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 paper provides an overview of the hedge fund industry, mainly from a financial stability and European angle. It is primarily based on an extensive analysis of information from the TASS database. On the positive side of the financial stability assessment, hedge funds have a role as providers...

I construct a model of over-the-counter (OTC) trading to study equilibrium allocation properties under bilateral clearing (BC) and central counterparty (CCP) clearing of OTC derivatives. I show how CCP mutualizes individual counterparty exposures and prevents massive equilibrium defaults. I...

As regulators around the world progress towards prudential reforms of the global financial system to address the issue of systemic risk, the sweeping scope of the task touches areas and actors of the financial markets that have typically not been seen as systemically important before. The idea...

We conduct firm and industry level examinations of key market risk exposures deemed material by managers over the period 2002–2016. We find that risk exposures have expanded in line with firms' growth and globalization and that managers strategically select disclosure formats in recognition of...

Token offerings or initial coin offerings (ICOs) are smart contracts based on blockchain technology designed to raise external finance without an intermediary. The new technology might herald a revolution in entrepreneurial and corporate finance, with soaring market growth rates over the last...

In this paper, we study the mechanisms that govern price stability of MakerDAO's DAI token, the first decentralized stablecoin. DAI works through a set of autonomous smart contracts, in which users deposit cryptocurrency collateral, typically Ethereum, and borrow a fraction of their positions as...

At a 2019 retirement security conference in Brazil, one of the authors proposed that Brazil introduce a low-cost, low-risk, simple and liquid bond innovation: “SeLFIES”— Standard of Living indexed, Forward-starting, Income-only Securities. SeLFIES would serve as the relative safe asset for...

Through the lens of market participants' objective to minimize counterparty risk, we provide an explanation for the reluctance to clear derivative trades in the absence of a central clearing obligation. We develop a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and potential pitfalls with respect...

This ESRB Occasional Paper complements the publication of indicators on central counterparties (CCPs) in the ESRB's Risk Dashboard as part of its monitoring framework. It provides a methodological background to the development of the individual measures and discusses different aspects that...