We provide one of the first large sample comparisons of cash policies in public and private U.S. firms. We first show … that despite higher financing frictions, private firms hold, on average, about half as much cash as public firms do. By … examining the drivers of cash policies for each group, we are able to attribute the difference to the much higher agency costs …

with ex ante cash-poor firms. Trade credit taken by constrained firms increased during this period. These findings are … precautionary savings motive for accumulating cash reserves. …

structuring acquisitions. Specifically, firms that are overleveraged relative to their target debt ratios are less likely to make … acquisitions and are less likely to use cash in their offers. Furthermore, they acquire smaller targets and pay lower premiums …

We find that firms behave consistently with how their CEOs behave personally in the context of leverage choices …. Analyzing data on CEOs' leverage in their most recent primary home purchases, we find a positive, economically relevant, robust … relation between corporate and personal leverage in the cross-section and when examining CEO turnovers. The results are …

frictions and provides additional net debt capacity, as measured by higher leverage and lower cash holdings. Brand perception … cash flow volatility as well as higher credit ratings for potentially volatile firms. The impact of brand is stronger among …

We revisit the well-established puzzle that leverage is negatively correlated with measures of profitability. In … contrast, we find that at times when firms are at or close to their optimal level of leverage, the cross-sectional correlation … between profitability and leverage is positive. At other times, it is negative. These results are consistent with dynamic …

premium (out-of-the-moneyness) is negatively related to prior stock returns and cash flow-to-assets, which may be an …