Equity capital cost – dilemmas of appraisal

The study undertakes to consider the nature of equity capital in view of transaction costs theory. Empirical tests have been conducted among agricultural entrepreneurs, followed by the construction of binary models, in order to put under scrutiny the research hypothesis that equity capital cost is null. The practitioners in the field do not share a common view on the need to estimate the equity capital cost and its level. It has been concluded that equity capital cost should be approached as a transaction cost stemming from the rarity of the benefit of the equity capital, and, as a resource, used more efficiently, involving, as a consequence, the application of the original function of ownership rights