An Empirical Study of Static Trade- off Theory on Tehran Securities Exchange

With considering the importance of capital structure and the impact of management's financial decisions on the firm's value, this study tests a modern theory of capital structure such as Static Trade- off Theory on a panel data set of companies quoted on Tehran Securities Exchange. The study covers ۱۹۹۷-۲۰۰۶ and uses ۶۸ non-financial firm-year observations and analyses the correlation between some of the variables suggested by S.T.O Theory (Such as: size, profitability, collaterals, operation risk and liquidity) and capital structure of the companies, using multiple regression techniques. Findings indicate that during the study period, factors such as: size, profitability and liquidity are negatively associated with capital structure, while there is no meaningful correlation between other factors and capital structure. Finally, we conclude that the findings of this study on T.S.E , are not consistent with the findings of Static Trade- off Theory.