Are companies with traded credit default swap (CDS) positions on their debt more likely to default? Using a proportional hazard model of bankruptcy and Merton's contingent claims approach, we estimate the probability of default for US nonfinancial firms. Our analysis does not generally find a...

A large fraction of the companies that went private between 1990 and 2007 were fairly young public firms, often with the same management team making the crucial restructuring decisions both at the time of the initial public offering (IPO) and the buyout. Why did these public firms decide to...

Limbo loans are defined as delinquent mortgage loans that have not progressed to resolution. We utilize a unique legal database for Florida and find no support for resolution delays from bottlenecks or bank capital constraints. Instead, the impairment of property rights explains both the...

Starting in the early 1990s, banks began to slowly make their way into securities underwriting using their Section 20 subsidiaries. With the enactment of the Gram-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, the long-standing restrictions between commercial- and investment-banking activities were formally removed....