The study looked at factors influencing how companies in the US decide on their capital structure. They analyzed data from publicly traded non-financial firms between 1950 and 2005. The main factors considered were growth opportunities, tangible assets, firm profit, firm size, and inflation. The researchers found that tangible assets and firm size were positively linked to leverage, while firm profit had a negative relationship with leverage. Growth opportunities also played a role, but it was not statistically significant. This suggests that companies tend to use their assets and size to determine how much debt to take on.