We analyze exchange-rate management by the central bank when it makes the FX market for the sake of social-welfare objectives. It is assumed that markets are incomplete, so that agents are exposed to exchange-rate volatility against which they cannot fully hedge. It follows that the central bank...

The basic question regarding sovereign debt is why sovereign borrowers ever repay, provided that creditors have no power to foreclose on any of their assets. In this paper we suggest an answer: sovereign debt will be served as long as the median voter is a net loser from default. Default...

This paper investigates the incentives of investors to set up an actively managed fund in an emerging market or asset class. The analysis highlights the role of agency problems between fund managers and investors in determining this entry decision. It is shown that investors may wish to set up a...

This paper explores the welfare implications of a securities transaction tax when informed traders act under short-term objectives. The model presented features speculators who can trade on information of differing time horizons, trade by fully rational uninformed agents, endogenous asset prices...

In this paper we show that profitable market manipulation via trade is possible if prices perform an allocational role. If market prices affect the real value of an asset (e.g. because they contain information relevant to a firm's investment decisions), a potentially informed speculator may wish...

A fundamental role of financial markets is to gather information on firms’ investment opportunities, and so help guide investment decisions in the real sector. We argue in this paper that firms’ overinvestment is sometimes necessary to induce speculators in financial markets to...

We argue that ceteris paribus, introducing a habit that resolves the equity premium puzzle is equivalent to increasing the coefficient of relative risk aversion. Thus, if habit is modeled subject to the constraint that the Arrow-Pratt coefficient of relative risk aversion is held at a constant...

In 2002, a new legislation that harmonises insolvency laws within the EU came into effect. I find reasons – both theoretical and empirical – to doubt whether the new law has achieved the goal of decreasing the cost of cross-border insolvency and borrowing. I thus suggest an...

How do firms finance large cash flow requirements? We examine this in the context of firms that are subject to substantial cash flow requirements. We find that trade credit, inventory and cash stock reductions are all important in the short term for mild requirements. Larger and longer cash flow...

This paper explores the business cycle implications of financial distress and bankruptcy law. We find that due to the presence of financial imperfections the effect of liquidations on the price of capital goods can generate endogenous fluctuations. We show that a law reform that...