Fragility or habitualized corporate behavior? Corporate and macroeconomic determinants of debt dollarization: Evidence from Turkey

Abstract

This study examines the firm-level and macroeconomic-level determinants of debt dollarization, which is a critical vulnerability for a key emerging market: Turkey. The study examines the firm-level and macroeconomic determinants of debt dollarization between 2005 and 2017 using the generalized method of moments and the panel vector autoregressive method, both of which are highly innovative. The results show that manufacturing firms tend to dollarize debt, while macroeconomic variables such as the real exchange rate, inflation, and credit expansion significantly affect debt dollarization. Moreover, debt dollarization was found to be a habit of manufacturing firms in the Turkish economy.