, those located in areas with advanced economic development, as well as among labor-intensive and non-high-tech firms. The plausible mechanisms involve operating risks and financing constraints. Additionally, automation, as a way of factor substitution to address demographic changes, may alleviate the resulting negative impact on leverage. By revealing the significant effect of aging on corporate financing decisions, our study has clear implications for firms and regulators concerned with this demographic transition and improves the understanding of the sociodemographic influence on corporate activities.

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企业老化认知与债务杠杆：一个文本分析

本文从企业层面考察了企业对人口老龄化的认知对企业资本结构的影响。本文通过对中国a股上市公司年报的文本分析，构建了一个新的企业老龄化指标。我们发现，认为老龄化程度较高的企业往往拥有较低的杠杆率。这种负面影响表现出异质性，在非国有企业、经济发达地区的企业、劳动密集型企业和非高科技企业中，这种影响更为明显。可行的机制涉及经营风险和融资约束。此外，自动化作为解决人口变化的一种因素替代方式，可能会减轻由此产生的对杠杆的负面影响。通过揭示老龄化对企业融资决策的显著影响，我们的研究对关注这一人口转型的企业和监管机构具有明确的启示，并提高了对社会人口对企业活动影响的理解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of International Money and Finance BUSINESS, FINANCE-

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

4.00%

发文量

141

期刊介绍： Since its launch in 1982, Journal of International Money and Finance has built up a solid reputation as a high quality scholarly journal devoted to theoretical and empirical research in the fields of international monetary economics, international finance, and the rapidly developing overlap area between the two. Researchers in these areas, and financial market professionals too, pay attention to the articles that the journal publishes. Authors published in the journal are in the forefront of scholarly research on exchange rate behaviour, foreign exchange options, international capital markets, international monetary and fiscal policy, international transmission and related questions.