Empirical studies usually measure the value of debt based on book rather than market value, even though the underlying theory is almost always based on market values. This paper documents how using book value to measure debt can distoret debt-equity rations and cost of capital calculations.

This paper investigates the risk structure of interest rates using pure discount bonds. The most striking feature of the authors' estimates of default-risk premia is the resemblance of their time profile to the theoretical time profile obtained by R. C. Merton (1974). Copyright 1989 by American...

Based on an analysis of the agency risk for bondholders from managerial entrenchment and fraud, we derive and test refutable hypotheses about the influence of managerial agency risk on bond covenants, using a comprehensive database of corporate bonds from the 1993--2007 period. Managerial...

As the size of government sponsored enterprises (GSE) has grown, attention has focused on the relationship between the federal government and the GSEs, with particular attention focused on estimating the impact of this relationship on GSE debt costs. Quantifying the GSEs' cost advantage is a...

As a government-sponsored enterprise, Fannie Mae enjoys certain advantages over the firms. The extent of these advantages, while widely discussed, have not yet been fully quantified. This paper empirically examines the returns to Fannie Mae general obligation bonds under the assumptions of the...