Using detailed information on the debt structure of 250 publicly traded U.S. firms over the 1980-93 period, we find that the sensitivity of investment to internally generated funds increases with a firm's reliance on bank financing. Bank-dependent firms also hold larger stocks of liquid assets...

This paper examines the conditions under which bank lenders make concessions by taking equity in financially distressed firms. A simple model is developed which shows that the role banks play in debt restructurings depends upon the financial condition of the firms as well as the existence of...

In 2012, the Department of Labor (DOL) imposed new disclosure requirements concerning the indirect fees earned by 401(k) retirement plan service providers through revenue sharing agreements with mutual funds. This paper examines the impact of these fee disclosure requirements on the level and...

Priority spreading refers to the practice of firms increasing their reliance on secured and subordinated debt and reducing their reliance on senior debt as their credit quality deteriorates. We argue that priority spreading occurs, in part, because security provides creditors with greater...

Past studies document that incentive conflicts may lead issuer-paid credit rating agencies to provide optimistically-biased ratings. In this paper, we present evidence that investors question the quality of issuer-paid ratings and raise corporate bond yields where the issuer-paid rating is more...

This paper investigates whether the reputation of acquiring private equity groups (PEGs) is related to the financing structure of leveraged buyouts (LBOs). Using a sample of 180 public-to-private LBOs in the US between January 1, 1997 and August 15, 2007, we find that reputable PEGs are more...

This paper investigates the performance sensitivity of geographically diversified and non-diversified banks to local housing prices in the United States. We find that despite enduring the limitation of risk diversification, local banks experience a lower performance sensitivity to housing prices...

A significant proportion of the debt issued by investment grade firms has maturities greater than 20 years. In this paper we provide evidence that gap-filling behavior is an important determinant of these very long-term issues. Using data on individual corporate debt issues between 1987 and...

This paper examines how changes in bank lending standards are related to the availability of bank lines of credit for private and comparable public firms. Overall, we find that access to lines of credit is more contingent on bank lending standards for private than for public firms. The impact of...