Database manuscript Environmental Externalities Shaping a Firm’s Zero Leverage Decision: A

1,022 firms across 54 countries from 2011 to 2022 are analyzed to study the supply-side link between environmental externalities and access to debt. The dataset, created by Paolo Saona and last updated in March 2026, supports a bivariate probit model testing the 'brown premium' hypothesis in debt markets.

Use Cases

• Modeling the probability of zero leverage based on environmental impact scores mentioned in the description.
• Analyzing the moderating effect of industry environmental sensitivity on debt supply, as referenced in the study.
• Investigating how institutional characteristics related to environmental regulation influence corporate debt, as highlighted in the research.
• Testing joint demand-supply estimation models to mitigate bias in capital structure analysis.

Strengths

• Data covers 1,022 firms across 54 countries, providing a broad international scope.
• Time series spans 12 years from 2011 to 2022, allowing for longitudinal analysis.
• Dataset is 135.5 MB, suggesting a medium scale with potentially detailed firm-level variables.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data may reflect geographic or institutional bias inherent to the source compilation.

Provenance

Source

Paolo Saona via figshare

Collection Method

Likely compiled from financial and environmental databases for academic research, as described.

Time Range

2011-2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-17 18:24:56; freshness should be verified.

Geography

54 countries