This paper argues that the relationship between exposure to violence and support for political violence is not linear. These variables rather have a U-curved relationship. Exposure to violence, until a certain threshold, increases empathy. Empathy, in turn, decreases support for political...

This paper argues that an interest group’s networking skills in micro-states may be as important, if not more important than other variables discussed in the interest group influence literature. This argument is based on the recent literature on democratisation in micro-states which shows that...

We examine the announcement effects of consumer sentiment on US stock and stock futures markets. First, we find that the consumer sentiment announcement has valuable information content. Second, an asymmetric response is observed for “good” versus “bad” sentiment news. Specifically, when...

Do firms with liquid stocks hold more cash? If so, why? We show that liquidity has a positive effect on the level and value of cash holdings. Using a regression discontinuity design based on the Russell 1000/2000 index reconstitution, we also show that there is a causal link between liquidity...

This study examines the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the economic value of innovation. Using the stock market reaction to patent grants as a measure of the economic value of innovation, we find that a higher level of CSR leads to a higher value of innovation. In addition,...

This paper represents one of the first studies to document the empirical relation between capital structure and management confidence. In a unique sample of US firms that have existed for over 25 years we find management confidence, as proxied by University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index,...

Using securities class action lawsuits from 1996 to 2013, we document a measure of law firm expertise that predicts the outcome of future lawsuits conducted by law firms. We use prior Dismissed Ratio as law firm expertise. We find that law firms with a lower prior Dismissed Ratio are more likely...

We examine the effect of mandatory financial disclosures, specifically the segment disclosure SFAS 131, on corporate restructuring activities such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and spin-offs. After the implementation of the mandatory segment disclosure standard, we find that firms have less...

This study investigates whether economic policy uncertainty (EPU) magnifies peer effects in corporate investment in China. Through use of the peer-firm-average idiosyncratic stock return to capture exogenous variation in peer firms' investment activities, we show that peer effects are stronger...