Debt, Taxes and Corporate Restructuring

John B. Shoven; Joel Waldfogel

doi:10.5771/9780815714262

Summary

The boom in corporate restructuring, accompanied by large increases in debt finance, was one of the most important developments in the U.S. economy in the 1980s. Financial and tax specialists analyze how the U.S. tax system-especially in its bias toward debt financing-has affected corporate financial decisions and influenced the recent wave of corporate restructuring.

The authors evaluate the hypothesis that the rise in the cost of capital during the 1980s helped stimulate the surge in corporate takeovers. They analyze the effect that changes in tax laws and in the volume of government debt have had on corporate financial decisions. The authors examine how recent financial innovations have blurred the distinction between debt and equity finance.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2012
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-7883-7
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1426-2
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 210
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
1. The Present Tax Treatment of Debt and Equity No access
2. Mechanisms for Restructuring and Sources of External Finance No access
3. How Much Did Leverage Increase? No access
4. The Case for Reform of the Taxation of Debt and Equity No access
5. Summaries of the Papers No access
1. Trends in the Pre-1981 Era No access
2. The Turnaround in the 1980s No access
3. Future Trends No access
4. Conclusions No access
5. Comment by Jane G. Gravelle No access
1. Trends in Aggregate LBO Activity and Corporate Leverage No access
2. Why the 1980s? No access
3. Leverage and LBO Activity by Industry No access
4. Conclusions and Additional Implications No access
5. Comment by Robert A. Taggart, Jr. No access
6. Comment by Scott Smart No access
1. Debt, Equity, and the U.S. Tax System No access
2. The Interaction between Tax and Nontax Incentives No access
3. Reforming the Taxation of Corporate Cash Flows No access
4. Alternative Proposals No access
5. Conclusions No access
6. Comment by James M. Poterba No access
7. Comment by William D. Andrews No access
1. The Blurring of the Debt-Equity Distinction No access
2. Thinking about Debt-Equity Distortions No access
3. What Should Be Done? No access
4. Comment by David F. Bradford No access
5. Comment by Martin D. Ginsburg No access
1. The Evolution of the Tax Treatment of Debt and Equity No access
2. A Simple Model of the Tax Advantages of Debt No access
3. Corporate Taxation of Economic Rents versus Competitive Returns No access
4. Retained Earnings and Dividend Policy No access
5. Concluding Remarks No access
6. Comment by Laurie Simon Bagwell No access
7. Comment by Jeremy I. Bulow No access
Contributors No access Pages 203 - 204
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3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
8. H No access
9. I No access
10. J No access
11. K No access
12. L No access
13. M No access
14. N No access
15. O No access
16. P No access
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18. R No access
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20. T No access
21. U No access
22. W No access