Il puzzle della struttura finanziaria

The choice of the capital structure is a classic topic in the international financial literature. Furthermore, it represents a critical managerial issue in the real world. Despite many decades of worldwide theoretical and empirical studies, it keeps on being a puzzling topic. Three aspects make the debate on capital structure still stimulating: 1) the different theories do not suggest univocal decisions and seem to be able to explain contradictory behaviors; 2) the vast and variegate empirical evidence does not support, either univocally or robustly, any of the competing theories; furthermore, it shows contradictory results vis-a-vis some widely accepted theoretical acquisitions; 3) unlike other leading financial topics (such as the option theory or the pricing theory of risky assets), the modern corporate finance has not formulated models or rules which could clearly and univocally guide or support the managerial decision-making process: consequently, managers choose their firms' capital structure following rules of thumbs often apparently in contrast with the main theories. The aim of this book is twofold: a) elaborating an updated framework of the state of the art on the determinants of capital structure choice, by connecting them to the different theoretical hypotheses, and translating them into a sort of check list of relevant aspects that should be considered in decision-making; b) supplying a systematic picture of how firms choose their capital structure, by critically reviewing the vast international empirical evidence, and translating it into answers to the critical questions on this topic. The book tries to put together some significant pieces of the capital structure puzzle, compatibly with the theoretical and empirical state of the art.