A model of leverage based on risk sharing

This paper offers a new approach, based on risk sharing, to endogenize the leverage of financial intermediaries. It endogenizes debt as the optimal contract for external financing, thereby capturing two features of leverage: debt serves to boost the return on equity, and equity provides “safety net” for debt. The paper derives a novel prediction that when the asset-side risk rises, the leverage ratio is reduced, but the profit margin of leveraging is actually widened.