The panic of 1857 is revisited with the benefit of hindsight provided by the panic of 2007-08, where a number of parallels are identified between the two panics. We present new evidence on causes of the failure of the financial institution that triggered the panic of 1857 and conduct a detailed...

I explain the standard carried interest contract as a mechanism to induce incentive compatible fund leverage while also satisfying LP return objectives. Fee, leverage and target return data from private equity real estate (PERE) funds are used to calibrate the model. Steps in the modeling...

Theory and evidence are presented on how governance structure affects security design. Two types of frictions are isolated as they affect agent incentives to resolve financial distress: moral hazard in costly effort provision and risk-shifting incentives. A tension is shown to exist between the...