To create value, a firm must invest in projects that provide a return greater than the cost of capital. The cost of capital is not observed and its estimation requires assumptions on investors’ consumption, savings, and portfolio decisions. We review the academic literature on firms’ cost of financial capital and the estimation of the different components: cost of equity, cost of debt, and their relative weights. We also review various approaches to estimating the cost of capital and the assumptions justifying these approaches.

中文翻译：

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企业的资本成本

为了创造价值，公司必须投资回报大于资本成本的项目。没有观察到资本成本，资本成本的估算需要对投资者的消费，储蓄和投资组合决策进行假设。我们回顾有关企业财务资本成本和不同组成部分的估计的学术文献：权益成本，债务成本及其相对权重。我们还回顾了估算资本成本的各种方法以及证明这些方法合理的假设。