Modern capital structure theory began in 1958 when Professors Modigliani and Miller (MM) published a paper that proved under a restrictive set of assumptions that a firm's value is unaffected by its capital structure. By indicating the conditions under which capital structure is irrelevant, they provided clues about what is required to make capital structure relevant and impact a firm's value. In 1963 they wrote a paper that included the impact of corporate taxes on capital structure. With the tax deductibility of payments, but not payments, and if all their other assumptions held, they concluded that an optimal capital structure consisted of % debt. This paper was then modified when Merton Miller brought in the effects of personal taxes. Bond interest income is taxed at rates than income from stocks (received as dividends and capital gains). Consequently, investors are willing to accept relatively low before-tax returns on stock as compared to the before-tax return on bonds. Most observers believe that interest deductibility has a effect than the favorable tax treatment of income from stocks, so the U. S. tax system favors the corporate use of .

Amachine purchased three years ago for $720,000 has a current book value using straight-line depreciation of $400,000: its operating expenses are $60,000 per year. a replacement machine would cost $480,000, have a useful life of nine years, and would require $26,000 per year in operating expenses. it has an expected salvage value of $130,000 after nine years. the current disposal value of the old machine is $170,000: if it is kept 9 more years, its residual value would be $20,000. calculate the total costs in keeping the old machine and purchase a new machine. should the old machine be replaced?

Which type of market are you in if your company, along with three other companies, controls 95 percent of the total music industry?

5. profit maximization and shutting down in the short run suppose that the market for polos is a competitive market. the following graph shows the daily cost curves of a firm operating in this market. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 price (dollars per polo) quantity (thousands of polos) mc atc avc for each price in the following table, calculate the firm's optimal quantity of units to produce, and determine the profit or loss if it produces at that quantity, using the data from the previous graph to identify its total variable cost. assume that if the firm is indifferent between producing and shutting down, it will produce. (hint: you can select the purple points [diamond symbols] on the previous graph to see precise information on average variable cost.) price quantity total revenue fixed cost variable cost profit (dollars per polo) (polos) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 12.50 135,000 27.50 135,000 45.00 135,000 if the firm shuts down, it must incur its fixed costs (fc) in the short run. in this case, the firm's fixed cost is $135,000 per day. in other words, if it shuts down, the firm would suffer losses of $135,000 per day until its fixed costs end (such as the expiration of a building lease). this firm's shutdown price—that is, the price below which it is optimal for the firm to shut down—is per polo.