Essays on the Dynamics of Capital Structure

Tests of the static trade-off theory that posits that firms move towards the optimum capital structure necessitate a joint hypothesis test - whether firms adjust toward target leverage, and whether the proxy used for target leverage is the true target leverage. Prior studies use the time-series mean leverage for each firm, the industry median leverage, an estimated cross-sectional leverage, and a tobit estimated leverage using the factors suggested by the static trade-off theory as proxies for the target leverage. In this dissertation, I examine whether these proxies are equivalent and test the consistency of the proxies with the theorized behavior of the true target leverage. My results indicate that the four proxies we examine have significantly different distributions and this holds across most industries. Further, the industry median leverage is the proxy which best exhibits behavior consistent with the true target leverage. Firm value is higher for firms closer to the industry median and lower for firms away from the industry median. A robustness check using Kmeans cluster analysis confirms the superiority of the industry median leverage over the other proxies of target leverage. This study complements the previous studies on the pecking order theory and the trade-off theory. The main purpose of this study is to investigate three issues that are not considered in the previous studies. The adequacy of the specification and the assumptions of the models used in testing the trade-off and the pecking order theory. The second issue examined in this study is the validity to putting the pecking order and the trade-off theories in a horse race. The final issue examined in this study is the factors driving firms to issue (repurchase) debt or equity or combination of both and simultaneously the factors affecting the size of issue (repurchase

The Evolution of Financing Structure in U.S. Startups

In this article we examine how startup businesses finance their operations over time. We employ the Latent growth modeling technique to test the financial growth cycle theory developed by Berger and Udell (1998). The data used in this study is the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest longitudinal data set comprised of a random sample of U.S. startups launched in 2004 and surveyed annually through 2011. Consistent with the predictions of financial growth cycle theory, in the startup stage, entrepreneurs rely on initial insider capital sources such as personal savings, financing offered by friends and family, quasi-equity, and personal debt. Over time, as businesses become less opaque, the proportion of business debt and trade credit financing in total capital injection volume increases significantly. Businesses with high R&D activity and those that possess intellectual property rights finance their operations predominantly with equity - particularly external equity raised from angels and venture capitalists, and business debt - particularly bank loans and credit lines. Owner’s education and race have a significant impact on the type of capital injections over the business life cycle. Highly educated owners choose to inject lower proportions of personal debt and trade financing, whereas white owners inject lower proportions of personal equity and rely more on trade financing

Does futures exhibit maturity effect? New evidence from an extensive set of US and foreign futures contracts

In a seminal article, Samuelson (1965) proposes the maturity effect that volatility of futures prices should increase as futures contract approaches maturity. This study provides new evidence on the maturity effect by examining a more extensive set of futures contracts than previous studies and analyzing each contract separately. Using 6805 futures contracts drawn from 61 commodities, including some data from non-US markets, we find that the maturity effect is absent in the majority of contracts. In addition, the maturity effect tends to be stronger in agricultural and energy commodities than in financial futures. We also examine the hypothesis in Bessembinder, Coughenour, Seguin, and Smoller (1996), which states that negative covariance between the spot price and net carry cost causes the maturity effect in futures. Our results provide very weak evidence in favor of this hypothesis

Does futures exhibit maturity effect? New evidence from an extensive set of US and foreign futures contracts

In a seminal article, Samuelson (1965) proposes the maturity effect that volatility of futures prices should increase as futures contract approaches maturity. This study provides new evidence on the maturity effect by examining a more extensive set of futures contracts than previous studies and analyzing each contract separately. Using 6805 futures contracts drawn from 61 commodities, including some data from non-US markets, we find that the maturity effect is absent in the majority of contracts. In addition, the maturity effect tends to be stronger in agricultural and energy commodities than in financial futures. We also examine the hypothesis in Bessembinder, Coughenour, Seguin, and Smoller (1996), which states that negative covariance between the spot price and net carry cost causes the maturity effect in futures. Our results provide very weak evidence in favor of this hypothesis

