What Do We Know About Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data
JOURNAL OF FINANCE, Vol. 50 No. 5, December 1995
Posted: 10 Nov 1995
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What Do We Know About Capital Structure? Some Evidence from International Data
Abstract
We investigate the determinants of capital structure choice by analyzing the financing decisions of public firms in the major industrialized countries. At an aggregate level, firm leverage is fairly similar across the G-7 countries. We find that factors identified by previous studies as correlated in the cross-section with firm leverage in the U.S., are similarly correlated in other countries as well. However, a deeper examination of the U.S. and foreign evidence suggests that the theoretical underpinnings of the observed correlations are still largely unresolved.
JEL Classification: G15
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation