Capital Structure Theory: a Current Perspective
Capital Structure Theory: a Current Perspective
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DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.909392
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发表时间：
2008-10
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Robert S. Harris;Susan J. Chaplinsky
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Robert S. Harris;Susan J. Chaplinsky
金融学者对资本结构问题的研究方法反映了一种随时间而发展的思想。本说明概述了资本结构理论的现状。关于资本结构选择的一个观点是，它在五个要素之间进行权衡：（1）融资的税收利益，（2）财务困境的显性成本，（3）债务的代理成本（包括与财务困境相关的一系列间接成本），（4）股权的代理成本，（5）证券发行的信号效应。前两个要素反映了资本结构的“现代、传统”平衡理论。第三和第四部分建立在代理理论和不完全信息的基础上，强调决策者的个人激励。第五个要素认识到，当信息不完全时，发行证券的行为本身可以向投资者传递新的信息。虽然较新的理论提供了丰富的见解，对财务政策的各个方面，超越了多少债务的公司应该承担，缺点是，目前还没有一个总括性的综合这些理论。因此，实际应用需要仔细识别这些特定理论与业务、市场和当前情况的相关性。本笔记非常适合学生在接触基本理论后的高级公司财务课程。
Finance scholars' approach to capital-structure issues reflects a progression of thought over time. This note provides an overview of the current state of capital-structure theory. One perspective on capital-structure choice is to view it as posing trade-offs among five elements: (1) the tax benefits of financing, (2) the explicit costs of financial distress, (3) the agency costs of debt (including an array of indirect costs linked to financial distress), (4) the agency costs of equity, and (5) the signaling effect of security issuance. The first two elements reflect the "modern, traditional" balancing theory of capital structure. The third and fourth build on agency theory and imperfect information and emphasize the individual incentives of decision makers. The fifth element recognizes that the very act of issuing a security can convey new information to investors when there is imperfect information. While newer theories provide a rich array of insights into aspects of financial policy beyond how much debt the firm should undertake, the downside is that at present there is no overarching synthesis of these theories. As a result, practical application requires careful identification of how these particular theories are relevant to the business, the markets, and the situation at hand. This note is well suited to an advanced corporate-finance course after students have been exposed to the basic theory.