We explore the determinants of yield differentials between long-term sovereigen bonds in Europa area. There is a common trend in yield differentials, which is correlated with the measure of tghe international risk factor. In contrast, liquidity differentials display sizeable hetrogeneity and no...

Recent work has suggested that strategic underperformance of debt-service obligations by equity holders can resolve the gap between observed yield spreads and those generated by Merton (1974)-style models.(...)

We use portfolio theory to quantify the efficiency of state-level sectoral patterns of production in the United States. On the basis of observed growth in sectoral value-added output, we calculate for each state the efficient frontier for investments in the real economy. We study how rapidly...

While systemic risk—the risk of wholesale failure of banksand other financial institutions—is generally consideredto be the primary reason for supervision and regulation of thebanking industry, almost all regulatory rules treat such risk inisolation. In particular, they do not account for...

We build a model of the financial sector to explain why adverse asset shocks in good economic timeslead to a sudden drying up of liquidity. Financial firms raise short-term debt in order to finance assetpurchases. When asset fundamentals worsen, debt induces firms to risk-shift; this limits...