We describe a new index of the current and historical returns to venture-type capital. The conceptual basis for the index is the value of a continuously reinvested value-weighted portfolio of all venture-backed and similar pre-public companies. It provides a metric for private equity comparable...

The standard venture-capital contract rewards entrepreneurs only for creating successful companies that go public or are acquired on favorable terms. As a result, entrepreneurs receive no help from venture capital in avoiding the huge idiosyncratic risk of the typical venture-backed startup....

Excessive concentration of aggregate risk can lead to financial fragility and balance sheet recessions, and may create the need for financial regulation. This paper studies the optimal financial regulation scheme, with a focus on the optimal allocation of aggregate risk. I use a standard growth...