The Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from an Economy without Stock Market

This paper analyzes the determinants of the sources of funding for the firms of an economy without stock market. Once the available and relevant financial sources for a Uruguayan firm are defined, their determinants are analyzed through cross section econometric models. The analysis casts out that size, tangibility and profitability are influencing variables in the financial structure. The less profitable firms are those mainly financed through external funding. The firms with a bigger proportion of tangible assets have easier access to long-term banking credit. On the other hand, the firms which do not possess these features or the ones which present a smaller relative proportion of these will tend to get financing through trade credit lines