This thesis studies different aspects of firm decisions by using a dynamic model. I estimate a dynamic model of the firm based on the trade-off theory of capital structure that endogenizes investment, leverage, and payout decisions. For the estimation of the model I use Efficient Method of Moments (EMM), which allows me to recover the structural parameters that best replicate the characteristics of the data. I start analyzing the question of whether target leverage varies over time. While this is a central issue in finance, there is no consensus in the literature on this point. I propose an explanation that reconciles some of the seemingly contradictory empirical evidence. The dynamic model generates a target leverage that changes over time and consistently reproduces the results of Lemmon, Roberts, and Zender (2008). These findings suggest that the time-varying target leverage assumption of the big bulk of the previous literature is not incompatible with the evidence presented by Lemmon, Roberts, and Zender (2008). Then I study how corporate income tax payments vary with the corporate income tax rate. The dynamic model produces a bell-shaped relationship between tax revenue and the tax rate that is consistent with the notion of the Laffer curve. The dynamic model generates the maximum tax revenue for a tax rate between 36% and 41%. Finally, I investigate the impact of financial constraints on investment decisions by firms. Model results show that investment-cash flow sensitivity is higher for less financially constrained firms. This result is consistent with Kaplan and Zingales (1997). The dynamic model also rationalizes why large and mature firms have a positive and significant investment-cash flow sensitivity.

This thesis analyzes market risk factors in commodity and currency markets. It focuses on the impact of extreme events on the prices of financial products traded in these markets, and on the overall market risk faced by the investors. The first chapter develops a simple two-factor jump-diffusion model for valuation of contingent claims on commodities in order to investigate the pricing implications of shocks that are exogenous to this market. The second chapter analyzes the nature and pricing implications of the abrupt changes in exchange rates, as well as the ability of these changes to explain the shapes of option-implied volatility "smiles". Finally, the third chapter employs the notion that key results of the univariate extreme value theory can be applied separately to the principal components of ARMA-GARCH residuals of a multivariate return series. The proposed approach yields more precise Value at Risk forecasts than conventional multivariate methods, while maintaining the same efficiency. / El objetivo de esta tesis es analizar los factores del riesgo del mercado de las materias primas y las divisas. Está centrada en el impacto de los eventos extremos tanto en los precios de los productos financieros como en el riesgo total de mercado al cual se enfrentan los inversores. En el primer capítulo se introduce un modelo simple de difusión y saltos (jump-diffusion) con dos factores para la valuación de activos contingentes sobre las materias primas, con el objetivo de investigar las implicaciones de shocks en los precios que son exógenos a este mercado. En el segundo capítulo se analiza la naturaleza e implicaciones para la valuación de los saltos en los tipos de cambio, así como la capacidad de éstos para explicar las formas de sonrisa en la volatilidad implicada. Por último, en el tercer capítulo se utiliza la idea de que los resultados principales de la Teoria de Valores Extremos univariada se pueden aplicar por separado a los componentes principales de los residuos de un modelo ARMA-GARCH de series multivariadas de retorno. El enfoque propuesto produce pronósticos de Value at Risk más precisos que los convencionales métodos multivariados, manteniendo la misma eficiencia.