The theory of capital structure (original) (raw)

A Critical Literature Review of Capital Structure Theories

American Based Research Journal, 2019

Capital structure is a vital component of any business entity. The success and or failure of many business enterprises arise from their capital structures. Many financial institutions adopt different approaches regarding their capital structure arrangement. Some depend entirely on debt financing, others depend more on equity financing and others still mix the two approaches. The question has been which capital structure is the best for financial institutions? For those firms which prefer mixing the two approaches, what would be the best portion for the two approaches? This paper critically reviews the capital structure theories, which include Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller theorem, Trade-off theory of capital structure and taxes, Pecking order theory, The market timing theory and Agency cost theory. This paper suggests that any financial institution should carefully analyze its operations before making its capital structure decision

Capital Structure Theories in Finance Research: A Historical Review

Australian Finance & Banking Review, 2019

Capital structure in one of the most converse and vital issues in the finance literature. This theoretical review of capital structure provides a synthesis of the theory utilised in capital structure literature. This theoretical review explains two categories of theories that examine the optimum capital structure of a firm. Functional market theories, which propose firms conduct share transaction without being used transaction costs and ii) costly transaction theories. The first group consists of the original capital structure theories of Modigliani and Miller (1958, 1963), Miller (1977), and De Angelo and Masulis (1980). The second range of theories captures the various effects of costly capital market transactions: Pecking Order Theory" accredited to Donaldson (1961); the debt capacity theories that depend on bankruptcy to limit a firm's use of debt financing (Robicheck and Myers, 1966) the agency models developed by Jensen and Meckling (1976), Myers (1977), Smith and War...

Reassess of Capital Structure Theories

This study presents a review of major capital structure fiction. Capital structure decision is important for companies because it helps to increase firm value by ensuring that the company has enough resources to carry out planned investments using as much as possible the cheapest cost of capital. It therefore involves choices between the different sources of capital such as debt, equity and hybrid capital. The different sources of finance available to companies are also influenced by the quality and maturity of the financial system and the overall risk of operating in that environment. The paper identified a host of capital structure theories that are key contemplation in the financing structure of firms around the world. This review will help companies in emerging and underdeveloped economies identify the peculiarities in the choosing the appropriate blend of capital.

A REVIEW OF THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE THEORIES

In this paper the authors survey capital structure theories, from the start-up point, which is considered Modigliani and Miller's capital structure irrelevance theorem, to recent theories, such as the pecking order and the market timing theory. For each type of model, a brief overview of the papers surveyed and their relation to each other is provided.