Thinking about starting a franchise business? Think again

This study aims to explain the survival and exit outcome of franchise startups compared to other types of startups. Small business owners choosing to become franchisees have high expectations about business survival since “franchise is a proven business model that carries less risk.” Using the Kauffman Firm Survey, we examine the survival patterns and M&A exit outcomes of a large sample of U.S. independent and franchise businesses started in 2004 and tracked over time for eight years. Our study provides unique results on the likelihood of survival and M&A exit of franchises relative to other startups. Although franchise businesses start larger, are very well-capitalized, and are led by highly educated owners, we find no significant difference in the survival rate between franchises and independent businesses. However, our results show a significant difference between the survival rate of franchises and those businesses started by purchasing “existing” firms. When the outcome is an M&A exit, the results show that franchises are 2.77 times more likely to exit via M&A than independent businesses, whereas “existing” businesses are 1.81 times more likely to exit via M&A than independent businesses. Overall, this study sheds more light on the controversial evidence on the survival and exit prospects of a large cohort of U.S. franchises, independent new businesses, and “existing” businesses

Informational externalities of going public decisions: evidence from industrial sector

Theoretical models predict that going public firms generate positive externalities, creating a spillover effect for other firms to go public. In this paper, we posit that venture backed IPOs convey positive informational externalities for the publicly traded rival firms in the same industry and test three related hypotheses. The hypotheses are: 1) Venture backed IPOs convey positive information about industry and this information is transferred to rival firms; 2) Intra-industry information transfer varies with rivals\u27 characteristics; 3) IPO price revisions generate additional information that affects rivals\u27 valuation. The results show that rivals have positive valuation effects only in response to venture backed IPOs and no significant reaction in response to non-venture backed IPOs. We also find evidence that the effect on rival firms is stronger if they operate in low concentrated industries (i.e. high competition) and have low growth opportunities. The relative size of IPO firm seems to play an important role in the direction and magnitude of industry rivals\u27 valuation effects. Negative information revealed in the form of downward price revisions adversely affect rival firms\u27 valuation

Reexamining the maturity effect using extensive futures data;

In his seminal article, Samuelson (1965) proposes the maturity effect that volatility of futures prices should increase as futures contract approaches expiration. This study provides new evidence on the maturity effect by examining a more extensive set of futures contracts over longer period than previous studies: 8451 futures contracts drawn from 74 commodities and four International exchanges, (London, Sydney, Tokyo and Winnipeg Futures), in addition to the U.S. markets over the years from 1960 to 2000. Strong support is found for the maturity effect in agricultural and energy commodities, but not for financial futures. Moreover, negative covariance between spot price and net carry cost appears to be able explain the maturity effect fairly well for commodity futures

Reexamining the maturity effect using extensive futures data;

In his seminal article, Samuelson (1965) proposes the maturity effect that volatility of futures prices should increase as futures contract approaches expiration. This study provides new evidence on the maturity effect by examining a more extensive set of futures contracts over longer period than previous studies: 8451 futures contracts drawn from 74 commodities and four International exchanges, (London, Sydney, Tokyo and Winnipeg Futures), in addition to the U.S. markets over the years from 1960 to 2000. Strong support is found for the maturity effect in agricultural and energy commodities, but not for financial futures. Moreover, negative covariance between spot price and net carry cost appears to be able explain the maturity effect fairly well for commodity futures

Factors explaining the results of job search by the 2002 FMA job applicants--a survey

We perform an online survey of candidates, who listed their resume on the 2002 FMA website, seeking finance faculty positions. The response rate is approximately 50 percent. Consistent with Bertin, Prather, and Zivney (1999), we find that the new hire market for finance professors continues to shrink and salary range continues to widen. The factors significantly affecting the success rate in the job market are: having Ph.D./DBA in Finance/Financial Economics, having dissertation defended, having worked as a GA, being a female, and being a US citizen/permanent resident. Being a female candidate or an appointment at an accredited college are associated with higher salaries. The number of FMA interviews and the number of campus visits too have positive relation with salaries. It appears that the market condition has changed since the Bertin, Prather, and Zivney (1999) study, as we find that US citizens and permanent residents have more success (than non-US citizens) in obtaining jobs and a female candidate has greater chances in securing a job with higher salary than her male counterpart

Positioning based information technique in cooperative MIMO-OFDM systems

International audienceFuture Communication networks are tending towards a diverse wireless networking world where the positioning information (PI) could be helpful in different techniques like the dynamic resource allocation. On the other hand, the PI could be widely used for cooperative techniques in the relay and/or routing selection process. In this paper, we propose to use the PI in the selection of the relays and then to apply an efficient double layer distributed space time block code (DLSTBC) scheme between the different relays. Using the amplify and forward (AF) technique, we show that the proposed code is very efficient whatever the transmitted power is. Moreover, we show that the relay selection process based on PI yields very powerful results when compared to the random relay selection (RS) proces