The Capital Structure Puzzle
对比了企业资本结构选择的静态权衡理论与优序融资理论，前者强调债务的税盾收益与财务困境成本的平衡，后者则基于信息不对称解释企业融资顺序，并回顾了相关实证证据。
This paper contrasts the and theories of capital structure choice by corporations. In the static tradeoff theory, optimal capital structure is reached when the tax advantage to borrowing is balanced, at the margin, by costs of financial distress. In the pecking order theory, firms preferinternal to external funds, and debt to equity if external funds are needed. Thus the debt ratio reflects the cumulative requirement for external financing. Pecking order behavior follows from simple asymmetric information models. The paper closes with a review of empirical evidence relevant to the two theories.