We develop a model to analyze the link between financial leverage, worker pay structure and the risk of job termination. Contrary to the conventional view, we show that even in the absence of any agency problem among workers, variable pay can be optimal despite workers being risk averse and...

We develop a model of variable pay driven by the capital structure problem of the firm, as opposed to a problem related to the worker, on which the prior literature has focused. If workers face low unemployment risk, firms use more variable pay, and more leverage. With an agency problem embedded...

This paper analyzes credit risk transfer in banking. Specifically, we model loan sales and loan insurance (e.g. credit default swaps) as the two instruments of risk transfer. Recent empirical evidence suggests that the adverse selection problem is as relevant in loan insurance as it is in loan...

We analyze the effect of counterparty risk on insurance contracts using the case of credit risk transfer in banking. In addition to the familiar moral hazard problem caused by the insuree's ability to influence the probability of a claim, this paper uncovers a new moral hazard problem on the...

We present a series of models capturing the non-stationarities and dependencies in the variance of yields on natural gas futures. Both univariate and multivariate models are explored, based on the ARIMA and Hidden-Markov methodologies. The models capture the effects uncovered through various...

The critical nature of the venture capital-entrepreneur relationship is emphasized by the 46.4% exponential growth rate of venture capital investments throughout the 1990s. It is that time in the venture capital cycle between the time the first stage funding is made and the venture capitalist...

Both the scientific community and the popular press have paid much attention to the speed of the Securities Information Processor-the data feed consolidating all trades and quotes across the US stock market. Rather than the speed of the Securities Information Processor (SIP), we focus here on...