The Theory of Capital Structure

This paper surveys capital structure theories based on agency costs, asymmetric information, product/input market interactions, and corporate control considerations (but excluding tax-based theories). For each type of model, a brief overview of the papers surveyed and their relation to each other is provided. The central papers are described in some detail, and their results are summarized and followed by a discussion of related extensions. Each section concludes with a summary of the main implications of the models surveyed in the section. Finally, these results are collected and compared to the available evidence. Suggestions for future research are provided.     

Capital Structure Theory and REIT Security Offerings

In this paper, we examine the stock price reactions to announcements of new security offerings by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). REITs offer a unique setting in which to study these events because they do not pay taxes at the firm level. Theory suggests that the net tax gain to corporate borrowing is unambiguously negative for a REIT. Contrary to some recent studies, however, we find a positive stock price reaction to debt offerings, while the negative equity-issuance effect is preserved. Further empirical evidence lends support to signalling as the explanation for the positive significant debt-issuance effect.     

现代资本结构理论

自Modigliani和Miller提出MM理论以来,资本结构问题一直是理论界和实务界关注的焦点.本文从MM理论及其修正--基于税差的分析、基于权衡理论的资本结构理论、信息不对称条件下的资本结构理论、资本结构的实证研究四个方面阐述了自20世纪50年代以来资本结构理论的发展和研究成果,试图为我国学者开展资本结构研究提供借鉴.     

The Effect of Business Risk on Corporate Capital Structure: Theory and Evidence

Under corporate and personal taxation, we demonstrate that the relation between optimal debt level and business risk is roughly U-shaped. This result follows from the fact that the tax liability is an option portfolio that is long in the corporate tax option and short in the personal tax option. Therefore, the net effect of a change in business risk on the optimal debt level depends upon the relative magnitudes of the resultant marginal changes in the values of these two options. Results of empirical tests offer support for the predicted U-shaped relationship.     

A Theory of Corporate Capital Structure and Investment

This article uses a general equilibrium framework to explorethe origins and limitations of financial intermediaries. Inthe model, investors have a generic lending technology thatthey can improve at a cost. Those who upgrade become intermediariesto exploit their advantage. However, conflicts with depositorswill limit the banks' market presence, and they will only lendto moderately endowed firms while bondholders will finance cash-richcorporations. The article also analyzes the extent to whichinvestors adopt the superior lending technique, the nature ofbank competition, and how corporate and bank conditions affectinterest rates and investment.     

Dynamic Capital Structure Choice: Theory and Tests

This paper develops a model of dynamic capital structure choice in the presence of recapitalization costs. The theory provides the optimal dynamic recapitalization policy as a function of firm-specific characteristics. We find that even small recapitalization costs lead to wide swings in a firm's debt ratio over time. Rather than static leverage measures, we use the observed debt ratio range of a firm as an empirical measure of capital structure relevance. The results of empirical tests relating firms' debt ratio ranges to firm-specific features strongly support the theoretical model of relevant capital structure choice in a dynamic setting.     

现代资本结构理论演进探讨

本文全面介绍了现代资本结构理论的演进。     

Screening,Market Signalling,and Capital Structure Theory

This paper develops an equilibrium model in which informational asymmetries about the qualities of products offered for sale are resolved through a mechanism which combines the signalling and costly screening approaches. The model is developed in the context of a capital market setting in which bondholders produce costly information about a firm's a priori imperfectly known earnings distribution and use this information in specifying a bond valuation schedule to the firm. Given this schedule, the firm's optimal choices of debt-equity ratio and debt maturity structure subsequently signal to prospective shareholders the relevant parameters of the firm's earnings distribution.     

资本结构理论及其对解决中小企业融资困难的启示

中小企业融资难的问题是制约国民经济健康持续发展的重要因素,对此理论界和企业界给予了极大关注,也进行了广泛的研究,提出了一些政策建议。但是,问题的解决要注重主要矛盾。本文从资本结构理论的分析入手,对中小企业融资方式的优序进行了探讨,指出解决中小企业权益性资本需求是关键,并提出了相关的政策建议。     

资本结构影响因素：理论和证据

国外研究表明，资产结构、公司规模、非债务税盾、成长性、财务困境成本、投资额、独特性、产生内部资源能力等因素影响资本结构的选择。实证分析显示，除了财务困境成本因素外，影响国外公司的特征因素几乎也可以同样的方式影响中国上市公司的资本结构。     

西方新资本结构理论综述

资本结构理论所研究的基本问题是企业资本结构与企业价值的关系。西方经济学界围绕这一基本问题展开了全面深入的研究,形成了许多不同的资本结构理论。20世纪70年代以来,随着信息经济学、委托代理理论等现代分析工具引入资本结构分析,资本结构理论研究获得了新的发展,一系列解释资本结构问题的新观点便应运而生,其流派众多,具有代表性的理论有以下几种:代理成本理论、信号传递理论和优序融资理论等。     

国外资本结构代理成本理论综述

企业不同的融资方式形成不同的利益格局,不同的利益格局势必导致不同的利益冲突,不同的利益冲突导致了不同的融资方式的代理成本.围绕着融资方式的代理成本的研究形成了蔚为壮观的现代资本结构的代理成本理论.     

