This innovative two-volume set reprints 24 of the most influential articles on corporate finance published during the period 1996-2003. Five topics are covered: capital structure, securities issuance, payout policy, corporate governance and diversification and internal capital markets. The articles selected reflect two major evolutionary trends and two rather significant departures from prior work. The two trends are the integration of industrial organization theories into finance and the continued refinement of ideas related to the impact of taxation on corporate decision making. The two departures are the increased focus on law and finance and the increased willingness to adopt behavioral approaches. This important collection offers an overview of present thinking and raises new questions in corporate finance.