Question

Modigliani and Miller: A Challenge to Capital Budgeting Strategies

Financing corporate purchases and overall capital budgeting usually requires the finance manager to assess tax rates, dividend payout policy, weighting of capital sources, and more. However, the Modigliani and Miller propositions state that, in most situations, it does not matter if the firm's capital is raised by issuing stock or selling debt. As a student you might assume studies of capital budgeting strategies will no longer be reviewed in coursework. Before coming to that conclusion please discuss the principles presented by Modigliani and Miller and explain your agreement or disagreement.

Answer 1

Financing corporate purchases and overall capital budgeting usually requires the finance manager to assess tax rates, dividend payout policy, weighting of capital sources, and more. However, the Modigliani and Miller propositions state that, in most situations, it does not matter if the firm's capital is raised by issuing stock or selling debt. As a student you might assume studies of capital budgeting strategies will no longer be reviewed in coursework. Before coming to that conclusion please discuss the principles presented by Modigliani and Miller and explain your agreement or disagreement.

Modigliani and Miller, two professors in the 1950s, studied capital-structure theory intensely. From their analysis, they developed the capital-structure irrelevance proposition. Essentially, they hypothesized that in perfect markets, it does not matter what capital structure a company uses to finance its operations. They theorized that the market value of a firm is determined by its earning power and by the risk of its underlying assets, and that its value is independent of the way it chooses to finance its investments or distribute dividends

The basic M&M proposition is based on the following key assumptions:

• No taxes
• No transaction costs
• No bankruptcy costs
• Equivalence in borrowing costs for both companies and investors
• Symmetry of market information, meaning companies and investors have the same information
• No effect of debt on a company's earnings before interest and taxes

Of course, in the real world, there are taxes, transaction costs, bankruptcy costs, differences in borrowing costs, information asymmetries and effects of debt on earnings. To understand how the M&M proposition works after factoring in corporate taxes, however, we must first understand the basics of M&M propositions I and II without taxes.

I agree that there is risk in investing and no matter how big or how small of the amount invested, that there will be underlying costs including taxes, transaction costs, and any and/or bankruptcy costs that may occur in case the business goes under. This is why there must be a professional investment firm involved and legal representation and paperwork drawn up in the case of any unforseen losses.