Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation-Restricted

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Program

Financial Economics

Department

Economics and Finance

Major Professor

Gregory Price

Second Advisor

Walter Lane

Third Advisor

Mohammad Hassan

Fourth Advisor

Atsuyuki Naka

Abstract

Reliable infrastructure and access to finance are essential for firm performance and economic development. In many developing countries, however, firms face ongoing challenges due to unreliable infrastructure and limited financial resources. Frequent power outages, transport issues, unstable internet connectivity, and restricted credit availability are common obstacles. Examining how firms respond to these challenges is important for understanding differences in resilience and growth.

This dissertation examines how infrastructure quality and financial conditions together influence firm behavior, with a focus on financial and innovative adaptation. The analysis shows that firms respond actively to poor infrastructure by adjusting their financing and innovation strategies to manage instability.

 Infrastructure Instability and Financial Reallocation: Firm-Level Evidence from Developing Countries asks whether infrastructure instability affects how firms finance themselves. It finds that deficiencies, especially internet disruptions and transport obstacles, increase reliance on external finance, shift firms toward loan‑based and combined credit instruments, and reallocate working capital away from internal funds toward banks and suppliers. Production‑intensive firms respond most to energy and transport disruptions, while connectivity‑intensive firms react to internet failures.

 Financial Access and Infrastructure Deficiencies: Implications for Firm Innovation in Developing Countries extends this analysis by examining how financial access and infrastructure jointly influence firms’ ability to innovate. Access to multiple financial instruments enhances innovation, particularly under infrastructural stress, while outages and connectivity disruptions stimulate adaptive process innovation. However, finance is less effective under transport constraints, indicating that physical barriers can offset the benefits of liquidity.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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