The financial crisis saw a large premium paid for Treasury notes over bonds, reaching six percent of face value. We relate this premium to the underlying sources of liquidity supply and demand. On the supply side, we find that arbitrageurs faced low direct costs but high frictions, and that the...

We trace the evolution of extreme illiquidity discounts among Treasury securities during the financial crisis, when bond prices fell more than six percent below more-liquid but otherwise identical notes. Using high-resolution data on market quality and trader identities and characteristics, we...

We provide evidence that creditors play an active role in the governance of corporations well outside of payment default states. By examining the Securities and Exchange Commission's filings of all U.S. nonfinancial firms from 1996 through 2008, we document that, in any given year, between 10%...

We provide evidence that creditors play an active role in the governance of corporations well outside of payment default states. By examining the Securities and Exchange Commission's filings of all U.S. nonfinancial firms from 1996 through 2008, we document that, in any given year, between 10%...

We offer evidence that interest rate spreads on syndicated loans to corporate borrowers are economically significantly smaller in Europe than in the U.S., other things equal. Differences in borrower, loan and lender characteristics associated with equilibrium mechanisms suggested in the...

We present novel empirical evidence that conflicts of interest between creditors and their borrowers have a significant impact on firm investment policy. We examine a large sample of private credit agreements between banks and public firms and find that 32% of the agreements contain an explicit...

Over the last two decades, the leveraged loan market has grown to a size comparable to the market for high-yield corporate bonds, creating a market for “leveraged finance” that includes about $3 trillion in outstanding debt. For issuers and investors in these markets, high-yield bonds and...

The Farm Credit System (FCS) is an important source of financing for many rural communities in the United States. As a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), the FCS has a mandate to provide credit to eligible borrowers. This paper investigates the effect of FCS participation on the supply and...