This paper develops a framework for analyzing the impact of macroeconomic conditions on credit risk and dynamic capital structure choice. We begin by observing that when cash flows depend on current economic conditions, there will be a benefit for firms to adapt their default and financing policies to the position of the economy in the business cycle phase. We then demonstrate that this simple ...

This paper empirically analyzes the effect of competition on rating quality under the "issuerpay" compensation scheme. Using hand-collected data of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), we specify the competition among credit rating agencies with a discrete game framework and test its influence on the rating quality. We find that competition raised the probability of choosing lenient rating b...

We study optimal macroprudential policy in a model in which unconventional shocks, in the form of news about future fundamentals and regime changes in world interest rates, interact with collateral constraints in driving the dynamics of financial crises. These shocks strengthen incentives to borrow in good times (i.e. when “good news” about future fundamentals coincide with a low-world-interest...