Industrials as Investments for Small Capital

The Cost of Capital for Alternative Investments

This paper studies the cost of capital for alternative investments. We document that the risk profile of the aggregate hedge fund universe can be accurately matched by a simple index put option writing strategy that offers monthly liquidity and complete transparency over its state-contingent payoffs. The contractual nature of the put options in the benchmark portfolio allows us to evaluate appr...

Human Capital Investments in Asymmetric

We consider a tournament between two workers of different abilities who choose both human capital investment and effort. The employer can influence the workers’ behavior by determining the sequence of human capital investments, i.e. the training design. The workers can either invest simultaneously or sequentially with the favorite being the first mover or sequentially with the underdog as first...

Safeguarding Specific Human Capital Investments

When a firm changes its unique mix of products, markets, and technologies, some of employees’ previously acquired human capital depreciates. As a result, the firm can credibly renegotiate down employees’ quasi rents, which it had promised them as a reward for their human capital investments. We show that linking employees’ pay to total firm value, a widely observed phenonemon in practice, can m...

Labor Costs and Investments in Human Capital

This study examines the disclosure of labor-related costs by US firms, and estimates the proportion of these costs that are valued as an asset (human capital) by the market. Separate identification of labor-related costs in US financial reports is voluntary, and is made consistently only by about 10% of all US Compustat firms. The probability of disclosure is found to be positively related to f...

School Policy: Implications of Recent Research for Human Capital Investments