Frédéric Loss

Optimal Hedging Strategies and Interactions between Firms

This paper studies corporate risk management in a context with financial constraints and imperfect competition on the product market. We show that the interactions between firms heavily affect their hedging demand. As a general rule, the firms’ hedging demand decreases with the correlation between firms’ internal funds and investment opportunities. We show that when the hedging demand of a firm is high in the case where investments are strategic substitutes, its hedging demand is low in the case where investments are strategic complements, and vice versa. Finally, we also propose another interpretation of our model in terms of technical choice.

Communication and Binary Decisions: Is it Better to Communicate?

We study information transmission between informed experts and an uninformed decision-maker who only takes binary decisions. In the single expert case, we show that information transmission can only be relatively poor. Hence, even sophiscated communication games do not yield equilibria which (ex ante) outperform delegation. Referring to multiple experts allow the decision-maker to obtain more information. However, this information can never be perfect, and sophisticated communication games, for instance with multilateral, multistage communication, do not outperform simple communication methods.

The Fallacy of New Business Creation as a Disciplining Device for Managers

This paper investigates a negative externality of new business creation. When being perceived as a good manager is a necessary condition to establish a firm in the future, we show that a priori talented managers may indulge in undertaking risky projects now. Indeed, such a choice renders more difficult the updating of believes process regarding their actual types. Unfortunately, this in turn leads them to perform less effort, which comes at the expense of economic efficiency. Hence, the career concerns we examine do not discipline good managers. However, we show that employers can reduce managerial slack by resorting to financial markets monitoring.