Changes in credit supply induce large and frequent variations in households' access to unsecured debt. They generate a novel financial precautionary motive, which compounds the classical motive associated with idiosyncratic income risk, as borrowers accumulate risk-free bonds to hedge against...

We study a risk-sharing economy where an arbitrary number of heterogenous agents trades an arbitrary number of risky assets subject to quadratic transaction costs. For linear state dynamics, the forward-backward stochastic differential equations characterizing equilibrium asset prices and...

We study general equilibrium in a Lucas (1978) economy with one consumption good and two investors with heterogeneous risk aversions and beliefs about aggregate consumption growth rate, and portfolio constraints. We provide a comprehensive comparison of various constraints, and show which of...

We show that in a general equilibrium model with heterogeneity in risk aversion or belief, shifting wealth from an agent who holds comparatively fewer stocks to one who holds more reduces the equity premium. Since empirically the rich hold more stocks than do the poor, inequality should predict...

We formalize the idea that the financial sector can be a source of non-fundamental risk. Households' desire to hedge against price volatility can generate price volatility in equilibrium, even absent fundamental risk. Fearing that asset prices may fall, risk-averse households demand safe assets...

This paper highlights two new effects of credit default swap markets (CDS) in a general equilibrium setting. First, when firms' cash flows are correlated, CDSs impact the cost of capital{credit spreads{and investment for all firms, even those that are not CDS reference entities. Second, when...

Habit formation has been proposed as a possible solution for explaining the equity premium puzzle. This paper extends the class of models that support the habits explanation in order to account for heterogeneity in earnings, wealth, habits and consumption. I find that habit formation increases...

We consider the derivatives pricing problem in credit risk. By assessing a market price to the hedged risks and a Capital Asset Pricing Model price to the unhedged part, we derive a generalized pricing formula that nests both the classic “Capital Markets” and “Corporate Finance” models....

This chapter is on quantitative models of sovereign debt crises in emerging economies. We interpret debt crises broadly to cover all of the major problems a country can experience while trying to issue new debt, including default, sharp increases in the spread and failed auctions. We examine the...

This paper investigates the effect of limited enforcement of contracts on asset returns in a three-period pure- exchange overlapping generations economy. We consider a life-cycle setting with a safe and a risky asset and find that lack of commitment can significantly affect the rate of returns...