2.The Theory of Corporate Finance.pdf

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1、TheTheoryofCorporateFinance:AHistoricalOverviewMichaelC.JensenHarvardBusinessSchoolMJensen@hbs.eduandCliffordW.SmithUniversityofRochesterSmith@simon.rochester.eduAbstractOurpurposeistoprovideareviewofthedevelopmentofthemoderntheoryofcorporatefinance.Throughtheearly1950st

2、hefinanceliteratureconsistedinlargepartofadhoctheories.Dewing(1919;1953)themajorcorporatefinancetextbookforageneration,containsmuchinstitutionaldetailbutlittlesystematicanalysis.Itstartswiththebirthofacorporationandfollowsitthroughvariouspolicydecisionstoitsdeath(bankrup

3、tcy).Corporatefinancialtheorypriortothe1950swasriddledwithlogicalinconsistenciesandwasalmosttotallyprescriptive,thatis,normativelyoriented.Themajorconcernsofthefieldwereoptimalinvestment,financing,anddividendpolicies,butlittleconsiderationwasgiventotheeffectonthesepolici

4、esofindividualincentives,ortothenatureofequilibriuminfinancialmarkets.Thelogicalstructureofdecision-makingimpliesthatbetteranswerstonormativequestionsarelikelytooccurwhenthedecisionmakerhasarichersetofpositivetheoriesthatprovideabetterunderstandingoftheconsequencesofhiso

5、rherchoices.Thisimportantrelationbetweennormativeandpositivetheoriesoftengoesunrecognized.Purposefuldecisionscannotbemadewithouttheexplicitorimplicituseofpositivetheories.Youcannotdecidewhatactiontotakeandexpecttomeetyourobjectiveifyouhavenoideaabouthowalternativeactions

6、affectthedesiredoutcome—andthatiswhatismeantbyapositivetheory.1Forexample,tochooseamongalternativefinancialstructures,amanagerwantstoknowhowthechoicesaffectexpectednetcashflows,theirriskiness,andthereforehowtheyaffectfirmvalue.Usingincorrectpositivetheoriesleadstodecisio

7、nsthathaveunexpectedandundesirableoutcomes.InreviewingthedevelopmentofthetheoryofcorporativefinancewebegininSection2withabriefsummaryofthemajortheoreticalbuildingblocksoffinancialeconomics.Themajorareasofcorporatefinancialpolicy—capitalbudgeting,capitalstructure,anddivid

8、endpolicy—arediscussedinSections3through5.Reprintedwithpermissionfrom:TheModernTheoryofCorporateFinance