We examine the capital structure of firms that are newly added to the S&P 500 index. Leverage gradually decreases during the two-year pre-addition period and then increases during the two-year post-addition period, resulting in a U-shaped trend. This trend is more pronounced in financially weak...

We examine the capital structure of firms that are newly added to the S&P 500 index. Leverage gradually decreases during the two-year pre-addition period and then increases during the two-year post-addition period, resulting in a U-shaped trend. This trend is more pronounced in financially weak...

We examine the drivers of the choice among non-bank private (144A) debt, bank loans, and public debt made by 988 non-financial firms during 1993-2007. We document new evidence that, besides firm-level variables, macroeconomic factors are important determinants of changes in corporate debt mix....