Divergent Reference-Dependent Risk-Attitudes and Endogenous Collateral Constraints

Ester Faia and Giuliano Curatola

No 11678, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The booms preceding financial crises typically feature high exposure to risky assets, high leverage, asset price growth and low debt margins, which are then followed by sharp de-leveraging after the crisis. We build a model that endogenously generates such heightened leverage/deleverage cycle and asset price boom/bust with three elements. First borrowers exhibit gain-loss preferences around a time-varying reference level, hence they are increasingly risk tolerant at the upper tails and this fosters debt and risky asset demand, while they are loss-averse on the lower tails, something which fosters de-leveraging. Second they are subject to occasionally binding collateral constraints and third, there is heterogeneity in risk-attitudes between borrowers and lenders. The latter implies that the debt margin varies endogenously and countercyclically to close the gap between lenders/borrowers evaluations (namely debt demand and supply). We solve the model analytically and numerically, through a global method, namely policy function iterations with endogenously Markov-switching regimes. Numerically the model matches well several moments for asset prices, returns, equity premia and Sharpe ratio, the volatility of leverage, its procyclicality and the counter-cyclicality of the debt margins.

Keywords: Loss averse borrowers; Risk-tolerance; Endogenous price of risk; Excessive leverage; Occasionally binding constraints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E0 E5 G01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ban and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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