This book provides an answer to the question, What does the finance and economics
literature say about the determination and estimation of a project's cost of
capital?. Uniquely, it reviews both the theory of asset pricing in discrete time and a
range of more applied topics which relate to project valuation, including the effects of
corporate and personal taxes, the international dimension, estimation of the cost of
equity in practice, and the cost of capital for regulated utilities. It seeks to explain
models and arguments in a way which does justice to the reasoning, whilst minimising the
prior knowledge of finance and maths expected of the reader. It acts as a bridge between a
general undergraduate or MBA text in finance, accounting or economics, and the modern
theoretical literature on the cost of capital.
Unique focus on the cost of capital alone, thus making a much needed contribution to
corporate finance
Only text book which reviews theory on the cost of capital at an intermediate level
Reviews both pure asset pricing theory and applied theory such as the
effects of taxes
Table of Contents
Preface; Part I. Expected Returns on Financial Assets: 1. The cost of capital under
certainty; 2. Allowing for uncertainty: contingent states; 3. The capital asset pricing
model and multifactor models; 4. The consumption-based model; 5. The equity risk premium;
Part II. A Project's Cost of Capital: 6. Project valuation; 7. Corporation tax, leverage
and the weighted average cost of capital; 8. Personal tax and the cost of equity: the old
and the new views; 9. Personal tax, leverage and multiple tax rates; 10. Inflation and
risk premiums; 11. The international dimension; Part III. Estimating the Cost of Capital:
12. The cost of equity: inference from present value; 13. The cost of equity: applying the
CAPM and multifactor models; 14. Estimating a project's cost of capital; 15. Regulated
utilities.
352 pages