We present a model of an insolvent firm that may take advantage of a "soft-touch" government creditor in order to buy time before filing for reorganization, behavior we refer to as "claims substitution." Parameters in the model reflect the enforcement of absolute priority and government priority...

Using hand-collected data on Israeli firms' unrealized earnings and debt restructurings following adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), we investigate whether and how dividend payouts based on unrealized revaluation earnings affect a firm's default risk. Our results...