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Risk-Taking Behavior with Limited Liability and Risk Aversion

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  • Christian Gollier
  • Pierre-François Koehl
  • Jean-Charles Rochet

Abstract

The authors of this paper consider the problem of a risk-averse firm with limited liability. The firm has to select the size of its investment in a risky project. We show that the optimal exposure to risk of the limited liability firm is always larger than under full liability. Moreover, there exists a positive lower bound on the value of the firm below which the firm will "bet for resurrection," i.e. it will invest the largest positive amount in the risky project. We also consider the standard portfolio problem with more than one risky asset. We show that limited liability may induce the firm to specialize in no Mean-Variance efficient assets. This paper was presented at the Financial Institutions Center's May 1996 conference on "

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Gollier & Pierre-François Koehl & Jean-Charles Rochet, 1996. "Risk-Taking Behavior with Limited Liability and Risk Aversion," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 96-13, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    • Handle: RePEc:wop:pennin:96-13
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    File URL: http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/96/9613.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Golbe, Devra L., 1988. "Risk-taking by firms near bankruptcy," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 75-79.
    2. Dionne, Georges & Eeckhoudt, Louis & Gollier, Christian, 1993. "Increases in Risk and Linear Payoffs," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 34(2), pages 309-319, May.
    3. Rochet, Jean-Charles, 1992. "Capital requirements and the behaviour of commercial banks," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1137-1170, June.
    4. Gollier Christian, 1995. "The Comparative Statics of Changes in Risk Revisited," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 522-535, August.
    5. MOSSIN, Jan, 1968. "Aspects of rational insurance purchasing," LIDAM Reprints CORE 23, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    6. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

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    2. Livio Stracca, 2006. "Delegated Portfolio Management: A Survey Of The Theoretical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 823-848, December.
    3. Dari-Mattiacci, Giuseppe & De Geest, Gerrit, 2006. "When will judgment proof injurers take too much precaution?," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 336-354, September.
    4. Hans-Werner Sinn, 2002. "Risktaking, Limited Liability, and the Competition of Bank Regulators," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 59(3), pages 305-329, August.
    5. Izhar, Hylmun, 2012. "Measuring Operational Risk Exposures in Islamic Banking: A Proposed Measurement Approach," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 20, pages 45-86.
    6. Fegatelli, Paolo, 2010. "The misconception of the option value of deposit insurance and the efficacy of non-risk-based capital requirements in the literature on bank capital regulation," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 79-84, June.
    7. Christian Calm¨¨s & Raymond Th¨¦oret, 2016. "The Asymmetric Impact of Portfolio Mix on Bank Performance over the Business Cycle: U.S. and Canadian Evidence," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 6, pages 57-74, February.
    8. Shuyun May Li, 2008. "Costly External Finance, Reallocation, and Aggregate Productivity," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 1044, The University of Melbourne.
    9. Palomino, Frederic & Prat, Andrea, 2003. "Risk Taking and Optimal Contracts for Money Managers," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(1), pages 113-137, Spring.
    10. Zuleta Hernando, 2008. "Poor People and Risky Business," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, April.
    11. Paolo Fegatelli, 2010. "The misconception of the option value of deposit insurance and the efficacy of non-risk-based capital requirements in the literature on bank capital regulation," BCL working papers 46, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    12. Bali, Turan G. & Neftci, Salih N., 2003. "Disturbing extremal behavior of spot rate dynamics," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 455-477, September.

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