A reverse merger takes place when a public company, commonly known as a “shell”, acquires a private operating company through a share exchange transaction. The public shell typically has no business operations, but is valuable because of its public trading status. Post-merger, the operating...

We build a model of an IPO for firms with private information about their earnings profile over time and test the model’s predictions using a complete sample of newly listed Chinese companies between 1992 and 2007. The model predicts that IPO size is positively correlated with short-term...

We examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the cost of equity capital for a large sample of U.S. firms. Using several approaches to estimate firms' ex ante cost of equity, we find that firms with better CSR rankings exhibit cheaper equity financing. In particular, our...

Research on capital structure and product market interactions shows that high leverage is associated with substantial losses in market share due to unfavorable actions by customers and competitors. We examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects firms' interactions with...

We assess the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and government ownership using a unique sample of privatized firms (PFs) from 41 countries over the 2002 to 2014 period. We find that PFs have, on average, better CSR intensity than other publicly listed firms. Further tests show a...

We examine why corporate governance varies widely across countries and across firms, and why such variation matters. Using a proprietary database from Governance Metrics International on corporate governance practices across a large number of countries and firms for 2006-2011 and employing a...

This paper investigates the dynamics of cross-listing and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using a sample of 10,815 firm-year observations from 54 countries over the period 2002–2011, we find that cross-listed firms have better CSR performance than non–cross-listed domestic firms. This...

Based on the social analysis framework of Williamson, we argue that national culture – especially the individualism/collectivism dimension – located in the social embeddedness level can guide behaviors and decisions in a country, including the choice of exchange rate regime. We argue that...

Recent events, most notably the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, have made it increasingly apparent that liquidity is synonymous with corporate survival. In this paper, we explore how governments can fulfill an important need as suppliers of liquidity. Building on the financing...

Prior literature shows that high leverage is associated with losses in market share due to unfavorable actions by customers and competitors. Building on this literature, we investigate the effect of collectivism on the product market performance of highly leveraged firms. Using a sample of 46...