In a default corridor [0,B] that the stock price can never enter, a deep out-of-the-money American put replicates a pure credit contract (Carr and Wu, 2011). Assuming discrete (one-period-ahead predictable) cash flows, we show an endogenous credit-risk model generates, along with the default...

When firms roll over bonds of different maturity, their debt-maturity structure can feature both shorter and longer maturity in bad times. We link these debt-maturity patterns to the firms' fundamentals, assuming earnings are deterministically declining but the same firm is subject to a growth...

We introduce a new distance-to-default (DD) measure based on observable covariates, allowing us to bypass any model-based inference (e.g., Merton, 1974), that works well. It is based on the following result: The default event defined by endogenous credit-risk models, a sufficiently low asset...

We study a firm's debt-maturity policy. The firm, keeping book leverage constant, rolls over expiring debt by newly issuing short- or long-term bonds, which pay different coupons. In equilibrium, we always find two balanced issuance regimes, which are associated with one type of debt: In bad...

We study a rich dynamic-leverage model that includes (debt-issuance covenants, a debt floor/ceiling, and specially) a fixed cost. When firms face financial but also operational leverage---the fixed cost, the firm's financial policies strongly interact---bringing forward the default time but...