U.S. corporations have floated stocks and bonds in unprecedented amounts in the last year. How much have corporate treasurers reduced their firms' interest payments through such refinancing? After assessing the motives for refinancing, the authors estimate the aggregate interest savings achieved...

How should high average initial returns on new public offerings of common stocks be interpreted? The usual view is that such offerings are intentionally underpriced. This study draws on previously neglected information about return distributions and market practice to advance a different...

International financial transactions have grown in recent years far faster than has our ability to understand their significance for national economies. This article seeks to explain the rise in bank loans from banks outside the United States to U.S. businesses. The article looks at the...

The authors use stock market valuations to construct estimates of the cost of capital for five U.S. and four Japanese securities firms in 1982-91. They seek explanations for the observed capital cost differences in macroeconomic, risk, policy, and industrial organization factors. Their analysis...

The collapse of Japanese asset prices in the 1990s sharply reduced the wealth of Japanese banks and life insurers and slowed their international activity. This article traces the channels through which wealth changes altered these intermediaries' growth, pricing, and portfolio strategies. The...

The rising share of U.S. corporate loans booked by foreign-owned banks and the withdrawal of U.S. banks from foreign lending raise concerns about the competitiveness of U.S. banks. This article investigates how differential capital costs may have placed U.S. banks at a disadvantage relative to...