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Capital structure, investment, and fire sales

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  • Gale, Douglas
  • Gottardi, Piero

Abstract

We study a dynamic general equilibrium model in which firms choose their investment level and their capital structure, trading off the tax advantages of debt against the risk of costly default. The costs of bankruptcy are endogenously determined, as bankrupt firms are forced to liquidate their assets, resulting in a fire sale if the market is illiquid. When the corporate income tax rate is positive, firms have a unique optimal capital structure. In equilibrium firms default with positive probability and their assets are liquidated at fire-sale prices. The equilibrium not only features underinvestment but is also constrained inefficient. In particular there is too little debt and too little default.

Suggested Citation

  • Gale, Douglas & Gottardi, Piero, 2014. "Capital structure, investment, and fire sales," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60958, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:60958
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    Cited by:

    1. Gazi I Kara & S Mehmet Ozsoy & Itay Goldstein, 2020. "Bank Regulation under Fire Sale Externalities," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(6), pages 2554-2584.
    2. Douglas Gale & Tanju Yorulmazer, 2020. "Bank capital, fire sales, and the social value of deposits," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(4), pages 919-963, June.
    3. Luck, Stephan & Schempp, Paul, 2023. "Inefficient liquidity creation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    4. Spiros Bougheas & David I Harvey & Alan Kirman & Douglas Nelson, 2024. "Systemic risk in banking, fire sales, and macroeconomic disasters," Discussion Papers 2024/02, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    5. Mirza, Afrasiab & Stephens, Eric, 2022. "Securitization and aggregate investment efficiency," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    6. Hamed Ghiaie, 2018. "Shadow Bank run, Housing and Credit Market: The Story of a Recession," THEMA Working Papers 2018-01, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    7. Piero Gottardi & Douglas Gale, 2017. "Equilibrium Theory of Banks' Capital Structure," 2017 Meeting Papers 380, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. Nishihara, Michi & Shibata, Takashi, 2019. "Liquidation, fire sales, and acquirers’ private information," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. R. de O. Cavalcanti & P. K. Monteiro, 2016. "Enriching information to prevent bank runs," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 62(3), pages 477-494, August.
    10. Ryuichiro Izumi & Yang Li, 2021. "Financial Stability with Fire Sale Externalities," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2021-002, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics.
    11. Douglas Gale & Piero Gottardi, 2018. "A General Equilibrium Theory of Capital Structure," 2018 Meeting Papers 264, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Gale, Douglas & Gottardi, Piero, 2020. "A general equilibrium theory of banks' capital structure," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    13. Christoph Bertsch & Mike Mariathasan, 2021. "Optimal bank leverage and recapitalization in crowded markets," BIS Working Papers 923, Bank for International Settlements.
    14. Bertsch, Christoph & Mariathasan, Mike, 2015. "Optimal Bank Capitalization in Crowded Markets," Working Paper Series 312, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden), revised 01 Dec 2017.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Debt; equity; capital structure; default; market liquidity; constrained inefficiency; incomplete markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D5 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium
    • D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics
    • 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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