摘要：Theoretically, leasing and debt are thought to be substitutes. This assumes that a leasepayment, which is a fixed obligation like a loan, displaces debt and reduces debt capacity, i.e., iffirms have optimal debt to equity ratios, then, to the extent that it represents "off-balance sheet"financing, leasing reduces debt capacity. Ang and Peterson—the seminal work in theliterature—fit Tobit models with 1976 to 1981 data from 600 firms in which a leasing to bookvalue of equity ratio is the dependent variable and a debt to book value of equity ratio and othervariables are the explanatory variables. Contrary to expectations, their model results indicate thatleasing and debt are complementary activities. This study follows the Ang and Petersonmethodology, but utilizes a set of firms which are distinct from those of earlier studies—non-corporate U.S. commercial farms—to test a land leasing-debt substitution hypothesis. Anadvantage of the land lease example is that by focusing on a single industry—productionagriculture—the problem of potential industry affects is substantially reduced. In a departurefrom earlier studies, the issue of whether the leasing-debt relation is sensitive to heterogenous firmcharacteristics and shifting business conditions is examined.
