I develop a simple contract-theoretic model of multi-stage economies to address the nexus between trade credit, bank credit and balance-sheet contagion. First, I show that competitive markets in which heterogeneous price-taker firms compete strategically by setting trade credit settlements have...

The Consumer Finance Institute hosted a workshop in February 2017 featuring James Fox, partner and principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and a leading authority on cybersecurity in the financial services industry. He discussed the importance of measuring cyber risk, highlighted some...

We examine two competing predictions regarding the impact of major customer firms' risk taking on that of their supplier firms. The bargaining power theory holds that when major customers take more risk to enhance their bargaining power and rent extraction ability, suppliers respond by also...

When private firms are acquired, buyers commonly rely on seller financing and earnouts. Using a novel database of private acquisitions, I find that seller financing and earnouts become more common as information asymmetry increases between the acquirer and the target. Financial statement audits...

We document the propagation through supply chains of the most damaging cyberattack in history and the important role of banks in mitigating its impact. Customers of directly hit firms saw reductions in revenues, profitability, and trade credit relative to similar firms. The losses were larger...

We examine firm and industry characteristics associated with outsourcing and the relation between outsourcing and capital structure using a unique database of purchase contracts for a measure of firm outsourcing. We document firm, industry, and supplier characteristics that are significantly...

This study assesses the interconnectedness of credit risk exposures in a tripartite network of cross-shareholdings among banks, insurers, and firms in Japan's stock market during the fiscal years 2008-2015. We use consistent measures: credit risk exposure by PD (probability of default)/LGD (loss...

We investigate the relation between a firm's hedging policy and its major customer relationships. We find that the likelihood of a supplier using derivatives to hedge interest rate risk is higher when a major customer has high leverage. This result is increasing in the supplier's dependence on a...

Purpose – Logistic service providers (LSPs) are increasingly required to take over the ownership of network-specific inventories and to finance related working capital. The paper examines the nature of associated uncertainties, especially behavioural risks and illustrates the mechanisms of the...

This paper tests the proposition that higher tournament incentives will result in greater risk taking by senior managers in order to increase their chance of promotion to the rank of CEO. Measuring tournament incentives as the pay gap between the CEO and the next layer of senior managers, we...