Philip Ernstberger analyses in his three essays different topics of financial pathologies.
Thereby changes in fundamentals as well as information are considered as the driving force for
the behavior of speculators and investors. The first essay deals with currency crises in which
the central bank through setting the interest rate steers the economy and defends against
speculators. The second essay examines the effects of a rating and possible biases on the
coordination of investors and the pricing of debt. In the third essay the author uses forecasts
of default probabilities and implied market default probabilities to infer the weighing of
information by investors.
