Empirical Testing of Dynamic Capital Structure Choice: Case of Russian Companies

Abstract

The article presents the results of empirically testing the predictions of the dynamic trade-off theory on the data of 56 Russian medium-sized companies. We use the data from 2004 to 2008 and show that the management behavior follows the principles of the dynamic trade-off concept. According to our analysis, the optimal interval for the company leverage becomes narrower as the profitability, size, growth opportunities and tangibility of a firm increase. Statistically significant difference between the lower and upper bounds of the interval confirms that the management adjusts the debt level targeting the optimal interval but not a specific optimal level.