This study investigates adjustments in capital structures for agricultural cooperatives and differences before and during the agricultural downturn which started in 2013. We estimate a simultaneous equation model to test for cooperatives’ capital structure strategies based on two main theories from the corporate finance literature: the trade-off theory and the pecking order theory. Estimation results reveal that agricultural cooperatives in the U.S. generally adjust to short-term financial targets for equity and debt, supporting the trade-off theory while there is little support for the pecking order theory within the agricultural cooperatives sector.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.