I analyze banks' incentives to acquire expertise in judging the credit-worthiness of borrowers in an industry with uncertain business conditions. The optimal industrial organization of bank lending features several banks with industry expertise, as well as a competitive fringe of banks without...

We analyze the relation between firms' exposure to exogenous business risk and their financing choices, based on a sample of firms for which we can measure such exposure. The results show that firms more exposed to exogenous risk use less debt financing. We also analyze the relation between the...

Using a sample of highly (over-)leveraged Austrian ski hotels undergoing debt restructurings, we show that reducing a debt overhang leads to a significant improvement in operating performance (return on assets, net profit margin). In particular, a reduction in leverage leads to a decrease in...

We analyze the relation between firms' exposure to exogenous business risk and their financing choices, based on a sample of firms for which we can measure such exposure. The results show that firms more exposed to exogenous risk use less debt financing. We also analyze the relation between the...

Based on a sample of highly leveraged Austrian ski hotels undergoing debt restructurings, we show that reducing a debt overhang leads to a significant improvement in operating performance. Changes in leverage in the debt restructurings are instrumented with Unexpected Snow, which captures the...

How does small-firm employment respond to exogenous labor productivity risk? We find that this depends on the capitalization of firms' local banks. The evidence comes from firms employing workers whose productivity depends on the weather. Weatherinduced labor productivity risk reduces this...