Journals / Ekonomi Politika ve Finans Araştırmaları Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 11 Sayı: 3

Capital Structure and Export Intensity: Static and Dynamic Panel Evidence from Turkish Manufacturing

Sermaye Yapısı ve İhracat Yoğunluğu: Türkiye İmalat Sanayiinden Statik ve Dinamik Panel Kanıtları

Nihat Dağıstan(BAŞKENT ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-9086-4942
Pages
822–848
Publication Date
2026-09-30
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The dynamic results are consistent with debt capacity supporting export intensity among Türkiye’s largest industrial firms, but do not establish such an effect.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study analyses the relationship between capital structure and export intensity using a firm-year panel drawn from the Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises (ISO 500) surveys for 2009-2025.
📊
Key Findings & Data:After name normalisation and brand-guarded fuzzy matching, the regression sample contains 3,689 observations on 750 firms, with capital structure measured by the total leverage ratio.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:The dynamic results are consistent with debt capacity supporting export intensity among Türkiye’s largest industrial firms, but do not establish such an effect.
🔬Design:Lab & Field Experiment
📍Scope:2009-2025 Verileri
⚙️Variables:Sermaye Yapısı · Kaldıraç · İhracat Yoğunluğu

Abstract

This study analyses the relationship between capital structure and export intensity using a firm-year panel drawn from the Istanbul Chamber of Industry’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises (ISO 500) surveys for 2009-2025. After name normalisation and brand-guarded fuzzy matching, the regression sample contains 3,689 observations on 750 firms, with capital structure measured by the total leverage ratio. Static two-way fixed-effects estimates yield a leverage coefficient indistinguishable from zero (-0.001; p=0.97). By contrast, a two-step Blundell-Bond system GMM estimator accounting for the persistence of export intensity and the endogeneity of leverage estimates the leverage coefficient at 0.128 (p=0.028). This positive coefficient is not robust: it becomes insignificant when zero-imputed export observations are excluded, and fractional response estimates reproduce the persistence but not the leverage effect. Foreign capital share is positive in pooled estimates but insignificant under firm fixed effects. The dynamic results are consistent with debt capacity supporting export intensity among Türkiye’s largest industrial firms, but do not establish such an effect.

Özet

Bu çalışma, İstanbul Sanayi Odası’nın Türkiye’nin 500 Büyük Sanayi Kuruluşu (İSO 500) araştırmasının 2009-2025 dönemine ait listelerinden inşa edilen firma-yıl paneliyle sermaye yapısı ile ihracat yoğunluğu arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektedir. Unvan normalizasyonu ve marka-korumalı bulanık eşleştirmeyle kurulan regresyon örneklemi 750 firmaya ait 3.689 gözlemden oluşmakta olup sermaye yapısı toplam kaldıraç oranıyla ölçülmüştür. Statik iki yönlü sabit etkiler tahminlerinde kaldıraç katsayısı sıfırdan ayırt edilememektedir (-0,001; p=0,97). Buna karşılık ihracat yoğunluğundaki kalıcılığı ve kaldıracın içselliğini dikkate alan iki aşamalı Blundell-Bond sistem GMM tahmininde kaldıraç katsayısı 0,128 (p=0,028) çıkmaktadır. Ancak bu pozitif etki sağlam değildir: sıfır atanan ihracat gözlemleri dışlandığında anlamlılığını yitirmekte, kesirli yanıt tahminleri kalıcılığı doğrularken kaldıraç etkisini vermemekte ve Hansen testi araç setine yalnızca sınırda destek sunmaktadır (p=0,096). Yabancı sermaye payı havuzlanmış tahminlerde pozitifken firma sabit etkileri altında anlamsızlaşmaktadır. Dinamik bulgular, borçlanma kapasitesinin Türkiye’nin en büyük sanayi firmalarında ihracat yoğunluğunu desteklediği yorumuyla tutarlı olmakla birlikte bunu kanıtlamamaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Dağıstan, N. (2026). Capital Structure and Export Intensity: Static and Dynamic Panel Evidence from Turkish Manufacturing. Ekonomi Politika ve Finans Araştırmaları Dergisi, Cilt: 11 Sayı: 3, 822–848. https://doi.org/10.30784/epfad.2004885

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (65)

