Why do firms manage risk? According to theory, firms hedge to mitigate credit rationing, to alleviate information asymmetry, and to reduce the risk of financial distress. Empirical support for these theories is mixed. Our paper addresses the “why” by directly questioning the managers that...

We provide new evidence that the subjective “look of competence” rather than beauty is important for CEO selection and compensation. Our experiments, studying the facial traits of CEOs using nearly 2,000 subjects, link facial characteristics to both CEO compensation and performance. In one...

We explore a long standing prediction in the international business literature that managers' subjective perceptions of political risk – not just the level of risk – are important for how firms manage political risk. The importance attributed to political risk by corporate executives has...

We conduct in-depth interviews of senior executives representing over 20% of the market capitalization of the U.S. equity market to understand: (i) the importance, antecedents and consequences of corporate culture; (ii) the mechanisms that underlie the creation and effectiveness of corporate...

<p>Despite the crucial importance of high quality reviewing for the scientific process, new scholars often learn how to do this based on casual advice and trial-and-error learning. We offer a checklist that helps referees systematically develop high quality referee reports and avoid some of the...</p>

Drawing on insights of current and past editors of top economics and finance journals, we provide guidelines for reviewers in preparing referee reports and cover letters for journals. Peer review is fundamental to the progress of science and we believe that fundamental changes in reviewing...

We use industry valuation differentials across European countries to study the impact of membership in the European Union as well as the Eurozone on economic and financial integration. In integrated markets, discount rates and expected growth opportunities should be similar within one industry,...

In The Golden Dilemma, Erb and Harvey (2012) explored the possible relation between the real, inflation adjusted, price of gold and future real gold returns. This update suggests that the real return of gold over the next 10 years could be about -4% per year if the real price of gold mean...

Theoretical models imply fund size and performance should be negatively linked. However, empiricists have failed to uncover consistent support for this negative relation. Using a new econometric framework which includes fund-specific sensitivities to decreasing returns to scale, we find a both...

This is the transcription of the American Finance Association's Presidential Address of January 7, 2017. The address is based on the paper "'https://ssrn.com/abstract=2893930' The Scientific Outlook in Financial Economics"