Tax-Exempt Debt and the Capital Structure of Nonprofit Organizations: An Application to Hospitals
构建理论模型，分析非营利组织因免税债务发行产生的间接套利行为，并利用医院数据验证其存在目标债务水平，且资本项目可得性约束债务调整，过剩债务能力刺激投资。
The availability of tax-exempt financing provides nonprofit (NP) organizations with their own tax-based incentives to issue debt. In this article, we develop a theoretical model in which NPs gain an indirect arbitrage from tax-exempt debt issuance, constrained by: 1) the requirement that fixed investment exceed tax-exempt debt flows (the project financing constraint), and 2) the constraint against share issuance. These constraints cause them to impute tax benefits to projects that afford access to the tax-exempt bond market. Empirical tests indicate that NP hospitals behave as if they have target levels of tax-exempt debt. Debt targeting is constrained by the availability of capital projects, while excess debt capacity stimulates investment.