In early 2005 a new bankruptcy law was approved by the Brazilian Congress, taking effect a few months later. The new legislation improved creditor protection and the bankruptcy system's efficiency. This paper tries to shed some light on the empirical consequences of a bankruptcy reform on a...

In early 2005 a new bankruptcy law was approved by the Brazilian Congress, taking effect a few months later. The new legislation improved creditor protection and the bankruptcy system's efficiency. This paper tries to shed some light on the empirical consequences of a bankruptcy reform on a...

This work analyzes the optimal allocation of assets over the life cycle of an investor who has the option to invest in his education. We characterize the optimal spending rule for education, and compare the optimal asset allocation of such investors with the optimal portfolios of investors with...

In December 2003, the Brazilian Congress passed a law that led to a natural personal lending experiment. The law allows banks to offer loans with repayment through automatic payroll deduction, which, in effect, turns future income into collateral. We estimate the impact of the new law using auto...

This article investigates the effects of privatization under Brazil's National Privatization Program (PND) during the 1990s on companies' capital structure. Our model suggests that privatized firms increased their market leverage by 10--14% on average relative to the level before privatization....