The 1986 Tax Act in the U.S. gradually reduced corporate tax rates from 46 percent prior to the Act to 34 percent by the middle of 1988. This reduction gave firms an incentive, in 1986 and 1987, to shift taxable income to future years when tax rates would be lower. There are substantial...

The 1986 Tax Act in the U.S. gradually reduced corporate tax rates from 46 percent prior to the Act to 34 percent by the middle of 1988. This reduction gave firms an incentive, in 1986 and 1987, to shift taxable income to future years when tax rates would be lower. There are substantial...

The private equity industry is young and evolving. The jury is still out on what fraction of equity investments should be in permanent capital / publicly-traded form versus limited-life capital / private form. The traditional fee and carry model will eventually embrace significantly reduced GP...

Most investors have a single goal: to earn the highest financial return. These socially-neutral investors maximize their risk-adjusted returns and would not accept a lower financial return from an investment that also produced social benefits. An increasing number of socially-motivated investors...

We explore the degree to which debt financing can reduce the corporate-level tax on income in the U.S.. Although we show that debt is capable of shielding the competitive rate of return on projects from the corporate-level tax, debt financing cannot shield the positive net present value portion...

We present evidence that changes in tax laws passed in the 1980s, culminating with the Tax Reform Act of 1986, had a first order effect on observed merger and acquisition activity in the US. We also present evidence of increased reliance on certain institutional arrangements (unit management...

During the first six months of 1989 U.s. corporations acquired over $19 billion of their own stock to establish employer stock ownership plans (ESOPs). We evaluate the common claims that there exist unique tax and incentive contracting advantages to establishing ESOPs. Our analysis suggests...