We estimate the effects of the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facilities (SMCCF) on corporate bond market liquidity, yield, bond valuations and firm-level outcomes. Using comprehensive data on secondary market transactions in a diff-in-diff analysis, we find the SMCCF...

We study the impact of the COVID-19 recession on capital structure of publicly listed U.S. firms. Our estimates suggest leverage (Net Debt/Asset) decreased by 5.3 percentage points from the pre-shock mean of 19.6 percent, while debt maturity increased moderately. This de-leveraging effect is...

We examine how debt rollover risk affects firms' capital structure following aggregate economic shocks. Using the COVID-19 shock and a text-based measure of earnings calls, we find firms increase leverage by 7.4 percentage points when they are highly exposed to both rollover risk as well as...

Using a cross-country panel of 925 banks from 19 advanced economies, for the period 1981-2016, I examine how the bank lending channel of monetary policy has evolved over time. I find that the sensitivity of lending to bank balance sheet liquidity declines over time, with nearly all the reduction...

This paper uses a detailed macroeconomic framework to answer a question critical to policy-makers - "Is the U.S. Current Account Deficit sustainable?". To test our theoretical framework, we use data from 1980 to 2014 and attempt to answer this question using four different criterion for debt...

In this paper, I propose a theory that connects a Private Equity (PE) fund's valuation, a PE fund manager's expected ability and the likelihood of cross-border acquisitions. Using a model of costly-state verification, I show that an increase in a PE fund's valuation driven by economy-wide...

Detractors have warned that Private Equity (PE) funds tend to over-lever their portfolio companies because of an option-like payoff, building up debt overhang and widespread bankruptcy risks. Drawing on standard trade-off theory, this paper argues PE-ownership leads to higher levels of optimal...

How do private equity (PE) investors affect firms' borrowing constraints, debt structure, and leverage dynamics? In this paper, we examine this central question by analyzing a large and novel database of PE-backed, bank-reliant, small and middle market firms in the U.S. using administrative...

Detractors have warned that Private Equity (PE) funds tend to over-lever their portfolio companies because of an option-like payoff, building up default risk and debt overhang. This paper argues PE-ownership leads to substantially higher levels of optimal (value-maximizing) leverage, by reducing...

We document the importance of a financial sponsor when a borrower violates a covenant, providing creditors the opportunity to enforce debt contracts. We identify private-equity (PE) sponsored borrowers in the Shared National Credit Program (SNC) data and find PE-sponsored borrowers violate...