  1. Abor, J.Y., Agbloyor, E.K. and Kuipo, R. (2014). Bank finance and export activities of small and medium enterprises. Review of Development Finance, 4(2), 97-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdf.2014.05.004
  2. Adil, F. and Nazir, R. (2023). Firms’ financial inclusion and export performance: Evidence from manufacturing sector firms in Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 62(3), 409-430. https://doi.org/10.30541/v62i3pp.409-430
  3. Aitken, B., Hanson, G.H. and Harrison, A.E. (1997). Spillovers, foreign investment, and export behavior. Journal of International Economics, 43(1-2), 103-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1996(96)01464-X
  4. Aksoy, E.E. and Kandil Göker, İ.E. (2020). İhracat ve kârlılık ilişkisine ISO 500 firmaları örnekleminde mikro bir bakış açısı [A micro perspective on the export-profitability relationship in a sample of ISO 500 firms]. Ekonomi, Politika and Finans Araştırmaları Dergisi, 5(2), 358-373. https://doi.org/10.30784/epfad.742081
  5. Amiti, M. and Weinstein, D.E. (2011). Exports and financial shocks. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(4), 1841-1877. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjr033
  6. Arellano, M. and Bond, S. (1991). Some tests of specification for panel data: Monte Carlo evidence and an application to employment equations. The Review of Economic Studies, 58(2), 277-297. https://doi.org/10.2307/2297968
  7. Atıcı, G. and Gürsoy, G. (2012). Foreign direct investment and export decision relationship in the large Turkish firms. Journal of Applied Finance and Banking, 2(4), 167-184. Retrieved from https://www.scienpress.com/journal_focus.asp?main_id=56&Sub_id=IV
  8. Baldwin, R. and Krugman, P. (1989). Persistent trade effects of large exchange rate shocks. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 104(4), 635-654. https://doi.org/10.2307/2937860
  9. Bartoli, F., Ferri, G., Murro, P. and Rotondi, Z. (2014). Bank support and export: Evidence from small Italian firms. Small Business Economics, 42(2), 245-264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-013-9486-8
  10. Berman, N. and Héricourt, J. (2010). Financial factors and the margins of trade: Evidence from cross-country firm-level data. Journal of Development Economics, 93(2), 206-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.11.006
  11. Bernard, A.B. and Jensen, J.B. (1999). Exceptional exporter performance: Cause, effect, or both? Journal of International Economics, 47(1), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1996(98)00027-0
  12. Bernini, M., Guillou, S. and Bellone, F. (2015). Financial leverage and export quality: Evidence from France. Journal of Banking and Finance, 59, 280-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2015.06.014
  13. Blundell, R. and Bond, S. (1998). Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models. Journal of Econometrics, 87(1), 115-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-4076(98)00009-8
  14. Booth, L., Aivazian, V., Demirgüç-Kunt, A. and Maksimovic, V. (2001). Capital structures in developing countries. The Journal of Finance, 56(1), 87-130. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-1082.00320
  15. CBRT. (2026). Electronic data delivery system (EVDS): Annual average US dollar exchange rate [Data set]. Retrieved from https://evds2.tcmb.gov.tr
  16. Chalmers, D.K., Della Porta, M. and Sensini, L. (2020). Export intensity and leverage: An empirical analysis of Spanish SMEs. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 10(5), 382-386. https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.10071
  17. Chen, C. and Yu, C.-M.J. (2011). FDI, export, and capital structure: An agency theory perspective. Management International Review, 51(3), 295-320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-011-0077-0
  18. Chor, D. and Manova, K. (2012). Off the cliff and back? Credit conditions and international trade during the global financial crisis. Journal of International Economics, 87(1), 117-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2011.04.001
  19. Clerides, S.K., Lach, S. and Tybout, J.R. (1998). Is learning by exporting important? Micro-dynamic evidence from Colombia, Mexico, and Morocco. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(3), 903-947. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355398555784
  20. Cole, M.A., Elliott, R.J.R. and Virakul, S. (2010). Firm heterogeneity, origin of ownership and export participation. The World Economy, 33(2), 264-290. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2009.01231.x
  21. Damijan, J.P., Kostevc, Č. and Polanec, S. (2015). Access to finance, exporting and a non-monotonic firm expansion. Empirica, 42(1), 131-155. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-014-9251-5
  22. Dunning, J.H. (1988). The eclectic paradigm of international production: A restatement and some possible extensions. Journal of International Business Studies, 19(1), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490372
