Endogenous Borrowing Constraints with Incomplete Markets.

This article develops ways to endogenize the borrowing constraints used in a class of computable incomplete markets models. The authors allow the constraints to depend on an investor's characteristics, such as time preference, risk aversion, and income streams. The proposed constraint can be interpreted as a borrowing limit within which an investor has no incentive to default. Using a numerical algorithm, the authors find that, for an array of structural parameters, the endogenous borrowing constraints can be much less stringent than the ad hoc borrowing constraints adopted by the existing studies. Copyright 1997 by American Finance Association.