Credit default swap (CDS) spreads are directly related to equity market liquidity in the Merton (1974) model via hedging. This relationship is monotone increasing when credit quality worsens. Empirical tests confirm this relationship. We theorize and confirm this new channel by means of which...

We develop a theoretical framework of equity returns to hypothesize that average run lengths are related to common measures of liquidity such as trading volume and trade price-impact. This relationship holds irrespective of the observation frequency in the computation of run lengths. Thus,...

In the absence of forward-looking models for recovery rates, market participants tend to use exogenously assumed constant recovery rates in pricing models. We develop a exible jump-to-default model that uses observables: the stock price and stock volatility in conjunction with credit spreads to...

The relevance of accounting data to providers of capital has been strongly debated. In this paper we provide compelling evidence that accounting metrics are important to providers of debt capital. Models of firm distress are mostly either purely accounting-based (e.g. Altman, 1968; Ohlson, 1980) or...

Existing literature shows that the market values control because controlling shareholder can generate private benefits and improve the efficiency of the corporation. In this study, we provide a measure of the value of control for a set of domestic and foreign transactions. Our measure of the...

This paper investigates the determinants of money-flows, nature of managerial incentives, behavior of investors, and drivers of performance in the hedge fund industry. It examines performance-flow relation and finds that funds with good recent performance, greater managerial incentives, and...

Hedge funds are fundamentally exposed to equity volatility, skewness, and kurtosis risks based on the systematic pattern and significant spread in alphas from the existing models that do not control for the higher-moment risks. The spread and pattern in alphas do not disappear with bootstrap...

Using a comprehensive hedge fund database, we examine the role of managerial incentives and discretion in hedge fund performance. Hedge funds with greater managerial incentives, proxied by the delta of the option-like incentive fee contracts, higher levels of managerial ownership, and the...

This paper shows that portfolio constraints have important implications for management compensation and performance evaluation. In particular, in the presence of portfolio constraints, allowing for benchmarking can be beneficial. Benchmark design arises as an alternative effort inducement...

This paper characterizes the systematic risk exposures of hedge funds using buy-and-hold and option-based strategies. Our results show that a large number of equity-oriented hedge fundstrategies exhibit payoffs resembling a short position in a put option on the market index, and therefore bear...