Abstract Purpose To assess the determinants of the capital structure of Brazilian credit unions. Theoretical framework Capital structure represents one of the central topics in corporate finance theory and decisions about capital structure are among the most important in the strategic management of an organization. Based on the literature on non-financial firms and banks, and further grounded in the trade-off and pecking order theories, determinants that can explain the capital structure of credit unions were selected. Design/methodology/approach The determinants were investigated for 889 Brazilian individual credit unions with information available at the Central Bank of Brazil from 2008 to 2021, totaling 10,132 annual observations, using panel data regression models. Findings Capital structure is negatively influenced by profitability and risk, and positively by size. For tangibility, there is no evident influence. Furthermore, the pecking order theory is more suitable for the case of credit unions. Practical & social implications of research The deepening of knowledge about determinants can help regulatory authorities in the development of public policies that aim to protect credit unions from systemic risk, promoting the growth of the sector, which plays an important role as an agent of social and economic development. Originality/value This study is pioneering in that it presents results indicating that the determinants traditionally considered for non-financial companies and banks are also valid for credit unions, even though they are organizations with different characteristics from the rest.

RESUMO Adesões à livre admissão de membros e incorporações são transformações na estrutura de propriedade comuns no cooperativismo de crédito brasileiro. Sob a lógica de que são motivadas pelas expectativas de membros e diretores, este trabalho associou essas transformações às taxas de serviços bancários operacionalizadas pelas cooperativas. Modelos logit ordenado e multinomial foram utilizados para investigar se spreads bancários anormais positivos, refletindo taxas pouco vantajosas aos membros e benefícios privados obtidos pelos diretores, aumentam a probabilidade de transformação e de adesão à livre admissão. Os resultados apontam que as expectativas de membros e diretores foram tão determinantes à transformação quanto o porte e o desempenho da cooperativa. As evidências reforçam que, sob expectativas de ganhos, membros e diretores têm controle ativo na decisão de transformação da estrutura de propriedade nas cooperativas de crédito, sugerindo melhoria na governança corporativa e incentivo às incorporações para que o cooperativismo cresça beneficiando os membros.

ABSTRACT Open membership and mergers are common transformations in the ownership structure in Brazilian credit unions. Following the logic that they are motivated by the expectations of members and directors, this study associates these transformations with the banking services rates offered by credit unions. We employ ordered and multinomial logit models to investigate whether abnormal positive bank spreads-reflecting rates that could offer few advantages to members and large private benefits to directors-increase the probability of transformation. Our results indicate that the expectations of members and directors explain credit unions’ transformation, as seen in size and performance. The evidence reinforces that, under expectations of gains, members and directors play an active role in the decision to transform the ownership structure of credit unions, suggesting improvements in the corporate governance and incentives for mergers so that credit unions can grow to benefit members.

Resumo: O abandono escolar ainda é uma realidade no Brasil, principalmente no meio rural. Políticas públicas que possam reduzi-lo, mesmo que indiretamente, são importantes. Assim, este trabalho avaliou o impacto da aposentadoria rural, benefício que pode transbordar seus efeitos em diversos fatores socioeconômicos, sobre o abandono escolar. A partir da descontinuidade gerada pela idade mínima para o acesso à aposentadoria rural, foram estimados modelos de regressão com descontinuidade utilizando os microdados do Módulo de Educação da PNAD de 2019 para uma amostra de domicílios rurais brasileiros. Os resultados, que para a amostra completa não foram significativos, revelaram impacto negativo e significativo da aposentadoria rural sobre o abandono aos garotos, principalmente na presença de pensionistas homens no domicílio. Esse efeito não foi observado para garotas. Essas evidências apontaram vieses possivelmente originados por expectativas associadas ao gênero dos jovens, nas quais os garotos deviam se preparar para o mercado de trabalho, enquanto as garotas deviam contribuir com os afazeres domésticos. Dessa forma, os resultados indicaram o potencial efeito redutor da aposentadoria rural sobre o abandono escolar de jovens no meio rural, tendo consequências positivas ao capital humano brasileiro, ainda que se exijam soluções que evitem o aumento na desigualdade de gênero.

Abstract: School dropout is still a reality in Brazil, mainly in the countryside. Public policies that may reduce them, even indirectly, are important. This study evaluated the impact of rural pension, a benefit that may spillover in socioeconomic factors, such as school dropout. Through the discontinuity generated by the minimum age to access the rural retirement, regressions model with discontinuity were estimated using microdata from the 2019 Education Module of PNAD (National Household Sample Survey) for a sample of Brazilian rural households and subsamples involving the genders of retirees and young people. The results, which for the full sample are not significant, reveal a negative and significant impact of retirement on the dropout of boys, especially in the presence of male pensioners in the household. This effect is not observed for girls. This evidence suggests pro-male biases possibly generated by expectations related to the gender of the young, in which boys must prepare for the job market while girls contribute to household chores. Even with this bias, it can be suggested the potential reducing effect of the rural pension on school dropout in rural areas, with positive consequences for Brazilian human capital, even though it requires solutions to avoid the increase in gender inequality.