  23. Erkol, A.Y. and Coşkun, N. (2020). The impact of financial structure on export performance: The case of manufacturing sectors in Turkey. Alanya Akademik Bakış, 4(3), 963-974. https://doi.org/10.29023/alanyaakademik.687315
  24. Goldman, E. and Viswanath, P.V. (2011). Export intensity and financial leverage of Indian firms. International Journal of Trade and Global Markets, 4(2), 152-171. Retrieved from https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijtgm
  25. Görg, H. and Greenaway, D. (2004). Much ado about nothing? Do domestic firms really benefit from foreign direct investment? The World Bank Research Observer, 19(2), 171-197. https://doi.org/10.1093/wbro/lkh019
  26. Görg, H. and Spaliara, M.-E. (2014). Exporters in the financial crisis. National Institute Economic Review, 228(1), 49-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/002795011422800105
  27. Greenaway, D. and Kneller, R. (2007). Firm heterogeneity, exporting and foreign direct investment. The Economic Journal, 117(517), F134-F161. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02018.x
  28. Greenaway, D., Guariglia, A. and Kneller, R. (2007). Financial factors and exporting decisions. Journal of International Economics, 73(2), 377-395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinteco.2007.04.002
  29. Hausman, J.A. (1978). Specification tests in econometrics. Econometrica, 46(6), 1251-1271. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913827
  30. He, G., Shang, D. and Ye, M. (2013). Generalized method of moments (GMM) model for financing decision and capital structure on manufacturing enterprises’ export capacity. International Journal of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, 47(17), 122-130. Retrieved from http://www.ceser.in/ceserp/index.php/ijamas/article/view/1170
  31. Helpman, E., Melitz, M.J. and Yeaple, S.R. (2004). Export versus FDI with heterogeneous firms. American Economic Review, 94(1), 300-316. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282804322970814
  32. İnal, E. and Ergün, B. (2022). The role of exporting on capital structure: A firm-level investigation. Ekonomi, Politika and Finans Araştırmaları Dergisi, 7(2), 316-333. https://doi.org/10.30784/epfad.1094372
  33. ISO. (2026). Türkiye’s Top 500 Industrial Enterprises: Annual survey tables for 2009-2025 [Data set]. Retrieved from https://www.iso.org.tr
  34. Jongwanich, J. and Kohpaiboon, A. (2008). Export performance, foreign ownership, and trade policy regime: Evidence from Thai manufacturing (ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 140). Asian Development Bank. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/publications/series/economics-working-papers
  35. Kara, E. and Erdur, D.A. (2015). Determinants of capital structure: A research on sectors that contribute to exports in Turkey. Istanbul University Journal of the School of Business, 44(2), 27-38. Kastratović, R. (2020). The impact of foreign direct investment on host country exports: A meta-analysis. The World Economy, 43(12), 3142-3183. https://doi.org/10.1111/twec.13011
  36. Kastratović, R. (2023). Exporting decision of agricultural firms: The role of foreign direct investment. Agribusiness, 39(4), 960-984. https://doi.org/10.1002/agr.21811 Kim, H.-S. (2016). Firms’ leverage and export market participation: Evidence from South Korea. International Economics, 148, 41-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inteco.2016.06.002
  37. Kim, S. and Park, D. (2011). Ownership structure and export performance: Firm-level evidence from the Republic of Korea (ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 295). Asian Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2008554
  38. Kokko, A., Zejan, M. and Tansini, R. (2001). Trade regimes and spillover effects of FDI: Evidence from Uruguay. Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, 137(1), 124-149. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02707603
  39. Kostevc, Č. (2022). Ownership structure and firm export performance: Evidence from Slovenian microdata. Empirica, 49(1), 155-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-021-09511-y
  40. Kraus, A. and Litzenberger, R.H. (1973). A state-preference model of optimal financial leverage. The Journal of Finance, 28(4), 911-922. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1973.tb01415.x
  41. Maes, E., Dewaelheyns, N., Fuss, C. and Van Hulle, C. (2016). The impact of exporting on SME capital structure and debt maturity choices (National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 311). Retrieved from https://www.nbb.be/en/publications-research
  42. Manova, K. (2013). Credit constraints, heterogeneous firms, and international trade. The Review of Economic Studies, 80(2), 711-744. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rds036
  43. Mansilla-Fernández, J.M. and Milgram-Baleix, J. (2022). Working capital management, financial constraints and exports: Evidence from European and US manufacturers. Empirical Economics, 64, 1769-1810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-022-02295-5
