Do firms select their main bank relationship according to their risk or risk preferences? Relationship banking is attractive for high risk firms since it improves their access to finance and provides liquidity insurance. Low risk firms instead may not want to bear the additional costs. I employ...

Venture debt, or loans to rapid-growth start-ups, is a puzzle. How are start-ups with no track records, positive cash flows, tangible collateral, or personal guarantees from entrepreneurs able to attract billions of dollars in loans each year? And why do start-ups take on debt rather than rely...

In this article, we examine how startup firms finance their operations over time. We empirically test the financial growth cycle theory developed by Berger and Udell (1998) using the Kauffman Firm Survey data, the largest longitudinal data set comprised of all U.S. startups launched in 2004....

We analyze the relation between different forms of debt financing at the firm's start-up and subsequent firm outcomes. We distinguish between business debt, obtained in the name of the firm, and personal debt, obtained in the name of the firm's owner and used to finance the start-up firm....

I study the relationship between debt maturity and agency conflicts between controlling and minority shareholders in unlisted firms. Exploiting cross-provinces variance in the development of local credit markets, I find a negative joint effect of ownership concentration and short-term bank debt...

We build a model of debt for firms with investment projects, for which flexibility and free cash flow problems are important issues. We focus on the factors that lead the firm to select the zero-debt policy. Our model provides an explanation of the so-called "zero-leverage puzzle". It also helps...

This paper examines the impact of the New Economy on the relationship between corporate debt policy and firm investment opportunities. One distinctive feature of new economy firms is their high level of investment opportunities. We study whether the impact of investment opportunities on...

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Wirkungen der Zinsbereinigung des Eigenkapitals auf das zu erwartende Steueraufkommen und auf den internationalen Steuerwettbewerb. Ausgangspunkt hierfür ist eine modelltheoreti-sche Untersuchung des Zusammenhanges zwischen Kapitalmarktrenditen und...

We document the cyclical behavior of debt, equity, and retained earnings for different firm categories using firm-level Canadian data. There is evidence of both procyclical equity and debt issuance for all firm categories but the timing differs. In particular, there is strong evidence that...

This paper studies capital structure adjustment mechanisms of firms that experience substantial changes in leverage. Adjustments appear to be asymmetric among firms with large increases and those with large decreases in debt ratios. The different adjustments are not due to differences in...