This paper investigates the link between the optimal level of nonfinancial firms' leverage and macroeconomic uncertainty. We develop a structural model of a firm's value maximization problem that predicts that as macroeconomic uncertainty increases the firm will decrease its optimal level of...

This paper investigates how variations in macroeconomic uncer- tainty distort commercial banks' allocation of loanable funds by ana- lyzing the dispersion of banks' total loan-to-asset ratios over a quarter- century period.

Previous estimators of binary choice panel data models with fixed effects require strong parametric error asumptions, strictly exogeneous regressors, or both. This is because nonlinearity of the model precludes the use of the "moment conditions on differences" based estimators that are generally...

Threshold regression methods are developed for non-dynamic panels with individual-specific fixed effects. Least squares estimation of the threshold and regression slopes is proposed using fixed-effects transformations. A non-standard asymptotic theory of inference is developed which allows...

This paper discusses the use of Stata for the analysis of time series and panel data. The evolution of time-series capabilities in Stata is reviewed. Facilities for data management, graphics, and econometric analysis from both official Stata and the user community are discussed. A new routine to...