Correlation-and-regression analysis of the influence of macroeconomic factors on capital structure of Russian corporations under crisis conditions

Abstract The study reveals the influence of macroeconomic factors on decisions about the optimal capital structure formation under financial globalization, in view of ever-changing factors of the external economic and geopolitical environment. The study is aimed at empirical testing of hypotheses on how the level of financial leverage of corporations depends on traditional determinants during and after the financial crisis under the emerging market conditions in Russia. The study deals with a large data set of 49 public joint stock companies from 7 leading Russian economic sectors for the period from 2011 to 2017. According to the correlation-and-regression analysis results (1) the use of traditional theories of capital structure under the conditions of current financial globalization in a country with a developing economy proves to be ineffective for the optimal capital structure formation (2) the corporate capital structure formation is strongly influenced by macroeconomic factors, which is most evidently manifested during and after the crisis (3) the financial crisis exerts a strong influence on the corporate capital structure (4) the determinant of stock market development has a significant influence on leverage and plays a prominent role in making financial decisions after the financial crisis.