We analyze the impact of option trading and margin rules on the behavior of informed traders and on the microstructure of stock and option markets. In the absence of binding margin requirements, the introduction of an options market causes informed traders to exhibit a relative trading bias...

This paper investigates the design of privatization mechanisms in emerging market economies. We identify an emerging market economy by the political constraints that limit the set of viable privatization mechanisms. Our objective is to explain the striking diversity of privatization mechanisms...

Shareholder-sponsored proposals are studied focusing on those seeking changes in corporate governance and the incentive structure of managers. The sample contains 334 proposals made by shareholders of 485 of the S&P 500 firms between July 1, 1991 and June 30, 1992. We test hypotheses on the...

We formulate several testable hypotheses on managerial motivation and test our hypotheses by using a sample of 128 organizational form changes in the real estate industry. We find that firms that switch to a more restrictive (tighter) organizational structure have increases in stock value, and...

This paper surveys the empirical and theoretical literature on the mechanisms of corporate governance. We focus on the internat mechanisms of corporate governance (e.g., arising from conflicts of interests between managers and equityholders, equityholders and creditors, and capital contributors...

This paper investigates the design of privatization mechanisms in emerging market economies characterized by political constraints that limit the set of viable privatization mechanisms. Our objective is to explain the striking diversity of privatization mechanisms observed in practice and the...

Recent empirical work has documented the tendency of corporations to reset strike prices on previously-awarded executive stock option grants when declining stock prices have pushed these options out-of-the-money. This practice has been criticized as counter-productive since it weakens incentives...

This paper does a valuation analysis of senior-subordinated structure tranches backed by non-agency mortgages. The valuation is done using Monte Carlo simulation and employs the CIR interest rate process in conjunction with an empirical model estimated for non-agency mortgage prepayments and...

We study changes in organizational form in the real estate industry based on a sample of 128 changes announced during the period from January 1, 1966 through December 31, 1989. The rich variety of organizational forms of real estate firms with varying degrees of restrictiveness of the equity...