-The market for green bonds is growing rapidly and has been boosted by the European Commission's plan to raise through green bonds 30 percent of the up to €750 billion that will be borrowed under the Next Generation EU coronavirus economic recovery programme. But while green bonds can reduce...

This paper investigates the economic viability and welfare contribution of alternatives to issuer-paid credit rating agencies (CRAs). To this end, it introduces a heterogeneous competition model for credit and ratings markets. Frictions among issuers or investors induce rating inflation from...

This paper investigates the economic viability and welfare contribution of alternatives to issuer-paid credit rating agencies (CRAs). To this end, it introduces a heterogeneous competition model for credit and ratings markets. Frictions among issuers or investors induce rating inflation from...

This paper explores the role played by multiple credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the market for corporate bonds. Moody’s, S&P and Fitch operate in a competitive setting with market demand for both credit information and the certification value of a high rating. We empirically document the...

We propose a new approach to measuring informed trading in individual securities based on a portfolio optimization model for investors facing information and liquidity shocks. These shocks induce speculative and liquidity-motivated order flow, taking into account the price impact of trading. The...

This paper investigates the economic viability and welfare contribution of alternatives to issuer-paid credit rating agencies (CRAs). To this end, it introduces a heterogeneous competition model for lending and ratings markets. Frictions among issuers or investors induce rating inflation from...

We investigate the nature of cross-sectional asset pricing effects of intangibles. Intangible asset intensity relates strongly positively to stock returns and has more explanatory power than size, value, profitability, and investment. Adding an intangibles factor improves the Fama-French...

This paper examines whether the risk of future collateral fire sales affects lending decisions. We study US mortgage applications and exploit exogenous variation in foreclosure frictions for identification. We find that lenders are less likely to approve mortgages when anticipated losses due to...

This paper investigates the economic viability and welfare contribution of alternatives to issuer-paid credit rating agencies (CRAs). To this end, it introduces a heterogeneous competition model for credit and ratings markets. Frictions among issuers or investors induce rating inflation from...