We investigate whether asymmetric information affects the choice of the medium of payment (pure equity vs. pure cash) in U.S. takeover bids during the 1986-2008 period. To this end, we combine proxies for asymmetric information with proxies for the financial characteristics of both the bidding...

This study examines the impact of credit rating upgrades and downgrades on six comprehensive banks' asset classes, profitability, leverage and size using data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's call reports and Bloomberg over the period 1989-2008. In summary, the results suggest...

We explore the observable characteristics of sustainable banks, using a hand-collected dataset comprising of all public US bank holding companies, for the period 1999-2011. Our results indicate that sustainable banks are characterized by superior performance, more prudent behavior and a business...

We test the hypothesis that the degree of asymmetric information should decrease as financial systems develop, in a panel co-integration framework with annual data for 32 countries. To this end, we extend Barron et al.'s (1998) model to derive a measure of analysts' consensus that takes into...

We test the hypothesis that the degree of asymmetric information should decrease as financial systems develop, in a panel co-integration framework with annual data for 32 countries. To this end, we extend Barron et al.'s (1998) model to derive a measure of analysts' consensus that takes into...

Public announcement of formal enforcement actions against banks for safety and soundness reasons may enhance effective depositor monitoring or cause depositors to overreact, leading to disruptive runs. We test these competing hypotheses, using hand-collected data on enforcement actions and...

We assess the effect of formal enforcement actions against banks for safety and soundness reasons on punished banks' deposits, and then examine whether this effect is caused by demand-side or supply-side forces. To this end, we use hand-collected data on enforcement actions, and bank-quarter...

We study whether formal enforcement actions, imposed on U.S. banks during 2000-2014 for serious financial safety and internal control problems, affect the probability that punished banks become targets of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). We find an increase in the probability of punished banks'...

We contend that economic preferences over risk-taking in different subnational regions worldwide affect fundamental aspects of firms’ corporate financing, namely financing costs and capital structure. We study this hypothesis, by hand-matching firms’ regions worldwide with the corresponding...

Effective environmental policy should consider how the financiers of polluting firms behave. In our theoretical model describing the periods before and after policy implementation, loan spreads for firms participating in cap-and-trade programs are a function of the costs of compliance, the...