← Search

Journal of Financial Economics Vol. 13 No. 1 1984

The effect of capital structure on a firm's liquidation decision

Sheridan Titman

University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract

A firm's liquidation can impose costs on its customers, workers, and suppliers. An agency relationship between these individuals and the firm exists in that the liquidation decision controlled by the firm (as the agent) affects other individuals (the customers, workers, and suppliers as principals). The analysis in this paper suggests that capital structure can control the incentive/conflict problem of this relationship by serving as a pre-positioning or bonding mechanism. Appropriate selection of capital structure assures that incentives are aligned so that the firm implements the ex-ante value-maximizing liquidation policy.

DOI
10.1016/0304-405x(84)90035-7
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
137-151
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite