Area: Finance

Earnings statement Research Brief / Wealth Inequality

Largest Firms’ Stock Gains Skew Big Picture on Worker-Owner Income Division

Wage earners get larger (relative) share at smaller companies, not at giants like Apple, Alphabet and Amazon

Illustration of a woman crossing a ravine on top of money Research Brief / Venture Capital

Lending to Startups: Not as Risky as You’d Think

Entrepreneurs borrow between equity funding rounds with a strong record of repaying debts

Illustration of vultures sitting on a sign in a city Research Brief / Debt

Less Leveraged Than the Competition: Ready to Snag Distressed Assets in a Recession

When bad times hit, highly indebted companies often have to sell operations and equipment at fire-sale prices

Cube puzzle wooden blocks isolated on white background. Research Brief / Risk Management

Loan Pool Covenants, Meant to Contain Risk, Can Instead Spread It

Forced sale of assets could stretch illiquidity across industries

Small town in Colorado with red light on main street downtown and first national bank. Research Brief / Recession

Local Banks Provide an Early Warning System on Recessions

When they’re forced to pay up for deposits, it’s a bad sign for area’s economy

Screen grab of bank website Research Brief / Mortgage Lending

Local-Level Mortgage Lending: How Competition Pushes Rates Higher, Not Lower

A study finds unexpected impact when a disruptive player enters market

A gloomy seascape. Research Brief / Corporate Finance

Looming Risk to Financial System: $1 Trillion in Commercial Loan Pools

Known as collateralized loan obligations, their aim is actually to reduce risk

A woman with long hair hangs up a for sale sign Research Question / Real Estate

Middlemen: Matchmakers or Sources of Strategic Information?

Probing that question using a database of for-sale-by-owner home listings

Downhill race with aerodynamic push cars Research Brief / Investing

Momentum Investing: It Works, But Why?

After a quarter century of sprawling study, it’s time to narrow the focus and settle on an explanation

Illustration of a man and woman pushing grocery carts with equations and clouds as a background Research Brief / Home Mortgages

Mortgage Prepayments: Factors beyond Interest Rate Movements

A model estimates the impact of economic variables on the pricing of prepayment risk

Stock market ticker displays Feature / Stock Returns

New Appreciation for a Classic Stock Market Gauge

The relationship between short- and longer-term moving averages has strong predictive power for share price returns

Research Brief / Stock Market

Often Reviled, Short Sellers Are Newly Vulnerable to the Meme Mob

A short squeeze can ripple across short sellers’ positions

Computer screen with stock trading software Research Brief / Trading

One Data Set That Warns Against Margin Trading

As a group, Chinese futures traders more likely to suffer margin call than to profit

International flags and Euro sign Research Brief / Markets

One European Country Defaults: How Hard-Hit Is the Euro?

A predictive model employs credit default swaps across currencies

An illustration of a man at the end of a cliff trying to pull up a coin tied to a string Research Brief / Markets

Options Market Signals Scope of Federal Reserve Interventions

Traders see an implicit promise beyond specific asset purchases

Different countries currencies in a collage format Research Brief / Bond Market

Out of the 1990s Asian Crisis, a New Bond Market Rises

Local currency sovereign bonds transfer risk from issuer to buyer