The Bear Stearns bailout created an implicit guarantee that will create a great deal of moral hazard unless we smartly regulate investment banks in a way that doesn't destroy their value; so say Dwight Jaffee and Mark Perlow.

This paper provides a formal model of contingent convertible bonds (CCBs), a new instrument offering potential value as a component of corporate capital structures for all types of firms, as well as being considered for the reform of prudential bank regulation following the recent financial...

We introduce costly internal capital into a standard insurance model, in which a risk-averse policyholder buys insurance from a risk-neutral insurer with limited liability. The unique optimal contract and internal capital lead to a strictly positive probability for insurer default. Some risks...

U.S. housing accounted for over 22% of the country's total primary energy consumption in 2009, which equated to more than $2000 per household and $229billion in aggregate expenditure. It appears that these amounts could be reduced substantially, with benefits to both household budgets and the...

ERES:conference

This paper models and provides empirical evidence for the quality of assets that are securitized through bankruptcy remote special purpose vehicles (SPVs). The model predicts that assets sold to SPVs will be of lower quality ("lemons") compared to assets that are not sold to SPVs. We find strong...

The paper offers a framework and a specific proposal for the re-regulation of key components of the U.S. financial system in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis. It begins with a review of those aspects of the subprime crisis that required the large, observed government interventions,...

Aaron Edlin and Dwight Jaffee wonder: where has all the money and credit gone? Bank reserves at the Fed are monumental, and they suggest a tax on excess reserves.