Corporate Finance over the Past 25 Years

This paper traces developments in the theory of corporate finance over the past 25 years. These include a shift from consideration of how the value of a given cash flow stream is affected by its division among different classes of security holders to a consideration of how structure of claims affects the cash flow stream itself. A major reason for this shift of emphasis is the attention now paid to the role of individually motivated agents in the corporation. Other important developments include recognition of information asymmetries, the role of private benefits of control, and the application of the option pricing paradigm to the evaluation of real investments.