This paper draws the attention of the new researchers to what has been going on in the Behavioral Finance front and how we can draw from and expand upon such works. By doing so, we hope to find more convincing answers to the key questions that continue to define our fascinating academic niche.

This work examines the leverage ratios of firms covered by the 1998 SSBF Survey. We find that small firms in general are significantly more levered than their larger counterparts in an industry-matched Compustat sample, but the difference is at least partially explained by differences in...

The beneficial economic effects of entrepreneurial activity can only be realised if such activity is relatively unconstrained in both product and factor markets, finance has been widely identified as a potential constraint on entrepreneurial activity due to either debt or equity gaps. However,...

Trade credit is a major source of financing for small firms. This article examines the extent to which small firms use trade credit as well as the extent to which they use "free" versus "costly" trade credit. Those firms that use free trade credit make payment within the discount period....

Using the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances and banking data to produce a bank-firm match, the author tests for evidence of standardized versus relationship lending methods in both total bank credit as well as credit emanating from the firm’s most important source of financial services,...

Why do some early stage ventures perform remarkably well while others fail? Is there a fairly accurate way to predict which emerging growth business will become a high performing success story and which a low performing disaster? Is there a way for investors to increase the likelihood of...

Capital structure choices and preferences in small, rapidly growing corporations are examined. As much of capital structure theory involves variables not easily or practically quantified (e.g., preferences, motivations, agency costs, information asymmetries) a survey was designed in an attempt...

The inverse association of capitalization and performance is found to hold over a broader range of firms than has been previously studied. This result is found by merging data for listed United States firms with data for listed Australian companies, which are on average much smaller than their...

The close link between the personal financial affairs of a small business owner and his or her firm has been noted in prior research. This article compares attitudes toward risk on the part of small business owners (SBOs) and non-small business owners (NSBOs). In addition, it compares the...

This paper contains a review of issues pertaining to the valuation of privately held businesses, noting significant inconsistencies in the rationale and approaches taken in the valuation process. In addition to suggesting that appraisers stay with the "tried and true" rather than testing the...