Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the differentials in the capital structures in various industries in Japan. More specifically, we first examine how capital structures of the industries at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) First Section are different. After that, we investigate whether financial risks associated with corporate debt ratios are rewarded with higher returns within industries. Main findings from our investigations are as follows. First, we find that the capital structure of each industry at the TSE First Section is statistically significantly much different. Second, we also find that financial risks associated with corporate debt ratios are not rewarded with future positive stock returns when we exclude the effects of industrial differentials of corporate leverage.

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