Three Essays on Empirical Corporate Finance

The final essay examines how firms structure debt contracts. Debt securities differ on a number of dimensions, including quality, maturity, seniority, security, and convertibility. The empirical results suggest that there are three main types of factors that determine these features: First, firm-specific factors such as growth opportunities and cash holdings are related with the various features of issued bonds. Second, the state of the macroeconomy affects the quality distribution of securities offered; in particular, during recessions, firms issue far less poor quality bonds than in good times. Controlling for firm characteristics and economy-wide factors, project specific factors appear to influence the types of securities that are issued. Specifically, long-term bonds are more likely to be issued by firms investing in fixed assets, while convertible and short-term bonds are more likely to finance investment in R&D.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Finance

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Julio, Brandon

Contributors dc:contributor

• Michael S. Weisbach

• Economics, Theory

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3290263

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/87439