We find that growth type (identified by a two-way sort on firm initial market-to-book ratio and asset tangibility) can parsimoniously predict significantly dispersed and persistently distinct future leverage ratios. Growth type is persistent; growth-type-sorted cross-sections of corporate...

When predicting future leverage ratios, the explanatory power of initial residual leverage falls quickly over time, while initial standard leverage determinants retain much of their explanatory power. To make sense of this fundamental persistence, we show that growth-type (identified by a...

We find that growth type (identified by a two-way sort on firm initial market-to-book ratio and asset tangibility) can parsimoniously predict significantly dispersed and persistently distinct future leverage ratios. Growth type is persistent; growth-type-sorted cross-sections of corporate...