The goal of this study is to address directly the predictive value of birth inputs and outputs, particularly birth weight, for measures of early childhood development in a simultaneous equations modeling framework. Strikingly, birth outputs have virtually no structural/casual effects on early...

This paper presents new evidence on the role of macroeconomic and institutional factors in equity market development and on the sources of equity market growth. Using panel data on 33 countries, I find that development of financial intermediaries and trade openness are positively associated with...

We present a first-time comparison of the principles-based corporate governance regime in Canada and the rules-based corporate governance regime in the United States from a theoretical, legal and empirical perspective. This comparison is of value to both firms considering a listing in Canada...

We explore whether compensation policies in bidding firms counter or exacerbate agency conflicts by examining CEO pay and incentives around corporate takeovers. We find that even in mergers where bidding shareholders are worse off, bidding CEOs are better off three quarters of the time. In fact,...

One striking feature of international portfolio investment is the extent to which equity portfolios are concentrated in the domestic equity market of the investor - the home bias puzzle. In this paper, I examine the role of investors' perception of the risk of foreign investment on their...

We apply Bayesian methods to study a common VAR-based approach for decomposing the variance of excess stock returns into components reflecting news about future excess stock returns, future real interest rates, and future dividends. We develop a new prior elicitation strategy which involves...

This study offers a simultaneous equations model of the birth process with seven endogenous variables: Four birth inputs (maternal smoking, maternal drinking, first trimester prenatal care, and maternal weight gain) and three birth outputs (gestational age, birth length, and birth weight). The...

We take a closer look at the question of whether dual traders in futures markets are indeed informed traders. Underpinning this question is the intuition that a dual trader's decision to trade on his own account is not random, but is endogenously determined by his expectations of trading profits...

Using proprietary audit trail transaction data compiled by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, we investigate, at the individual trader level, (1) the timing and (2) the determinants of dual traders' personal trades. Our analysis reveals an absence of any trade timing by dual traders in...