We develop a structural model to quantitatively analyze the effects of asymmetric beliefs and agency conflicts on capital structure. Capital structure reflects the dynamic tradeoff between the positive incentive effects of managerial optimism and the negative effects of risk-sharing costs....

We develop a dynamic structural model to show how asymmetric beliefs and agency conflicts interact to affect capital structure. Capital structure reflects the inter-temporal tradeoff between the positive incentive effects of managerial optimism and the negative effects of risk-sharing costs....

The paper reports that, when firms follow the Pecking Order Theory, a sub-optimality with the cost components of firms' capital structure exists. The sub-optimality drives firms to follow the Trade-Off Theory to reach optimality concerning the cost components of capital structure. At higher...

This paper tests the static tradeoff theory against the pecking order theory. We focus on an important difference in prediction: the static tradeoff theory argues that a firm increases leverage until it reaches its target debt ratio, while the pecking order yields debt issuance until the debt...