This study finds that YouTube channels crowdfunding on Patreon have more frequent video creation. The median YouTube channel that crowdfunded on Patreon produced a video every 7.5 days compared to 105 days for the median comparable channel that did not link to Patreon. Crowdfunders have more...

In the context of modern portfolio theory (MPT), the actual weights of the market portfolio and cash are determined by investor preferences for risk and return. Value at risk (VaR) models specify losses with a percent frequency. VaR models are popular because they are easy to explain and...

Bond covenants may constrain managers from acquiescing to union wage demands. Yet, because high wages and high levels of worker discipline are substitutes, unions can win higher wages by raising the cost of detecting slack workers. In this case, shareholders may be better off delegating to a CEO...

The SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, infection fatality rate (IFR) has been hard to accurately estimate. It is a key parameter for disease modeling and policy decisions. Asymptomatic spread and limited testing have understated infections in hard to predict ways across jurisdictions. We survey serology,...

In 2018, YouTube began releasing click-through rates (CTR) data to its video creators. Since 2012, YouTube has emphasized how it favors watch time over clicks in its recommendations to viewers. This is the first academic study employing that data to test what matters more for views on YouTube....

We look at COVID-19 mortality and expected life expectancy risks by age prior to the development of pharmaceutical treatments for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A COVID-19 infection more than doubled the annual mortality risks for Americans over sixty. Americans aged sixty or older stand to lose 153 to...

If a bank faces potential insolvency, it will be tempted to reject good loans and accept bad loans to shift risk onto its creditors. We analyze effectiveness of buying up toxic mortgages in troubled banks, buying preferred stock, and buying common stock. If bailouts for banks that are deemed...

This paper uses the option pricing arguments of Merton (1974) to demonstrate that even solvent banks will be reluctant to sell volatile, toxic assets at market prices. Banks' shareholders have insolvency puts that give them limited liability in the event of default. The insolvency puts are more...

This study solves the optimal managerial compensation problem when shareholders are either naiuml;vely optimistic or rational. The results suggest that boards of directors should decrease option grants to CEOs when equity is likely to be irrationally overvalued at the date when the CEO's options...

When a bank is deemed quot;too-big-to-failquot; by regulators, it may be tempted to buy risky assets. This paper analyzes bank bailouts involving the purchases of toxic assets, preferred stock, and common stock when the government wants to encourage efficient lending. It finds that preferred...