We document the effect on leverage of a company's working-capital. Working-capital significantly affects a firm's credit ratings and security issuances, as well as influencing its leverage. Payables crowd out debt. Higher receivables and inventories are associated with higher leverage,...

Yes, they can! Machine learning models that exploit big data identify leverage determinants and predict leverage better than classical methods. By allowing for nonlinearities and complex interactions, machine learning boosts the out-of-sample R-squared from 36% to 56% over linear methods such as...

Managers tend to issue equity when a firm is overvalued. Short selling is generally frequent among overvalued firms. By conditioning short selling on firm overvaluation, we show that short selling reduces managerial equity market timing and increases leverage. This moderating impact of short...

Given the increasing importance of private equity in the world economy, we examine the strategic decision to finance a business in an international context by evaluating whether private equity is a substitute for or a complement to other sources of external finance. We find strong evidence that...

We develop a dynamic capital structure model where interest rates are stochastic and driven by three state variables: level, slope, and curvature of the yield curve in an arbitrage-free Nelson-Siegel model. Our analysis suggests that the yield-curve factors are critical determinants of the...

This article examines the international determinants of capital structure using a large sample of firms drawn from 37 counties. The reliable determinants for leverage are firm size, tangibility, industry leverage, profits, and inflation. The quality of the countries' institutions affects...