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A Review of Merton’s Model of the Firm’s Capital Structure with Its Wide Applications

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  • Suresh Sundaresan

    (Finance & Economics Division, Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York 10027)

Abstract

Since its publication, the seminal structural model of default by Merton (1974) has become the workhorse for gaining insights about how firms choose their capital structure, a “bread and butter” topic for financial economists. Capital structure theory is inevitably linked to several important empirical issues such as (a) the term structure of credit spreads, (b) the level of credit spreads implied by structural models in relation to the ones that we observe in the data, (c) the cross-sectional variations in leverage ratios, (d) the types of defaults and renegotiations that one observes in real life, (e) the manner in which investment and financial structure decisions interact, (f) the link between corporate liquidity and corporate capital structure, (g) the design of capital structure of banks [contingent capital (CC)], (h) linkages between business cycles and capital structure, etc. The literature, building on Merton’s insights, has attempted to tackle these issues by significantly enhancing the original framework proposed in his model to make the theoretical framework richer (by modeling frictions such as agency costs, moral hazard, bankruptcy codes, renegotiations, investments, state of the macroeconomy, etc.) and in greater accordance with stylized facts. In this review, I summarize these developments.

Suggested Citation

  • Suresh Sundaresan, 2013. "A Review of Merton’s Model of the Firm’s Capital Structure with Its Wide Applications," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 5(1), pages 21-41, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:refeco:v:5:y:2013:p:21-41
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Reichling & Anastasiia Zbandut, 2017. "Costs of capital under credit risk," FEMM Working Papers 170003, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    2. Xiaoqing Fu & Matthew C. Li & Philip Molyneux, 2021. "Credit default swap spreads: market conditions, firm performance, and the impact of the 2007–2009 financial crisis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(5), pages 2203-2225, May.
    3. Wolff, Christian & Masror Khah, Sara Abed, 2015. "The Determinants of CoCo Bond Prices," CEPR Discussion Papers 10996, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Bougias, Alexandros & Episcopos, Athanasios & Leledakis, George N., 2022. "The role of asset payouts in the estimation of default barriers," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    5. Dalla Valle, Luciana & De Giuli, Maria Elena & Tarantola, Claudia & Manelli, Claudio, 2016. "Default probability estimation via pair copula constructions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(1), pages 298-311.
    6. Daniel Dimitrov & Sweder van Wijnbergen, 2022. "Quantifying Systemic Risk in the Presence of Unlisted Banks: Application to the Dutch Financial Sector," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-034/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Bougias, Alexandros & Episcopos, Athanasios & Leledakis, George N., 2022. "Valuation of European firms during the Russia–Ukraine war," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    8. Buddi Wibowo, 2017. "Systemic risk, bank’s capital buffer, and leverage," Economic Journal of Emerging Markets, Universitas Islam Indonesia, vol. 9(2), pages 150-158, April.
    9. Lotfaliei, Babak, 2018. "The variance risk premium and capital structure," ESRB Working Paper Series 70, European Systemic Risk Board.
    10. Jean-David Fermanian, 2020. "On the Dependence between Default Risk and Recovery Rates in Structural Models," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 140, pages 45-82.
    11. Antill, Samuel & Grenadier, Steven R., 2019. "Optimal capital structure and bankruptcy choice: Dynamic bargaining versus liquidation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 198-224.
    12. Alexey Litvinenko, 2023. "A Comparative Analysis of Altman's Z-Score and T. Jury's Cash-Based Credit Risk Models with The Application to The Production Company and The Data for The Years 2016-2022," Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 518-553, September.
    13. Galo Nuño & Carlos Thomas, 2015. "Monetary policy and sovereign debt vulnerability," Working Papers 1517, Banco de España.
    14. Balachandran, Balasingham & Williams, Barry, 2018. "Effective governance, financial markets, financial institutions & crises," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-15.
    15. Correia, Ricardo & Dubiel-Teleszynski, Tomasz & Población, Javier, 2019. "Anticipating individual bank rescues," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 345-360.
    16. Baaquie, Belal Ehsan, 2020. "Merton’s equation and the quantum oscillator: Pricing risky corporate coupon bonds," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 541(C).
    17. Keefe, Michael O'Connor & Yaghoubi, Mona, 2016. "The influence of cash flow volatility on capital structure and the use of debt of different maturities," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 18-36.
    18. Correia, Ricardo & Dubiel-Teleszynski, Tomasz & Población García, Francisco Javier, 2017. "A structural model to study the bail-out process in a bank and its macro-prudential policy implications," Working Paper Series 2110, European Central Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital structure; credit spreads; contingent capital; debt overhang; strategic debt service; absolute priority; bankruptcy code;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation

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