This paper examines the role of defined benefit company pensions in amplifying the effect of common shocks to companies' stock market valuations. It identifies and evaluates the significance of two channels of amplification: cross-holdings of equities in pension schemes, and leverage induced by...

This paper examines how corporate behaviour is related to financial pressure, where the financial pressure is on account of pension contributions to the company pension scheme. Using a large panel of quoted non-financial UK firms from 1983-2002, we estimate generalised methods of moments models...

In this paper the likely development of aggregate living standards in the United Kingdom over the course of this century are considered, and some of the risks to this outlook. It is argued that even under relatively cautious assumptions about technological progress and capital accumulation,...

Household indebtedness has grown sharply in the United Kingdom in recent years. This paper proposes a framework for understanding this based on a model in which households are assumed to plan their lifetime spending rationally, allowing for bequests to future generations. The model is set up to...

In this paper the causes of the rise in US household debt since the early 1970s are considered, using a calibrated partial equilibrium overlapping generations model. The model explains indebtedness in terms of a consumption-income motive, associated with consumption smoothing, and a...

In this paper it is shown how a Merton-model approach can be used to develop measures of the probability of failure of individual quoted UK companies. Probability estimates are then constructed for a group of failed companies and their properties as leading indicators of failure assessed....

Household indebtedness has risen sharply in recent years, with large increases in both secured and unsecured borrowing. In this paper, waves 5 and 10 of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) for 1995 and 2000 are used to examine the determinants of participation in the unsecured debt market...

In this paper the financial policies and balance sheet adjustment of companies are examined. Using a large panel of quoted UK firms, models for dividends, new equity issuance and investment are estimated, relating them to debt adjustment. The results suggest that while dividends are sticky in...

The payment of dividends is one of the key unresolved puzzles of company financial behaviour. This paper uncovers a more recent dividend puzzle; that of an increasing proportion of quoted UK companies omitting cash dividends. Also motivated by a desire to understand corporate balance sheet...

In this paper three contributions are made. First, empirical support is provided for the 'trade-off' model of corporate capital structure where companies borrow to take advantage of the tax benefits of debt, which they set against possible costs of overindebtedness. Second, it is shown...