Capital structure dynamics and transitory debt

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DeAngelo, Harry; DeAngelo, Linda; Whited, Toni M.
• 署名单位: University of Rochester; University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2010.09.005
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 235-261
• 关键词: dynamic capital structure; Financial flexibility; Target capital structure

摘要

Firms deliberately but temporarily deviate from permanent leverage targets by issuing transitory debt to fund investment. Leverage targets conservatively embed the option to issue transitory debt, with the evolution of leverage reflecting the sequence of investment outlays. We estimate a dynamic capital structure model with these features and find that it replicates industry leverage very well, explains debt issuances/repayments better than extant tradeoff models, and accounts for the leverage changes accompanying investment spikes. It generates leverage ratios with slow average speeds of adjustment to target, which are dampened by intentional temporary movements away from target, not debt issuance costs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.