We examine three pairs of cross-section regressions that test predictions of the tradeoff model, the pecking order model, and models that center on market conditions. The regressions examine (i) the split of new outside financing between share issues and debt, (ii) the split of new debt...

The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) of William Sharpe (1964) and John Lintner (1965) marks the birth of asset pricing theory (resulting in a Nobel Prize for Sharpe in 1990). Before their breakthrough, there were no asset pricing models built from first principles about the nature of tastes...