Default probability plays a central role in the static trade-off theory of capital structure. We directly test this theory by regressing the probability of default on proxies for costs and benefits of debt. Contrary to predictions of the theory, firms with higher bankruptcy costs, i.e., smaller...

Recent empirical evidence indicates that capital structure changes affect pricing strategies. In most cases, prices increase following the implementation of a leveraged buyout of a major firm in an industry, with the more leveraged firm in the industry charging higher prices on average. Notable...

This article examines the contribution of stock price overreaction and delayed reaction to the profitability of contrarian strategies. The evidence indicates that stock prices overreact to firm-specific information, but react with a delay to common factors. Delayed reactions to common factors...

The effect of financial policy on a firm's incentives to maintain its reputation for producing a high-quality product is analyzed. It is demonstrated that in certain situations debt will reduce a firm's ability to credibly offer high-quality products and, as a consequence, will reduce its value....

Feedback from stock prices to cash flows occurs because information revealed by firms' stock prices influences the actions of competitors. We explore the implications of feedback within a noisy rational expectations setting with incumbent publicly traded firms and privately held new entrants. In...

We provide a simple argument that suggests that better-informed hedge funds choose to have less exposure to factor risk. Consistent with this argument, we find that hedge funds that exhibit lower R-squareds with respect to systematic factors have higher Sharpe ratios, higher information ratios,...

This article examines information and incentive problems that can exist in the market for commercial mortgages that are pooled and repackaged as commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBSs). We find that mortgages that are originated by institutions with large negative stock returns in the...