The Itô formula was extended recently by Dupire (2009) to functionals of paths of continuous semimartingales, and by Cont and Fournié (2010) to functionals of paths of RCLL semimartingales. In contrast to the traditional formula that applies to functions of the current value of a process,...

We study a class of optimization problems involving linked recursive preferences in a continuous-time Brownian setting. Such links can arise when preferences depend directly on the level or volatility of wealth, in principal-agent (optimal compensation) problems with moral hazard, and when the...

We show that optimal debt contracts in the presence of product market competition are typically different from standard debt contracts. We consider a market with two incumbents, one levered (target) and one with deep pockets (competitor). Renewal of target's debt depends on its profits, which...

We consider the lifetime consumption-portfolio problem in a competitive securities market with essentially arbitrary continuous price dynamics, and convex trading constraints (e.g., incomplete markets and short-sale constraints). Abstract first-order conditions of optimality are derived, based...

We examine a dynamic model of R&D investment by competing firms with an uncertain payout and uncertain time to development success. The effect of competition on R&D investment depends critically on whether firms are able to monitor, and react to, each other's actions. In the absence of...

During financial crises, financial market regulators often restrict short-selling to support prices and curb volatility. However, evidence suggests that short-selling bans during the turmoil in financial markets in 2007--2009 failed to achieve regulators' goals. We analyze a model of costly...

We study the role of private information in the equity-lending market in a rational expectations model with endogenous loan fees. When all investors are privately informed, an increase in information precision reduces the fee by increasing trading aggressiveness and decreasing demand dispersion....

We show two surprising consequences of introducing endogenous information acquisition into an imperfectly competitive trading model characterized by a small number of traders. First, the marginal value of private information can be negative, resulting in an equilibrium with no...

Empirical evidence shows that the pricing kernel, or stochastic discount factor (SDF), is not always downward sloping when estimated using Samp;P 500 data. On the other hand, we show that individual stock SDFs are in general downward sloping. We show that a simple jump diffusion returns model...

In 1991, at the behest of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) then Secretary Jack Kemp, the Advisory Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing delivered a report on how land-use restrictions have worsened housing affordability. Secretary Kemp charged the...