We develop a theory of optimal bank leverage in which the benefit of debt in inducing loan monitoring is balanced against the benefit of equity in attenuating risk-shifting. However, faced with socially-costly correlated bank failures, regulators bail out creditors. Anticipation of this...

I provide further evidence on the determinants of corporate capital structure by estimating a dynamic trade-off model of the firm that includes investment, leverage, and payout decisions. The structural model generates a leverage ratio that oscillates around a long-run, time-invariant level and...

This paper provides new evidence on how the largest nonfinancial firms actively manage the composition of their financial assets. We construct a novel hand-collected panel dataset to document their financial portfolio dynamics. Over the past decade, bond portfolios have grown to be at least as...

This study documents the fact that large dividend increases are followed by a significant increase in leverage, consistent with management increasing the dividend to use up excess debt capacity. However, the leverage increase is not captured by a standard partial adjustment model of leverage....

This study investigated one of the issues in modern finance. It attempts to identify factors that affect a firm's capital structure under international or domestic context. However, this paper differed from past researches by using sample data in that the sample data from firms with headquarters...

This paper studies whether debt renegotiation mitigates debt overhang and improves investment efficiency. Using mergers between lenders participated in the same syndicated loans as natural experiments that exogenously reduce the number of lenders and thus make renegotiation easier, I find that...

We quantify the importance of collateral versus taxes for firms' capital structures. We estimate a dynamic contracting model in which a firm seeks financing and is subject to taxation. In the model, collateral constraints arise endogenously. Optimal leverage stays a safe distance from the...

This paper focuses on dominant owners' use of leverage to finance their blockholdings and its relationship to dividend policy. We postulate that blockholder leverage may impact payout policy, in particular when earnings are hit by a negative shock. We use panel data for France where blockholders...

This paper focuses on dominant owners' use of leverage to finance their blockholdings and its relationship to dividend policy. We postulate that blockholder leverage may impact payout policy, in particular when earnings are hit by a negative shock. We use panel data for France where blockholders...

This paper investigates a corporate tax-based and shareholder tax-based explanation for a firm's decision to finance a stock repurchase by utilizing debt, commonly referred to as a leveraged share repurchase. I find that during tax regimes in which corporate tax rates are more favorable for the...