We study a general equilibrium model in which firms choose their capital structure optimally, trading off the tax advantages of debt against the risk of costly default. The costs of default are endogenous: bankrupt firms are forced to liquidate their assets, resulting in a fire sale if there is...

This paper provides an introduction to the literature on financial contagion in networks. In the first part, we consider contagion via transmission of shocks, i.e. an abrupt drop in the flow of revenue to one firm, which affects other firms connected to it through financial linkages. We then...

We develop a simple model of the interbank market where banks trade a long term, safe asset. We show that when there is a lack of opportunities for banks to hedge aggregate and idiosyncratic liquidity shocks, the interbank market is characterized by excessive price volatility. In such a...

Most analyses of banking crises assume that banks use real contracts. However, in practice contracts are nominal and this is what is assumed here. We consider a standard banking model with aggregate return risk, aggregate liquidity risk and idiosyncratic liquidity shocks. We show that, with...

We study a competitive model in which market incompleteness implies that debt-financed firms may default in some states of nature and default may lead to the sale of the firms’ assets at fire sale prices when markets are illiquid. This incompleteness is the only friction in the model and the...