This study develops a novel model of endogenous sovereign debt maturity choice that rationalizes various stylized facts about debt maturity and the yield spread curve: first, sovereign debt duration and maturity generally exceed one year, and co-move positively with the business cycle. Second, sovereign yield spread curves are usually non-linear and upward-sloped, and may become non-monotonic and inverted during a period of high credit market stress, such as a default episode. Finally, output volatility, sudden stops, impatience and risk aversion are key determinants of maturity, both in our model and in the data.JEL Classification: F34, F41, G15

Sovereign debt crises involve debt restructurings characterized by a mix of face-value haircuts and maturity extensions. The prevalence of maturity extensions has been hard to reconcile with economic theory. We develop a model of endogenous debt restructuring that captures key facts of sovereign debt and restructuring episodes. While debt dilution pushes for negative maturity extensions, three factors are important in overcoming the effects of dilution and generating maturity extensions upon restructurings: income recovery after default, credit exclusion after restructuring, and regulatory costs of book-value haircuts. We employ dynamic discrete choice methods that allow for smoother decision rules, rendering the problem tractable.

C urrently U.S. corporations have record-high cash holdings. Many argue that this phenomenon is related to the sluggish recovery of the economy: Firms holding more cash are investing less, and this prevents the economy from taking off. While referring to the cash holdings of Apple, the president of a business association stated "Why wasn't Apple spending that money on expansion, new products and jobs? The answer is uncertainty-uncertainty over new taxes" (Brunell, 2011). The concern about cash holdings is also present in the academic literature, where the rise in cash holdings of firms has been associated with several factors, including many that started more than a decade ago. This article evaluates the role played by potential firm-level determinants cited in the academic literature by examining the cross section of publicly traded firms. In addition, it provides some evidence suggesting cash holdings may relate to aggregate uncertainty. In theory, transaction costs and precautionary motives are the main reasons firms hold cash. On the one hand, transaction costs associated with liquidating certain assets make cash preferable in response to movements in the market. Thus, holding cash can be important because Currently U.S. firms hold record amounts of cash. The authors explore cross-sectional variation in cash holdings of U.S. publicly traded firms to shed light on the reasons for this recent trend. First, they identify factors that correlate with cash holdings and then examine the evolution of these factors over the past decade. Several factors, including research and development expenditures and idiosyncratic uncertainty, are important in accounting for cross-sectional differences in cash holdings. However, these factors do not increase over time as cash holdings do; thus, it seems unlikely that they underlie the increase in cash holdings. Aggregate uncertainty, however, has recently reached record levels. This uncertainty, combined with the fact that (idiosyncratic) uncertainty correlates well with cash holdings in the cross section of firms, suggests aggregate uncertainty may be an important factor accounting for the recent trend in increased cash holdings. (JEL E43, E44, E62, G33)

The focus of this paper is the flexibility in working hours as a motive for entrepreneurship. The model exhibits inflexibilities for workers and entrepreneurs, which arise due to complementarities in production. In addition, it allows for volatile value of leisure to make flexibility in hours desirable. Differences in occupation specific flexibility, disciplined with the observed patterns in hours (level, persistence, dispersion) and income (persistence, dispersion), can explain relatively low income levels of entrepreneurs in the US and the occupation specific distributions of working hours and income. Policy relevance of the model features is discussed using experiments of workweek restrictions and income taxation.

This study develops a novel model of endogenous sovereign debt maturity choice that rationalizes various stylized facts about debt maturity and the yield spread curve: first, sovereign debt duration and maturity generally exceed one year, and co-move positively with the business cycle. Second, sovereign yield spread curves are usually non-linear and upward-sloped, and may become non-monotonic and inverted during a period of high credit market stress, such as a default episode. Finally, output volatility, sudden stops, impatience and risk aversion are key determinants of maturity, both in our model and in the data.