IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jecfin/v42y2018i2d10.1007_s12197-017-9407-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revisiting the standard lease valuation model: new results

Author

Listed:
  • James A. Miles

    (Smeal College of Business)

  • John R. Ezzell

    (Smeal College of Business)

  • Premal P. Vora

    (Penn State Harrisburg)

Abstract

We revisit the standard model for valuing lease contracts to explore the necessary conditions it implies for a lease to have a non-negative net tax advantage. While the literature commonly places an emphasis on the depreciation tax-savings benefits as a primary source of the benefits from leasing, we demonstrate that they can never produce sufficient tax savings to explain why that asset was leased instead of purchased. Instead, it is the interest tax savings related to the debt supported by lease payments that are necessary for the lease to have a net tax advantage, not the transferred depreciation write-offs. Additionally, we demonstrate that asset characteristics and contract provisions also have an effect on the net tax advantage of a lease. Because asset characteristics and contract provisions have implications for the agency effects of leasing, our analysis demonstrates that an interaction exists between the tax and agency effects of leasing. Our paper provides a better understanding of what drives tax-motivated leasing and dispels some myths surrounding it.

Suggested Citation

  • James A. Miles & John R. Ezzell & Premal P. Vora, 2018. "Revisiting the standard lease valuation model: new results," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(2), pages 409-420, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:42:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12197-017-9407-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s12197-017-9407-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12197-017-9407-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12197-017-9407-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Franks, Julian R & Hodges, Stewart D, 1978. "Valuation of Financial Lease Contracts: A Note," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 33(2), pages 657-669, May.
    2. Heaton, Hal, 1986. "Corporate Taxation and Leasing," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 351-359, September.
    3. Miles, James A. & Ezzell, John R., 1980. "The Weighted Average Cost of Capital, Perfect Capital Markets, and Project Life: A Clarification," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 719-730, September.
    4. Gordon A. Sick, 1990. "Tax-Adjusted Discount Rates," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(12), pages 1432-1450, December.
    5. Myers, Stewart C & Dill, David A & Bautista, Alberto J, 1976. "Valuation of Financial Lease Contracts," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(3), pages 799-819, June.
    6. Lewis, Craig M. & Schallheim, James S., 1992. "Are Debt and Leases Substitutes?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(4), pages 497-511, December.
    7. Lewellen, Wilbur G & Emery, Douglas R, 1981. "On the Matter of Parity among Financial Obligations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 36(1), pages 97-111, March.
    8. Smith, Clifford W, Jr & Wakeman, L MacDonald, 1985. "Determinants of Corporate Leasing Policy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(3), pages 895-908, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elizabeth Devos & Erik Devos & He Li & Desmond Tsang, 2022. "Operating Lease as Alternative Financing for REITs: a Viable Strategy or a Sign of Trouble?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(2), pages 153-180, August.
    2. Anna Białek-Jaworska & Natalia Nehrebecka, 2016. "Determinants of Polish Enterprises' Propensity to Lease," Working Papers 2016-07, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    3. Lim, Steve C. & Mann, Steven C. & Mihov, Vassil T., 2017. "Do operating leases expand credit capacity? Evidence from borrowing costs and credit ratings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 100-114.
    4. Ezzell, John R. & Vora, Premal P., 2001. "Leasing versus purchasing: Direct evidence on a corporation's motivations for leasing and consequences of leasing," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 33-47.
    5. Kang, Sungjune & Long, Michael S., 2001. "The fixed payment financing decision: To borrow or lease," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 41-55.
    6. Bourjade, Sylvain & Huc, Regis & Muller-Vibes, Catherine, 2017. "Leasing and profitability: Empirical evidence from the airline industry," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 30-46.
    7. Sharpe, Steven A. & Nguyen, Hien H., 1995. "Capital market imperfections and the incentive to lease," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2-3), pages 271-294.
    8. Bourjade, Sylvain & Muller-Vibes, Catherine, 2023. "Optimal leasing and airlines' cost efficiency: A stochastic frontier analysis," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    9. Sungjune Kang & Michael S Long, 2001. "The fixed payment financing decision," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(1), pages 41-55, March.
    10. Stefania Cosci & Roberto Guida & Valentina Meliciani, 2015. "Leasing Decisions and Credit Constraints: Empirical Analysis on a Sample of Italian Firms," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 21(2), pages 377-398, March.
    11. Devos, Erik & Rahman, Shofiqur, 2014. "Location and lease intensity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 20-36.
    12. João Pinto & Luís K. Pacheco, 2014. "The Economics Of Structured Leasing," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 04, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    13. Grenadier, Steven R., 1996. "Leasing and credit risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 333-364, November.
    14. Tomi Grönlund & Antti Louko & Mika Vaihekoski, 2008. "Corporate Real Estate Sale and Leaseback Effect: Empirical Evidence from Europe," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 14(4), pages 820-843, September.
    15. Andrea L. Eisfeldt & Adriano A. Rampini, 2009. "Leasing, Ability to Repossess, and Debt Capacity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(4), pages 1621-1657, April.
    16. John Benjamin & Chris de la Torre & Jim Musumeci, 1998. "Rationales for Real Estate Leasing versus Owning," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 15(3), pages 223-238.
    17. Lin, Jane-Raung & Wang, Chia-Jane & Chou, De-Wei & Chueh, Fei-Chun, 2013. "Financial constraint and the choice between leasing and debt," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 171-182.
    18. Schallheim, James & Wells, Kyle & Whitby, Ryan J., 2013. "Do leases expand debt capacity?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 368-381.
    19. Munir, Qaiser & Kok, Sook Ching & Teplova, Tamara & Li, Tongxia, 2017. "Powerful CEOs, debt financing, and leasing in Chinese SMEs: Evidence from threshold model," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 487-503.
    20. Grenadier, Steven R., 1995. "Valuing lease contracts A real-options approach," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 297-331, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leasing; Valuation; Necessary conditions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jecfin:v:42:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12197-017-9407-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.