Lease or Purchase

Leasing of capital assets has become an important financing method, not only in the United States but in most West European countries as well. As a result, more and more often, practitioners and theorists are confronted with the lease-or-purchase issue. It may be rather difficult, however, to resolve this issue since there is a multitude of lease-or-purchase models that vary widely in assumed initial conditions, form, and content. In this book, I review and evaluate a number of these models, paying attention to financial leases as well as to operating leases. The models will be analyzed verbally, by means of a numerical example and utilizing uniform mathematical nota tion. After having discussed the theoretical achievements in this area, I investigate the reasons why preference is given to leasing in real-world situa tions and then look into any differences in legal provisions, income tax systems, and accounting regulations in various countries as they may affect the leasing of capital assets. Consequently, I feel that this book is a helpful instrument for both theorists and practitioners confronted with the lease-or purchase decision. Many people made valuable contributions toward developing this book, among others my colleagues of the Department of Business Finance of Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Besides, I am especially indebted to Pro fessor Dr. A. I. Diepenhorst for his advice and suggestions, to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments, and to Mrs. M. Leutscher-Van den Berg for her patient help in preparing the various versions of the manuscript.