A recent literature shows how an increase in volatility reduces leverage. However, in order to explain pro-cyclical leverage it assumes that bad news increases volatility, that is, it assumes an inverse relationship between first and second moments of asset returns. This paper suggests a reason...

We study endogenous leverage in a general equilibrium model with incomplete markets. We prove that in any binary tree leverage emerges in equilibrium at the maximum level such that VaR=0, so there is no default in equilibrium, provided that agents get no utility from holding the collateral. When...

This paper examines whether the aggregate investments in corporate equity in the U.S. yield lowering per-unit return for the period 1950-2009. We measure the per-unit return on aggregate equity investment as the ratio of the annual aggregate value of after-tax corporate profit of nonfinancial...

We show that binomial economies with financial assets are an informative and tractable model to study endogenous leverage and collateral equilibrium: endogenous leverage can be highly volatile, but it is always easy to compute. The possibility of default can have a dramatic effect on...

We show that binomial economies with financial assets are an informative and tractable model to study endogenous leverage and collateral equilibrium: endogenous leverage can be highly volatile, but it is always easy to compute. The possibility of default can have a dramatic effect on...

This paper quantifies liquidity and credit premia in German and French government bond yields. For this purpose, we estimate term structures of government-guaranteed agency bonds and exploit the fact that any difference in their yields vis-`a-vis government bonds can be attributed to differences...

The steady application of Quantitative Easing (QE) has been followed by big and non-monotonic effects on international asset prices and international capital flows. These are difficult to explain in conventional models, but arise naturally in a model with collateral. This paper develops a...

We develop a two-layer asset pricing framework to analyze the fragility of the corporate bond market. In the model, households allocate wealth to institutional investors such as mutual funds and insurance companies. Institutional investors then allocate funds to specific assets. Equilibrium...

Monetary policy can promote financial stability and improve household welfare. We con- sider a macro model with a financial sector in which banks do not actively issue equity, output and growth depend on the aggregate level of bank equity, and equilibrium is inefficient. Monetary policy rules...