  44. Melitz, M.J. (2003). The impact of trade on intra-industry reallocations and aggregate industry productivity. Econometrica, 71(6), 1695-1725. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0262.00467
  45. Mundlak, Y. (1978). On the pooling of time series and cross section data. Econometrica, 46(1), 69-85. https://doi.org/10.2307/1913646
  46. Myers, S.C. (1984). The capital structure puzzle. The Journal of Finance, 39(3), 575-592. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1984.tb03646.x
  47. Ndubuisi, G. (2020). Fettered cross-border capital flows, external finance dependence, and international trade. International Economics, 164, 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inteco.2020.10.002
  48. Nickell, S. (1981). Biases in dynamic models with fixed effects. Econometrica, 49(6), 1417-1426. https://doi.org/10.2307/1911408
  49. Okuyan, H.A. and Taşçı, H.M. (2010). Sermaye yapısının belirleyicileri: Türkiye’deki en büyük 1000 sanayi işletmesinde bir uygulama [Determinants of capital structure: An application to the largest 1,000 industrial enterprises in Türkiye]. BDDK Bankacılık ve Finansal Piyasalar Dergisi, 4(1), 105-120. Retrieved from https://www.bddk.org.tr/BultenDergi
  50. Pacheco, L.M. (2017). Financial structure effects on export intensity and diversification: The case of Portuguese industrial firms. International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, 9(4), 252-272. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJGSB.2017.089900
  51. Paeleman, I., Mataigne, V. and Vanacker, T. (2025). It is not all in the debt level: Debt maturity structure and complete export withdrawal in international new ventures. British Journal of Management, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12921
  52. Papke, L.E. and Wooldridge, J.M. (1996). Econometric methods for fractional response variables with an application to 401(k) plan participation rates. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 11(6), 619-632. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1255(199611)11:6 3.0.CO;2-1
  53. Papke, L.E. and Wooldridge, J.M. (2008). Panel data methods for fractional response variables with an application to test pass rates. Journal of Econometrics, 145(1-2), 121-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2008.05.009
  54. Paravisini, D., Rappoport, V., Schnabl, P. and Wolfenzon, D. (2015). Dissecting the effect of credit supply on trade: Evidence from matched credit-export data. The Review of Economic Studies, 82(1), 333-359. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdu028
  55. Pesaran, M.H. (2004). General diagnostic tests for cross section dependence in panels (Cambridge Working Papers in Economics No. 0435). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.5113
  56. Pinto, J.M. and Silva, C.S. (2021). Does export intensity affect corporate leverage? Evidence from Portuguese SMEs. Finance Research Letters, 38, 101418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2019.101418
  57. Ramzan, I. and Gebizlioğlu, Ö.L. (2023). Does export intensity of heterogeneous firms affect leverage? Evidence from a small open economy. Economics and Business Letters, 12(4), 356-365. https://doi.org/10.17811/ebl.12.4.2023.356-365
  58. Roberts, M.J. and Tybout, J.R. (1997). The decision to export in Colombia: An empirical model of entry with sunk costs. American Economic Review, 87(4), 545-564. Retrieved from https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/aer
  59. Roodman, D. (2009). How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata. The Stata Journal, 9(1), 86-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X0900900106
  60. Tunahan, H., Esen, S. and Topal, B. (2015). Ownership structure and effect of export intensity on firms’ profit. Siyaset, Ekonomi ve Yönetim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 3(1). https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/seyad
  61. Tunahan, H., Sütütemiz, N. and Esen, S. (2014). Uluslararası pazarlarda genişleme ve borç ilişkisi: Borsa İstanbul imalat sanayi işletmeleri üzerine bir analiz [Expansion into international markets and the debt relationship: An analysis of Borsa Istanbul manufacturing firms]. İşletme Bilimi Dergisi, 2(2), 105-118. https://doi.org/10.22139/ibd.35951
  62. Windmeijer, F. (2005). A finite sample correction for the variance of linear efficient two-step GMM estimators. Journal of Econometrics, 126(1), 25-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2004.02.005
  63. Wooldridge, J.M. (2005). Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 20(1), 39-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/jae.770
  64. Wooldridge, J.M. (2010). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data (2nd ed.). Cambridge: MIT Press.
  65. Kara, E. and Erdur, D.A. (2015). Determinants of capital structure: A research on sectors that contribute to exports in Turkey. Istanbul University Journal of the School of Business, 44(2), 27-38.