responds more to increases in shareholders' return performance than to decreases. Further, this asymmetry is stronger when …

In this paper we examine the causal impact of competition on management quality. We analyze the hospital sector where … management quality - measured using a new survey tool - is strongly correlated with financial and clinical outcomes such as … a greater number of neighboring hospitals) is positively correlated with increased management quality, and this …

factors that drive dividend and share repurchase policies. We find that managers are very reluctant to cut dividends, that … repurchases is viewed by managers as being more flexible than using dividends, permitting a better opportunity to optimize … investment. Managers like to repurchase shares when they feel their stock is undervalued and in an effort to affect EPS. Dividend …

‟s cash flows, and senior management's "gut feel." Corporate politics and corporate socialism are more important allocation …