Debt maturity in Spanish small business startups

Abstract

This article studies debt maturity in startup firms. Specifically, it analyzes whether the maturity of the debt of these firms is different from that of older firms. It also studies whether these possible differences are maintained during periods of financial crisis. To this end, we use a sample of small Spanish firms during the period 2011-2020. The results indicate that new or recently created firms have debt with shorter maturities. This could be explained by the greater agency problems and information asymmetries that these firms face. Moreover, we observe that this result is maintained during periods of financial crisis.