This paper studies a model in which a low monetary policy rate lowers the cost of capital for entrepreneurs, potentially spurring productive investment. Low interest rates, however, also induce entrepreneurs to lever up so as to increase payouts to equity. Whereas such leveraged payouts...

We analyze how regulatory constraints on household leverage—in the form of loan-to-income and loan-to-value limits—affect residential mortgage credit and house prices as well as other asset classes not directly targeted by the limits. Supervisory loan level data suggest that mortgage credit...

We show theoretically and empirically that in the presence of time-varying cost of capital (COC), firms have a hedging motive to reduce the overall COC by saving cash when COC is relatively low. The sensitivity of cash savings to COC is especially pronounced with respect to the cost of equity...

We analyze how regulatory constraints on household leverage-in the form of loan-to-income and loan-to-value limits-a?ect residential mortgage credit and house prices as well as other asset classes not directly targeted by the limits. Supervisory loan level data suggest that mortgage credit is...

This paper introduces a new financial vulnerability index for emerging market economies by exploiting key differences in their business cycles relative to those of advanced economies. Information on the domestic price of risk, cost of dollar hedging and market-based measures of bank...

Insider trading in the credit derivatives market has become a significant concern for regulators and participants. This paper attempts to quantify the problem. Using news reflected in the stock market as a benchmark for public information, we report evidence of significant incremental...

We show that limited liability can induce profit-maximizing bank owners to herd with other banks. When bank loan returns have a systematic factor, the failure of one bank conveys adverse information about this systematic factor and increases the cost of borrowing for the surviving banks relative...

This paper studies equilibrium asset pricing with liquidity risk - the risk arising from unpredictable changes in liquidity over time. It is shown that a security's required return depends on its expected illiquidity and on the covariances of its own return and illiquidity with market return and...

Two aspects of systemic risk, the risk that banks fail together, are modeled and their interaction examined: First, the ex-post aspect, in which the failure of a bank brings down a surviving bank as well, and second, the ex-ante aspect, in which banks endogenously hold correlated portfolios...

We study two-period pure-exchange Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) economies with a given degree of incompleteness of financial markets and given degrees of restricted participation of agents in the markets.We characterize the optimal financial asset structure and the optimal composition of...