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problems in meeting debt obligations ? Firms that experience financial distress do not necessarily file for bankruptcy 1626 More Bankruptcy Costs ? Indirect bankruptcy costs ? Larger than direct costs, but more difficult to measure and estimate ? Stockholders want to avoid a formal bankruptcy filing ? Bondholders want to keep existing assets intact so they can at least receive that money ? Assets lose value as management spends time worrying about avoiding bankruptcy instead of running the business ? The firm may also lose sales, experience interrupted operations and lose valuable employees 1627 Figure 1628 Figure 1629 Conclusions ? Case I – no taxes or bankruptcy costs ? No optimal capital structure ? Case II – corporate taxes but no bankruptcy costs ? Optimal capital structure is almost 100% debt ? Each additional dollar of debt increases the cash flow of the firm ? Case III – corporate taxes and bankruptcy costs ? Optimal capital structure is part debt and part equity ? Occurs where the benefit from an additional dollar of debt is just offset by the increase in expected bankruptcy costs 1630