We show that structured equity derivatives could cause a significant price dislocation of the underlying stock upon an event of dramatic payoff change. Moreover, one event causes another: the event cascade amplifies the magnitude of the impact. We find that a single event accounts for -6.4%...

We show that a parsimonious factor model can alleviate the problems of using raw historical data subject to large idiosyncratic noise in mean-variance portfolio optimization. Through the factor structure, we incorporate forward-looking information into the expected returns, exploiting a set of...

We study secured lending contracts using a novel, loan-by-loan database of bilateral repurchase agreements in which borrower quality is fixed and collateral quality is known. Holding all risk factors constant except collateral quality, we show that loans on riskier collateral have higher...

This paper studies whether credit rating agencies applied consistent rating standards to U.S. corporate bonds over the expansion and recession periods between 2002 and 2011. Based on estimates of issuing firms' credit quality from a structural model, I find that rating standards are in fact...

Despite the conventional wisdom that the equity and bond markets are segmented, the organizational structure of mutual fund families facilitates information integration between shareholders and creditors, and thus offsets frictions that cause cross-asset segmentation. We find that actively...

Despite common wisdom that equities and bonds are segmented, the organization structure of fund families can offset frictions regarding cross-asset segmentation. We find that actively-managed equity funds and corporate bond funds linked within a mutual fund family exhibit a significant...