This paper tests traditional capital structure models against the alternative of a pecking order model of corporate financing. The basic pecking order model, which predicts external debt financing driven by the internal financial deficit, has much greater explanatory power than a static trade-off model which predicts that each firm adjusts toward an optimal debt ratio. We show that the power of some usual tests of the trade-off model is virtually nil. We question whether the available empirical evidence supports the notion of an optimal debt ratio.
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number
4722.
Length: Date of creation: Apr 1994 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4722
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Find related papers by JEL classification: G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Capital and Ownership Structure
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Myers, Stewart C., 1984.
"Capital structure puzzle,"
Working papers
1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
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