Uncertainty faced by individual firms appears to be heterogeneous. In this paper, I construct new empirical measures of firm-level uncertainty using data from the I/B/E/S and Compustat. These new measures reveal persistent differences in the degree of uncertainty facing individual firms not...

We model the channels through which public expenditure on infrastructure influences firm value and shapes its investment decisions via both adjustment costs and marginal profitability of capital. We test these hypotheses by using a large panel of Italian firms. Empirical results show that...

This paper extends Merton’s continuous time (instantaneous) mean-varianceanalysis and the mutual fund separation theory. Given the existence of a Marko-vian state price density process, the optimal portfolios from concave utility max-imization are instantaneously mean-variance efficient...

We study in a general perspective the partial equilibrium incentives and the general equilibrium asset pricing implications of Value-at-Risk (VaR) regulation in continuous time economies with intermediate consumption, stochastic opportunity set, and heterogenous attitudes to risk. Our findings...

We present a geometric approach to discrete time multiperiod mean variance portfolio opti-mization that largely simplifies the mathematical analysis and the economic interpretation of such model settings. We show that multiperiod mean variance optimal policies can be decom-posed in an orthogonal...

This model adds to the standard neoclassical model of business fluctuations by introducing a more realistic capital structure problem, where firms have to balance the tax benefits of debt with the costs of potential financial distress. Therefore, firms solve a dynamic problem with both an...

This paper studies the asset pricing implications of a general equi-librium model in which real investment is reversible at a cost. Firmsface higher costs in contracting than in expanding their capital stockand decide to invest when their productive capital is scarce relativeto the overall...

Mounting evidence suggests that the outcomes of laboratory public goods games, and collective action in firms, communities, and polities, reflect the presence in most groups of individuals having differing preferences and beliefs. We designed a public goods experiment with targeted punishment...

We investigate the influence of financial leverage on firms' hiring decisions in the context of a hierarchy of finance model. The analysis is based on the Euler equation of employment in the presence of convex adjustment costs. We show the empirical implications of firms facing a hierarchy of...

Tail-hedge discounting is based on decomposition of returns from long-term investments in a fraction (gamma) that is correlated with consumption and another that is not. The first part is discounted at a discount rate that includes a risk premium, the other with the risk-free rate. We estimate...