We construct a model of a bank's optimal funding choice, where the bank negotiates with both safety-driven short-term bondholders and (mostly) risk-taking long-term bondholders. We establish that investor demands for safety create a negative relationship between the bank's capital choices and...

We develop a model of manipulation of indexes, whose components are illiquid in that they require fair valuation based on comparable instruments. Such an index may be susceptible to manipulation since distorting the prices of only a few assets could potentially shift its value. Our model...

Historical VaR, CVaR and ES (Expected Shortfall) to LIQUIDATION Software is a model characterized by its straightforwardness, allowing regulators measure risk using a standard database of primitive factors and portfolio positions only, leaving little error margin in comparing market risk for...

Institutional investors, such as pensions and insurers, are typically constrained to hold enough wealth to be able to make their contractually promised payments to fund beneficiaries. This creates an additional risk in the economy, namely the risk of funding shortfall. We seek to explore the...

Following the Pension Protection Act of 2006, there was a sharp increase in the use of TDFs as default investment options in defined contribution retirement plans. We document large differences in realized TDF returns and risk profiles, even for funds with the same target retirement date. Using...

The October, 2016 money-fund reform obliged institutional prime funds to start floating their Net Asset Values (NAVs), whereas retail prime funds could continue with stable NAVs. We use this contrast to assess the effect of NAV flotation on fund management. We find that institutional funds...

In this study, I use detailed data on bond and derivative positions of pension funds and insurance companies (P&Is) in the Netherlands to study demand shifts and their direct effect on yields. In particular, I exploit a change in the regulatory discount curve that made the liabilities more...

Many college and university 403(b) plans restrict the menu of investment choices to funds offered by TIAA-CREF, the current manager of over half of all 403(b) contributions. Further, in the face of Internal Revenue Code changes that will take effect in 2006 and will make 403(b) plan ERISA...

This definitional, stocktaking paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the concepts and definitions related to “green” investments that are currently used in the market place. The purpose of this research is not to take a position on a specific definition but rather to explore what...

I document portfolio pumping at the fund family level, a strategy that non-star fund managers buy stocks held by star funds in the family to inflate their performance at the quarter end. Families that heavily employ the strategy show strong evidence of inflated performance after 2002, when the...