We show that technology spillovers shift the composition of corporate research and development (R&D) by promoting innovation based on the exploitation of existing knowledge, while disincentivizing innovation that explores new areas and breaks new ground. Accordingly, firms facing large...

We show that installing stronger risk management into financial institutions – a proposal widely discussed following the 2008 financial crisis – is insufficient to constrain institutions' exposure to investment with lurking risk, such as asset-backed securities. Financial regulations affect...

Using institutional equity trading data, we find that a set of small institutional investors consistently follow credit ratings issued by an investor-paid rating agency in their trading decisions. Although rating information is credit related, we find that these followers often respond more...

With a license to use individually identifiable information, including college transcripts, we find that students who quit college courses are 13% more likely to default on student loans than their perseverant peers, controlling for conventional risk factors. This effect is especially strong...

We examine how credit ratings affect the public and private sectors differently by evaluating customer procurement decisions. Public-sector customers respond strongly to supplier rating changes: they increase purchases from upgraded firms and reduce purchases from downgraded firms. This response...

With a license to use individually identifiable information on student loan borrowers, we find that a majority of distressed student borrowers manage their debt sub-optimally and that suboptimal debt management is associated with higher loan delinquency. Loan mismanagement varies across student...

We propose a theoretical framework, supplemented by empirical evidence, to study how household financial leverage affects labor skills acquisition and labor supply. Unlike labor income, acquired skills are inseparable from individuals and do not accrue to creditors at default, thus making them...

Credit analysts often leave rating agencies to work at firms they rate. We use benchmark rating agencies as counterfactuals to measure rating inflation in a difference-in-differences framework and find that transitioning analysts award inflated ratings to their future employers before switching...

It is increasingly common that institutional investors hold the equity of both industrial and financial firms. These cross-industry holdings link borrowers to banks that they have not borrowed from, creating “bank-firm ownership linkages.” We show that such linkages significantly lower...

Unlike labor income, human capital is inseparable from individuals and does not accrue to creditors at default. As a consequence, human capital investment should be more resilient to “debt overhang” than labor supply. We develop a dynamic model displaying this important difference. We find...