Columbus' Egg: The Real Determinant of Capital Structure / Ivo Welch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Welch, Ivo.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w8782.

NBER working paper series no. w8782

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Columbus' Egg

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2002.

Summary:

This paper shows that managers fail to readjust their capital structure in response to external stock returns. Thus, the typical firm's capital structure is not caused by attempts to time the market, by attempts to minimize taxes or bankruptcy costs, or by any other attempts at firm-value maximization. Instead, capital structure is almost entirely determined by lagged stock returns (which, when applied to ancient equity values, predict current equity value and with it debt equity ratios). Consequently, one should conclude that capital structure is determined primarily by external stock market influences, and not by internal corporate optimizing decisions.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2002.