This paper surveys capital structure theories based on agency costs, asymmetric information, product/input market interactions, and corporate control considerations (but excluding tax‐based theories). For each type of model, a brief overview of the papers surveyed and their relation to each other is provided. The central papers are described in some detail, and their results are summarized and followed by a discussion of related extensions. Each section concludes with a summary of the main implications of the models surveyed in the section. Finally, these results are collected and compared to the available evidence. Suggestions for future research are provided.

This paper provides a theory of capital structure based on the effect of debt on investors' information about the firm and on their ability to oversee management. We postulate that managers are reluctant to relinquish control and unwilling to provide information that could result in such an outcome. Debt is a disciplining device because default allows creditors the option to force the firm into liquidation and generates information useful to investors. We characterize the time path of the debt level and obtain comparative statics results on the debt level, bond yield, probability of default, probability of reorganization, etc.

This paper provides a theory of capital structure based on the effect of debt on investors' information about the firm and on their ability to oversee management. The authors postulate that managers are reluctant to relinquish control and unwilling to provide information that could result in such an outcome. Debt is a disciplining device because default allows creditors the option to force the firm into liquidation and generates information useful to investors. The authors characterize the time path of the debt level and obtain comparative statics results on the debt level, bond yield, probability of default, probability of reorganization, etc.

This paper provides a theory of capital structure based on the effect of debt on investors' information about the firm and on their ability to oversee management. We postulate that managers are reluctant to relinquish control and unwilling to provide information that could result in such an outcome. Debt is a disciplining device because default allows creditors the option to force the firm into liquidation and generates information useful to investors. We characterize the time path of the debt level and obtain comparative statics results on the debt level, bond yield, probability of default, probability of reorganization, etc.

In this paper we attempt to resolve two puzzles concerning convertible debt calls. The first is that although it has been shown that conversion of these bonds should optimally be forced as soon as this is feasible, actual calls are significantly delayed relative to this prescription. The second is that common stock returns are significantly negative around the announcement of the call of a convertible debt issue. Our purpose is to simultaneously rationalize managers' observed call decisions and the market's reaction to them in a framework in which managers behave optimally given their private information, compensation schemes, and investors' reactions to their call decisions. Moreover, investors' reactions are rational in the sense of Bayes' rule given managers' call policy. In equilibrium, a decision to call is (correctly) perceived by the market as a signal of unfavorable private information. In addition to rationalizing observed call delays and negative stock returns at call announcement, several other testable implications are derived.

The consequences of introducing risk-averse workers with a known, finite retirement age into a simple job-matching framework are explored. The job-matching model includes two jobs. In the "primary" job, workers and firms learn about the worker's productivity by observing his output over time. In the "secondary" job, productivity of any worker is known with certainty at the outset. Workers start off in the primary job but, based on their observed performance, may choose to switch to the secondary job. The model is developed in two stages. First, the finite retirement age is introduced while the usual assumption of risk-neutral workers is retained. In this model it is shown that all workers who achieve at least a certain cumulative output record, denoted r*, by a certain age, denoted T, will thereafter remain in the primary job until retirement. Those who do not achieve r* by age T switch to the secondary job at or before age T and remain there. Second, risk aversion is introduced along with finite retirement age. Here the turnover aspects of the equilibrium are similar to the risk-neutral case, but firms provide workers with wage insurance. This takes the form of wages that are downward rigid. As a result, it may be optimal ex ante for workers to delegate the job choice decision to the employer, and, ex post, not all separations will be voluntary for the work r.

[The purpose of this paper is to provide a method for characterizing efficient allocation processes and efficient allocations for a large class of environments in which asymmetric information is an important factor. This method is based on a rigorous application of statistical decision theory and makes explicit both the information available to agents ex ante and the way in which information is transmitted during any multistage allocation process.]

The consequences of introducing risk-averse workers with a known, finite retirement age into a simple job-matching framework are explored. The job-matching model includes two jobs. In the "primary" job, workers and firms learn about the worker's productivity by observing his output over time. In the "secondary" job, productivity of any worker is known with certainty at the outset. Workers start off in the primary job but, based on their observed performance, may choose to switch to the secondary job. The model is developed in two stages. First, the finite retirement age is introduced while the usual assumption of risk-neutral workers is retained. In this model it is shown that all workers who achieve at least a certain cumulative output record, denoted r*, by a certain age, denoted T, will thereafter remain in the primary job until retirement. Those who do not achieve r* by age T switch to the secondary job at or before age T and remain there. Second, risk aversion is introduced along with finite retirement age. Here the turnover aspects of the equilibrium are similar to the risk-neutral case, but firms provide workers with wage insurance. This takes the form of wages that are downward rigid. As a result, it may be optimal ex ante for workers to delegate the job choice decision to the employer, and, ex post, not all separations will be voluntary for the work r.

This paper develops a theoretical framework to shed light on variation in credit rating standards over time and across asset classes. Ratings issued by credit rating agencies serve a dual role: they provide information to investors and are used to regulate institutional investors. We show that introducing rating-contingent regulation that favors highly rated securities may increase or decrease rating informativeness, but unambiguously increases the volume of highly rated securities. If the regulatory advantage of highly rated securities is sufficiently large, delegated information acquisition is unsustainable, since the rating agency prefers to facilitate regulatory arbitrage by inflating ratings. Our model relates rating informativeness to the quality distribution of issuers, the complexity of assets, and issuers' outside options. We reconcile our results with the existing empirical literature and highlight new, testable implications, such as repercussions of the Dodd-Frank Act.