How Stable Are Corporate Capital Structures?
研究发现公司资本结构稳定性是例外而非普遍现象，多数公司杠杆率随时间大幅波动，低杠杆状态常是暂时的，行业中位数杠杆率也随时间变化。
ABSTRACT Leverage cross‐sections more than a few years apart differ markedly, with similarities evaporating as the time between them lengthens. Many firms have high and low leverage at different times, but few keep debt‐to‐assets ratios consistently above 0.500. Capital structure stability is the exception, not the rule, occurs primarily at low leverage, and is virtually always temporary, with many firms abandoning low leverage during the post‐war boom. Industry‐median leverage varies widely over time. Target‐leverage models that place little or no weight on maintaining a particular ratio do a good job replicating the substantial instability of the actual leverage cross‐section.