The pecking order hypothesis predicts that equity costs exceed debt costs when managers require outside funding. Asymmetric information costs motivates this hypothesis. I use an econometric model to estimate issuance costs managers face to test the prediction and motivation of the pecking order. The estimates challenge the existence of a pecking order. First, debt costs increase from about 50% ...

How do managers set financial policy? Most popular theories of financial policy are developed in terms of a marginal analysis for a new project available to the firm that is extraordinary in spirit. However, extraordinary investment observations have not been previously isolated for study. This paper uses a sample of firms making extraordinary investments to probe deeper into the driving forces...

This paper explores the factors that influence capital structure decisions in South Africa from the perspective of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The results of a survey of 33 CFOs of JSE listed companies find that South African CFOs are equally likely to follow the Pecking Order or Static Trade-Off theories. However, smaller companies are more likely to follow the Pecking Order theory whil...

The static trade-off and pecking order capital structure theories are analyzed and applied to nonprofit organizations. In addition, this paper also considers how nonprofits adjust their leverage over time. The analyses consider the unique role of donor-restricted endowments in the decision to borrow, as well as different types of borrowing by nonprofits. The results indicate that nonprofit capi...