Hub-and-spoke regulation, where a central regulator with legal power over firms delegates monitoring to local supervisors, can improve information collection, but can also lead to agency problems and capture. We document that following the closure of a US bank regulator's field offices, the...

This article studies how the managers of a regulated firm can use debt and equity contracts to constrain the regulator's policy through the contingent transfer of control to external investors with high relative liquidation value. External finance increases regulated income and facilitates...

A rate-of-return regime characterized by "fairness" satisfies two criteria: the total allowed return on the rate base is equal to the cost of capital, and the regulated firm should be able to raise capital without either gain or loss to existing equity holders. Assuming a monopoly firm with a...

This paper provides an explanation for the observation that banks hold on average a capital ratio in excess of regulatory requirements. We use a functional approach to banking based on Diamond and Rajan (2001) to demonstrate that banks can use capital ratios as a strategic tool for renegotiating...

In this article we argue that asymmetric information can explain why seignorage is an inferior choice to debt for governments. We also argue that the Ricardian equivalence for governments is very similar to what the Modigliani-Miller proposition is for corporations. Our model is based on Bolton...

This paper develops a theory of corporate hedging in a financial contracting framework. In an economy with moral hazard and state uncertainty, the optimal financial contract incorporates both non-monitoring (arm's length) finance and monitoring (bank) finance, and its payoff is equity-like. When...

We show how the prospect of disputes over firms' revenue reports promotes debt financing over equity. These findings are presented within a costly state verification model with a risk averse entrepreneur. The prospect of disputes encourages incentive contracts that limit penalties and avoid...