We propose a structural credit risk model for consumer lending using option theory and the concept of the value of the consumer’s reputation. Using Brazilian empirical data and a credit bureau score as proxy for creditworthiness we compare a number of alternative models before suggesting one...

Banks’ holding of reasonable capital buffers in excess of minimum requirements could alleviate the procyclicality problem potentially exacerbated by the rating-sensitive capital charges of Basel II. Determining the required buffer size is an important risk management issue for banks, which the...

Some empirical investigations are pointing to the fact that high-tech firms are subject to credit rationing to a higher extent than the average. This excess of credit rationing may not be due to information asymmetries, but rather to the inability of credit institutions to screen projects in...

The current debate on the new Basel Accord gives rise to a natural question about the appropriate form of capital regulation.We construct a simple framework to analyze this issue. In our model the risk carried by a bank as well as managerial risk preference are a bank's private information. We...

Comment offrir à aux entreprises, en particulier les petites, une évaluation individualisée de leur qualité, leur permettant, d’une part, de mieux gérer leurs projets et leur développement et, d’autre part, de signaler leur qualité aux tiers, dont les banques. Le problème...

These are the page proofs of the interview of Franco Modigliani by William A. Barnett and Robert Solow. The interview was published in the journal, Macroeconomic Dynamics, in 2000. Since William Barnett is one of the two interviewers, he now is permitted, by Cambridge University Press, to make...

The classical Quadratic Programming (QP) formulation of the well-known portfolio selection problem has traditionally been regarded as cumbersome and time consuming. This paper formulates two additional models, (i) maximin, and (ii) minimization of mean absolute deviation. Data from 67 securities...

In practice, all option strategies are decided in advance, given the investor’s belief of the stock price. In this paper, instead of deciding in advance the most appropriate hedging option strategy, an LP problem is formulated, by considering all significant Greek parameters of the...

The Commission was asked in February 2001 to review the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act and certain other superannuation legislation. Superannuation savings are growing rapidly and now amount to more than $500 billion. Most of the workforce is covered by superannuation. The community...