In the standard real options approach to investment under uncertainty, agents formulate optimal policies under the assumptions of risk neutrality or perfect capital markets. However, in most situations, corporate executives face incomplete markets either because they receive compensation packages that restrict their portfolios or because cash flows from the firm’s investment opportunities are n...

Does short selling help or hinder disciplining managerial behavior? We examine managerial investment decision in a model with informed short-selling and short-term managerial incentives and show that short selling can cause firms to overinvest. The overinvestment problem is more severe for managers with stronger short-term incentives and for firms that lack quality investment opportunities. Emp...

This work presents the development of a methodology based on Monte Carlo Simulation, Fuzzy Numbers and in the Real Options Theory to determine the real options value under technical and market uncertainties. The objective of the proposed methodology is to substantially reduce the computational time involved, facilitating the decision taking process. The methodology involves: fuzzy numbers, to r...

The paper investigates the impact on credit risk of capital structure choices driven by firm’s investments and financing decisions. We propose a realistic dynamic structural model featuring endogenous investment, capital structure and default. We calibrate the model on accounting and market data. Using simulation, we find that, credit spreads as well as other standard metrics of credit worthine...

We study the effect of sovereign credit rating downgrades on firm investment and financial policy. We identify causal effects by exploiting the effect of sovereign downgrades on corporate ratings that is due to sovereign ceiling policies followed by rating agencies. We find that sovereign downgrades lead to greater decreases in investment and leverage of firms that are at the sovereign rating b...

This paper develops a real options model to study the interaction between industry structure and takeover activity. In an asymmetric industry equilibrium, firms have an endogenous incentive to merge when restructuring decisions are motivated by operating and strategic benefits. The model predicts that (i) the likelihood of restructuring activities is greater in more concentrated industries or i...

We develop a general model of lending in the presence of endogenous borrowing constraints. Borrowing constraints arise because borrowers face limited liability and debt repayment cannot be perfectly enforced. In the model, the dynamics of debt are closely linked with the dynamics of borrowing constraints. In fact, borrowing constraints must satisfy a dynamic consistency requirement: The value o...

This paper establishes a link between firms' capital investment decisions, the quality of the information they provide to a competitive market for their shares, and their cost of capital. We show that, if firms select projects to maximize share price, higher information quality reduces the cost of capital. The intuition is that better information improves the coordination between firms and inve...

In the recent recession and current economic recovery, policymakers have supported asset prices in the U.S. treasury and mortgage markets, expecting that improvement in the balance sheet of banks will lead to more commercial lending. In general, we document that increases in housing prices in a bank’s deposit base lead banks to decrease commercial lending. Further, we find that a one-standard d...

This study investigates whether institutional bond blockholders (i.e., bond funds that hold more than 5% of a firm’s outstanding bonds) impede firm innovative activities, and if they do, through which channels. We find that long-term bond blockholders do not discourage firms from conducting innovative activities. Short-term bond blockholders, however, significantly reduce both firm investments ...