We find that firms appointing first-time independent directors experience an increase in firm value, especially among firms with well-functioning boards, firms with less powerful CEOs, and non-complex firms. Unlike seasoned independent directors, first-time directors are associated with higher...

We examine which firms are targets of cyberattacks and how they are affected. We find that cyberattacks cause firms to reassess the risks that they are exposed to and their consequences, so that they have real effects on firm policies even when targets are not financially constrained....

In this paper we investigate whether managerial overconfidence benefits shareholders when economic uncertainty is high. Consistent with managerial overconfidence mitigating the underinvestment problems exacerbated by high economic uncertainty, we find that during periods of import tariff cuts...

We develop and test a model in which managerial overconfidence offsets the underinvestment problem arising from managerial myopia. Using a three-period investment model in which we capture managerial myopia by hyperbolic discounting, we show that both overconfident owner-managers and...

We examine the value impact of independent directors nominated by activists (Activist IDs). Firms appointing Activist IDs experience larger value increases than firms appointing other directors, particularly when Activist IDs have private firm experience and when their nominators remain as...

We develop a model where a firm has an optimal exposure to cyber risk. With rational, fully informed agents and with no hysteresis, a successful cyberattack should have no impact on a financially unconstrained target's reputation and post-attack policies. In contrast, when a successful attack...

We examine which firms are targets of cyberattacks and how they are affected. We find that cyberattacks cause firms to reassess the risks that they are exposed to and their consequences, so that they have real effects on firm policies even when targets are not financially constrained....

We examine a new attenuated type of informed trading in which insiders exploit the private information obtained via their ties to rival firms’ insiders. We find that insiders earn abnormal profits by trading their firms’ stocks before the disclosure of rivals’ cyberattacks, particularly...

Using unique data on board meeting types of Chinese firms, we examine the effect of remote board meetings on board monitoring effectiveness. We find that compared to face-to-face meetings, remote meetings are associated with better meeting attendance behavior of directors, higher likelihood of...