The Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt
实证检验公司债务期限的决定因素，发现成长机会少、规模大或受监管的公司长期债务更多，信息不对称大的公司短期债务更多，税收无显著影响。
The authors provide an empirical examination of the determinants of corporate debt maturity. Their evidence offers strong support for the contracting-cost hypothesis. Firms that have few growth options, are large, or are regulated have more long-term debt in their capital structure. The authors find little evidence that firms use the maturity structure of their debt to signal information to the market. The evidence is consistent, however, with the hypothesis that firms with larger information asymmetries issue more short-term debt. The authors find no evidence that taxes affect debt maturity. Copyright 1995 by American Finance Association.