Buyer–Supplier Relationships and the Stakeholder Theory of Capital Structure

Firms in bilateral relationships are likely to produce or procure unique products—especially when they are in durable goods industries. Consistent with the arguments of Titman and Titman and Wessels, such firms are likely to maintain lower leverage. We compile a database of firms' principal customers (those that account for at least 10% of sales or are otherwise considered important for business) from the Business Information File of Compustat and find results consistent with the predictions of this theory.     

Industry Returns and the Fisher Effect

We investigate the cross-sectional relation between industry-sorted stock returns and expected inflation, and we find that this relation is linked to cyclical movements in industry output. Stock returns of noncyclical industries tend to covary positively with expected inflation, while the reverse holds for cyclical industries. From a theoretical perspective, we describe a model that captures both (i) the cross-sectional variation in these relations across industries, and (ii) the negative and positive relation between stock returns and inflation at short and long horizons, respectively. The model is developed in an economic environment in which the spirit of the Fisher model is preserved.     

A Theory of Capital Structure Relevance under Imperfect Information

Firms raise debt and equity capital to finance a positive net present value project in perfectly competitive capital markets; firm insiders know the function generating the random firm cash flow but potential capital suppliers do not. Taking into account the incentives of insiders to misrepresent their firm type, capital suppliers attempt to design financing mixes of debt and equity that eliminate the adverse incentives of insiders and correctly price securities. Necessary conditions for a costless separating equilibrium are developed to show that the amount of debt used by a firm is monotonically related to its unobservable true value.     

MM理论及其对我国上市公司资本结构的影响

合理配置企业的资本结构对实现企业的财务管理目标有重要的作用。本首先介绍MM理论的发展，以及经扩展后的现代资本结构理论，并在分析我国上市公司资本结构现状的基础上，探讨该理论对我国上市公司资本结构优化的影响。     

资本结构理论与控制权市场行为的相关性浅析

资本结构理论与控制权市场理论是现代金融经济学的重要组成部分。它们之间的相互融合、渗透已经成为其不断发展和完善的必然过程。资本结构理论价值的进一步升华离不开对公司控制权市场理论若干要素的解释和证明；公司控制权市场理论也只有以传统的资本结构理论为根基才能不断发展和壮大。     

工资税盾、替代效应与资本结构

基于中国计税工资限额扣除标准提高的外生性事件,本文从工资薪金提供的“非债务税盾”角度,探索性地研究工资税盾与资本结构的关系。结果表明,计税工资限额扣除标准提高后,与未接近“税收耗损状态”公司相比,接近“税收耗损状态”公司更为显著地降低了债务水平,该发现符合“非债务税盾”与资本结构之间存在“替代效应”的理论预期,也验证了“税收耗损状态”假说。进一步研究表明:未接近和接近“税收耗损状态”两类公司的差异主要反映在长期债务上,而在短期债务上并不明显;与国有企业相比,两类公司的差异在非国有企业中更为明显;另外,与税收征管力度较弱地区相比,征管力度较强地区两类公司间的差异更为明显。本文的研究成果不仅提供了“非债务税盾”形式的新证据,还发现产权性质和税收征管环境等也是影响非债务税盾与资本结构之间关系的重要因素。     

Bloomberg Intelligence Roundtable on The Theory and Practice of Capital Structure Management

Since the formulation of the M&M propositions almost 60 years ago, financial economists have been debating whether there is such a thing as an optimal capital structure—a proportion of debt to equity that maximizes shareholder value. Some finance scholars have followed M&M in arguing that both capital structure and dividend policy are largely “irrelevant” in the sense that they have no significant, predictable effects on corporate market values. Another school of thought holds that corporate financing choices reflect an attempt by corporate managers to balance the tax shields and disciplinary benefits of greater debt against the costs of financial distress. Yet another theory says that companies do not have capital structure targets, but simply follow a financial “pecking order” in which retained earnings are preferred to outside financing, and debt is preferred to equity when outside funding is required. In this roundtable, a leading finance professor is joined by six practitioners in discussing whether and how capital structure decisions and payout policies can create value, with special attention to the healthcare industry. The consensus is that for those parts of the pharma industry with large growth opportunities, equity financing should be the main source of capital. But for those parts of the industry with shrinking prospects, increasing levels of debt and raising dividends are recommended.