We examine the role that the emotional and mental states of innovative workers have on firm value through the innovation channel. Analyzing a large inventor-level dataset, we find that sunshine-induced mood is positively associated with the economic value that inventors generate for their firms...

We examine the impact of shared auditors, defined as audit firms that provide audit services to a target and its acquirer firm prior to an acquisition, on transaction outcomes. We find shared auditors are observed in nearly a quarter of all public acquisitions and targets are more likely to...

We explore the determinants of compensation gaps between a firm's CEO and its other top executives, and compare the ability of two competing optimal contracting theories, namely tournament theory and productivity theory, to explain the cross sectional variability in these gaps across firms. We...

This study uses survey data to demonstrate how risk culture, over and above employee characteristics and risk structures, affects risk behaviour in banks. In 2014-2015 we surveyed employees from seven major banks headquartered in Australia and Canada. All seven have adopted best practice risk...

We examine the economic benefits of acquisitions of U.S. public firms. Estimating revelation biases concerning internal investment opportunities, we find that it produces a significant negative bidder announcement effect, often interpreted as shareholder wealth destruction. Examining exogenously...

The IPO of Alibaba was the biggest IPO on record. However, outside shareholders who invest in Alibaba will have little say in how the company is actually run. The firm has put in place a number of mechanisms that make it deviate from the principles of good corporate governance. This paper uses...

Would the crisis have happened if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman Sisters? Evidence on population gender differences in risk-aversion suggest not. Consistent with the idea that female managers need not be more risk-averse than men, we find that listed banks with more female directors did not...

We find CEO power in acquiring firms can explain the occurrence of both large value creation and destruction deals in M&A. Specifically, we find firms with powerful CEOs make fewer deals and the returns on those deals are less dispersed. Firms with powerful CEOs are also less likely to do all...