Optimal Time-Consistent Debt Policies

We study time-consistent debt policies in a trade-off model of debt in which the firm can freely issue new debt and repurchase existing debt. A debt policy is time-consistent if in any state equityholders prefer to follow it rather than to deviate from it but lose credibility in sustaining debt discipline in the future. In a class of policies, the optimal time-consistent debt policy consists of an interest coverage ratio (ICR) target and two regions for the ICR: the stable and the distress regions. In the stable region, the firm actively manages liabilities to the ICR target by issuing/repurchasing debt. A sufficiently large negative shock to cash flows pushes the firm into the distress region, where it abandons the target and waits until either cash flows recover or further negative shocks trigger bankruptcy. Credit spreads are sensitive to cash flow shocks in the distress region but not in the stable region. The optimal policy captures realistic features of debt dynamics, such as active debt management in both directions, interior optimal debt maturity, and dynamics of “fallen angels.”