Despite operating under substantial regulatory constraints, we find that commercial banks manage their investments largely consistent with the predictions of portfolio choice models with capital market imperfections. Based on 1990-2002 data for small (assets less than $1 billion) U.S. commercial...

In this paper we explore the conjecture that the periodic episodes of high prices and constrained supply in the property- casualty industry are the result of temporary capital shortages. We do this by looking for increases in activities aimed at increasing capital at these times: dividend cuts,...

In this paper we examine the factors that determine how firms manage large, firm-specific risks, in this case, product liability. We study the impact of this high-probability, high-loss risk on a group of firms that all manage product liability through insurance purchases in the early 1980s. A...

This paper examines banks' capital, portfolio and growth decisions from 1986 to 1995, when risk-based capital guidelines were proposed and implemented. Overall, we observe complementarity between equity financing and risk. We find no systematic differences in pre- and postregulation behavior...

We show that exposure from past business transactions ? risk overhang ? can reduce activity in related business lines, sometimes to the point where no new trade occurs. We focus primarily on the role of overhang in nonlife insurance market disruptions. Our model predicts that the relative...