In this paper Ho and Saunders apply a model that has been used to analyze dealer spreads to banking.A potential contribution to a field can arise whenever a well-developed framework of analysis in one problem area is applied to another field. The risk of a mechanical application, however, is that the institutional structure of the two problem areas is so different that no real insights are gained. What are the facts here?

In this article, we shall discuss several of the alternative definitions of risk that have been proposed from time to time. We shall show that one definition — risk is the probability of loss — leads to a formulation of the investment decision problem as a chance constrained problem. Three different strategies are then proposed by which an investor can reduce risk. It is our belief that professional investors utilize all three strategies and that risk, in many such cases, is not a substantial constraint on investor behavior.

The concept that corporate investment-growth decisions are constrained by a profit opportunities schedule is central to much of the literature on finance and the theory of the firm. These writings suggest that, for a single firm: (1) the profit opportunities schedule is a decreasing function of investment growth (the slope reflecting, inter alia, competitive conditions); (2) the schedule shifts to the right with changes in national income (except for a firm producing income-inferior goods), and (3) the schedule's position (intercept) at a moment in time reflects a host of factors that are summarized by the term “management.”