Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2007 in the subject Economics - Finance, grade: NA, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, language: English, abstract: Using a sample of non-financial listed firms located in the Euro area, I investigate the determinants of capital structure choices. In line with the traditional theoretical approach, I use a market-value measure of leverage, estimated with the Black-Scholes-Merton model. In the cross-section regressions for firm leverage I find that some variables have similar effects across countries, while others may play a different role; risk,...