Staff research

• Systematic Risk, Debt Maturity and the Term Structure of Credit Spreads

  Staff Working Paper 2012-27 Hui Chen, Yu Xu, Jun Yang

  We build a dynamic capital structure model to study the link between systematic risk exposure and debt maturity, as well as their joint impact on the term structure of credit spreads. Our model allows for time variation and lumpiness in the maturity structure. Relative to short-term debt, long-term debt is less prone to rollover risks, but its illiquidity raises the costs of financing.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Asset pricing, Debt management JEL Code(s): G, G3, G32, G33

• Natural Monopoly and Distorted Competition: Evidence from Unbundling Fiber-Optic Networks

  Staff Working Paper 2012-26 Naoaki Minamihashi

  Can regulation solve problems arising from a natural monopoly? This paper analyzes whether “unbundling,” referring to regulations that enforce sharing of natural monopolistic infrastructure, prevents entrants from building new infrastructure.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Market structure and pricing, Productivity JEL Code(s): K, K2, K23, L, L4, L43, L9, L96

• Does the Buck Stop Here? A Comparison of Withdrawals from Money Market Mutual Funds with Floating and Constant Share Prices

  Staff Working Paper 2012-25 Jonathan Witmer

  Recent reform proposals call for an elimination of the constant net asset value (NAV) or “buck” in money market mutual funds to reduce the occurrence of runs. Outside the United States, there are several countries that have money market mutual funds with and without constant NAVs.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Financial stability, Market structure and pricing JEL Code(s): F, F3, F30, G, G0, G01, G1, G18, G2, G20