Corporate managers tend to preserve cash with an expectation of a worse economy while spend cash to exercise growth opportunities with a favorable economic condition. We hypothesize that there exists a real option component of aggregate corporate cash holdings, serving both functions of...

We propose a unified explanation for two seemingly disparate empirical findings: the negative abnormal returns of distressed stocks, and of small growth stocks. Based on a counterintuitive result relating option prices to jump risk (Merton 76), we show via an investment valuation model that...

We propose a unified explanation for two seemingly disparate empirical findings: the negative abnormal returns of distressed stocks, and of small growth stocks. Based on a counterintuitive result relating option prices to jump risk (Merton (1976)), we show via an investment valuation model that...

The economic reliability of a performance metric depends on its consistency with the Net Present Value (NPV). We use the new notion of strong NPV-consistency for comparing the Straight-Line rate of return (belonging to the class of AIRR metrics) and the traditional Internal Rate of Return (IRR)....

This paper studies how investor heterogeneity determines equilibrium debt maturity in a model with default. The traditional representative investor assumption is a special case where a weak form of the Modigliani-Miller theorem holds; allocations with either all long- or all short-term debt are...

Investment decisions may be evaluated via several different metrics/criteria, which are functions of a vector of value drivers. The economic significance and the reliability of a metric depend on its compatibility with the Net Present Value (NPV). Traditionally, a metric is said to be...

The Equity risk-premium and volatility puzzle - is it possible to have a high equity premium and a low risk-free rate with a plausible risk aversion- have received a great deal of attention but beyond this question, the fundamental issues of that puzzle are the followings: what are the economic...

Intangible-intensive firms in the U.S. hold an enormous amount of liquid assets that are in fact short-term debts issued by financial intermediaries. This paper builds a macro-finance model that captures this structure. A self-perpetuating savings glut emerges in equilibrium. As intangibles...

In this study we re-examine the pricing of equity and the risk incentives of shareholders in levered firms. We derive a down-and-out call equity valuation model which rests on the assumption that shareholders choose the optimal investment and asset returns' volatility as a function of current...

I show in a setting of a buyer and seller with the same preferences trading two related assets so as to share volatility risk that illiquidity and virtually all impediments to trade cannot be priced in the absence of excess short-selling costs. This is because the buyer values the asset at the...