Many authors relate a firm's performance to legal and political features and the regulatory environment in which it operates. This article compares firms' capital structure adjustments across countries and investigates whether institutional differences help explain the variance in estimated...

Bond credit spreads reflect the issuer's expected default probability. In an efficient market, spreads will reflect both the issuer's current risk and investors' expectations about how that risk might change in the future. Collin-Dufresne and Goldstein (2001) show analytically that a firm's...

U.S. banks hold significantly more equity capital than required by their regulators. We test competing hypotheses regarding the reasons for this ldquo;excessrdquo; capital, using an innovative partial adjustment approach that allows estimated BHC-specific capital targets and adjustment speeds to...

We document the effect on leverage of a company's working-capital. Working-capital significantly affects a firm's credit ratings and security issuances, as well as influencing its leverage. Payables crowd out debt. Higher receivables and inventories are associated with higher leverage,...

In an efficient market, spreads will reflect both the issuer’s current risk and investors’ expectations about how that risk might change over time. Collin-Dufresne and Goldstein (<xref>2001</xref>) show analytically that a firm’s expected future leverage importantly influences the spread on its bonds....

Many authors relate a firm's performance to legal and political features and the regulatory environment in which it operates. This article compares firms' capital structure adjustments across countries and investigates whether institutional differences help explain the variance in estimated...