Essays on the Risks and Real Effects of Non-Bank Financial Institutions

Abstract

These essays explore the risks and real effects of various non-bank financial institutions, such as open-end mutual funds, hedge funds, and venture capital. In the first essay, “A Dynamic Theory of Mutual Fund Runs and Liquidity Management,” I show that mutual funds are subject to bank-run-like risks, but the underlying mechanism is different. In the second essay, "Investment Exuberance under Cross Learning,” written with Shiyang Wang, we argue that firm cross learning can lead to inefficient investment exuberance, in which institutional investors’ (like hedge funds) play a key role. In the third essay, “Financing Entrepreneurial Production: Security Design with Flexible Information Acquisition," written with Ming Yang, we explores the optimal security design when the investor (like venture capital) can acquire information to help the entrepreneur make better investment decisions.