target leverage. Using a sample of US firms over the period 2002–2012, we document a negative impact of the Global Financial … Crisis on the speed of leverage adjustment. In our subperiod analysis, we find moderate evidence of cross …. During the crisis, the speed of adjustment varies with the deviation from target leverage: only firms with sufficiently large …

missing from traditional leverage regression models. Our review of theory leads us to the hypothesis that the missing factor … is related to profitable growth options (GOs). Specifically, the relationship between optimal leverage and the market … convex (inverse exponential) transformation of MB substantially increases adjusted R2 in leverage regressions, and partially …

far the reduction of excess leverage has progressed so far in Japan. Our main findings are as follows. First, the trade … influences the speed at which firms adjust their leverage ratios toward optimal ones. In particular, the higher the shareholding … ratio of overseas investors, the more quickly market-value leverage ratios adjust. Third, implied excess leverage ratios …

leverage and depict differences in industry and country characteristics. Using a short panel data set with a large cross …-section, we are able to show that firm size, industry leverage, industry growth and tax shield positively affect leverage ratios …

We test the assumptions of trade-off theory (TOT) and pecking order theory (POT) regarding corporate leverage. The … the firm and access to credit relies on guarantees. The relationship between corporate leverage and the profitability of … SMEs as well as growth opportunities support POT. However, the relationship between corporate leverage and the age of SMEs …

Operating leverage increases profitability and reduces optimal financial leverage. Thus, operating leverage generates a … negative relation between profitability and financial leverage that is thought to be inconsistent with the trade-off theory …, but is commonly observed in the data. We demonstrate the effect of operating leverage on firms' profitability and …