한국 상장기업의 자본구조에 관한 재고찰: 상충관계이론 VS. 자본조달순위이론

초록

This paper examines whether the static trade-off theory or the pecking-order theoryprevails in capital structure decisions when taking into account a firm’s current debt ratio,debt capacity, information asymmetry, agency problem, and growth opportunities. Inparticular, we investigate the determinants of capital structure focusing on the situationwhere a firm’s current debt ratio is above its target debt ratio but below the debt capacity. We find that both the static trade-off theory and pecking order theory seem to performvery well if the leverage ratio exceeds the estimated target of the company. However, theresults are changed when a firm’s debt ratio is currently above its target debt ratio. Ifa firm’s current debt ratio is above its target ratio and above the debt capacity, the resultis in line with the predictions of the pecking order theory. On the other hand, if the leverageratio is above its target ratio but below the debt capacity, we support the static trade-offtheory. Finally, we examine whether information asymmetry, agency problem, and growthopportunity account for a firm’s debt-equity decisions. Our empirical results do not showthe significance of these variables. It suggests that the current debt ratio, the estimatedtarget debt ratio, and debt capacity may play a important role in explaining capitalstructure decision.

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