Outstanding corporate debt increased by $46\%$ between $1995$ and $1999.$ This increase prompted some observers to express concern about the financial health of the nonfinancial corporate sector. An article entitled, "Rapidly Rising Corporate Debt: Are Firms Now Vulnerable to an Economic Slowdown," was published by the Federal Reserve Bank in June of $2000.$ The relevance of this analysis to current conditions is very interesting.

After reading the article, address the following questions:

What three measures of corporate health give us a clearer picture of the relationship between corporate indebtedness and vulnerability?

Why would the central measure of corporate leverage be distorted by the inclusion of hi$-$tech firms in the sector$-$wide average?

What conclusions do the authors make with respect to a firm's vulnerability to a downturn in the economy or financial markets?