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The Intertemporal Behavior of Corporate Debt Policy

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  • Ang, James S.

Abstract

This study provides, as a result of comprehensive search, a better description of the intertemporal behaviors of corporate debt policy, comparable to those that exist for dividend policy. Although leverage policy may vary a great deal from firm to firm, we found that: (1) The rather simple partial adjustment model with constant payout ratio to have the best predictive performance and other superior models include the first-order markov process and the historical average leverage ratio; (2) in general, firms seem to operate with a concept of “target leverage ratio,” e.g., target ratio computed from the partial adjustment models, or from historical or industry averages; (3) there is some weak evidence of the presence of unused debt capacity for the total sample; (4) the average speed of adjustment to close the gap between the desired and actual leverage ratio is a respectable 67 percent in the first year (due to the lumpiness of debt issue, individual firms tend to be either under or overadjusted); (5) there are some indications that firms also adjust debt behavior to anticipated future increases or decreases in assets.There are several areas for future research, for instance, the best debt model could serve as the first stage of a possible two-stage equation in the empirical verification of the MSM's assumption of the independence of the investment decision to the financing decision (e.g., [7]), on a further exploration of how firms' expectations affect debt behavior. Finally, the existence of a rational target leverage ratio should encourage research interest concerning the existence of an empirically testable optimal leverage ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Ang, James S., 1976. "The Intertemporal Behavior of Corporate Debt Policy," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 555-566, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:jfinqa:v:11:y:1976:i:04:p:555-566_02
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    Cited by:

    1. Eugene Nivorozhkin, 2004. "The Dynamics of Capital Structure in Transition Economies," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 25-45, March.
    2. Zélia Serrasqueiro & Paulo Maçãs Nunes, 2012. "Is Age a Determinant of SMEs’ Financing Decisions? Empirical Evidence Using Panel Data Models," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(4), pages 627-654, July.
    3. Nivorozhkin, Eugene, 2005. "Financing choices of firms in EU accession countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 138-169, June.
    4. Stavros H. Arvanitis & Irakleia S. Tzigkounaki & Theodoros V. Stamatopoulos & Eleftherios I. Thalassinos, 2012. "Dynamic Approach of Capital Structure of European Shipping Companies," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 5(3), pages 33-63, December.
    5. Zélia Serrasqueiro & Ana Caetano, 2015. "Trade-Off Theory versus Pecking Order Theory: capital structure decisions in a peripheral region of Portugal," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 445-466, April.
    6. José López-Gracia & Francisco Sogorb-Mira, 2008. "Testing trade-off and pecking order theories financing SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 117-136, August.
    7. Unyong Pyo & Yong Shin & Howard Thompson, 2015. "Reducing agency conflicts with target debt ratios," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(3), pages 431-453, July.
    8. Robert L. McDonald & Naomi Soderstrom, 1986. "Dividend and Share Changes: Is There a Financing Hierarchy?," NBER Working Papers 2029, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Zélia Serrasqueiro & Manuel Armada & Paulo Nunes, 2011. "Pecking Order Theory versus Trade-Off Theory: are service SMEs’ capital structure decisions different?," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 5(4), pages 381-409, December.
    10. Le, Hoang Duc & Viet, Nguyen Quang & Anh, Nguyen Huaong, 2021. "Trade-Off Theory and Pecking Order Theory: Evidence from Real Estate Companies in Vietnam," OSF Preprints hc6ne, Center for Open Science.

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