We study the link between a firm's quality of governance and its alliance activity. We consider alliances as a commitment technology that helps a company CEO overcome agency problems that relate to the inability to ex-ante motivate division managers. We show that well-governed firms are more...

We study holdings in merger and acquisition (M&A) targets by financial conglomerates in which affiliated investment banks advise the bidders. We show that advisors take positions in the targets before M&A announcements. These stakes are positively related to the probability of observing the bid...

We provide direct evidence on the effect of financial expertise on investment outcomes. We analyze private portfolios of mutual fund managers. We find no evidence that financial experts are making better investment decisions than their less financially astute peers: they do not outperform, do...

We study the relationship between the formation of a captive finance subsidiary and a firm's competitiveness. Firms with captive finance subsidiaries have higher profitability, larger market share, and lower sales volatility, keep lower cash balances, and operate under lower leverage. These...