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How Stable are Corporate Capital Structures?


Harry DeAngelo


University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business - Finance and Business Economics Department

Richard Roll


University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Finance Area

July 2011


Abstract:     
Capital structure stability is the exception, not the rule. Wide variation in book leverage, market leverage, and the net-debt ratio is the norm at publicly held industrial firms. In panel leverage regressions, firm fixed effects differ significantly across decades. Stability of the leverage cross section is short-lived. Cross-sectional migration is pervasive: 69.5% of firms listed 20-plus years have book leverage in at least three different quartiles, and 30.4% are in all four quartiles at different times over the average 20-year period. Stability occurs infrequently and mainly at low leverage, and is virtually always temporary.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 47

Keywords: capital structure stability, leverage target, leverage persistence

JEL Classification: G32, G31, G35, G33

working papers series


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Date posted: March 19, 2011 ; Last revised: August 3, 2011

Suggested Citation

DeAngelo, Harry and Roll, Richard W., How Stable are Corporate Capital Structures? (July 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1784204 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1784204

Contact Information

Harry DeAngelo (Contact Author)
University of Southern California - Marshall School of Business - Finance and Business Economics Department ( email )
Marshall School of Business
Los Angeles, CA 90089
United States
213-740-6541 (Phone)
213-740-6650 (Fax)
Richard W. Roll
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Finance Area ( email )
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481
United States
310-825-6118 (Phone)
310-206-8404 (Fax)
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