Widespread increases in corporate leverage occurred over the 1980s in Australia. There was also considerable variation in leverage across firms. This paper uses a sample of 209 firms, observed annually between 1973 and 1991, to explore both cross-sectional and time variation in financial...

Increases in corporate debt in a variety of countries over the past decade have renewed interest in the relationship between leverage and the macro-economy. In general, the theoretical work on these links has outpaced the empirical research. This paper is an initial attempt to examine changes in...