Using a database of more than 180,000 private companies from 2000 to 2009, we find that the benefits of holding more cash vary substantially with a firm’s size and the conditions it faces. Cash holdings matter most for small firms: when there are negative shocks to industry or macroeconomic...

We study financial contracting using transactions from the private investments in public equity (PIPEs) market. Our tests show that the use of terms that are contingent on an issuer's future performance increases with issuer risk. Among issuers with poorer stock performance, higher cash burn...

Prior work suggests that if a firm shares a larger proportion of its growth opportunities with rivals, an inability to fully invest in these opportunities leads to predatory behavior on the part of rivals and losses in market share. We examine whether firms manage this predation risk. We find...

We examine the conflicts of interest and the flow of information between divisions of financial institutions. Using data on analyst recommendations and stockholdings of investment banks advising acquirers in mergers, we find evidence that information from investment banking flows to other...

This paper examines the relation between the performance and valuations of publicly-traded subsidiaries in the United States and the ownership stake of their parent companies. Cross-sectional and time-series tests demonstrate that subsidiaries in which the parent owns a substantial minority...

This paper analyzes derivative security positions reflecting the corporate risk management policies of 44 companies from the gold mining industry. We document substantial time-series variation in risk management policies. For most firms, little of this variation in hedge ratios is explained by...

This paper analyzes derivative security positions reflecting the corporate risk management policies of 48 companies from three different industries. There exists substantial time-series variation in risk management policies among firms in each industry. Very little of the variation in hedge...

This study examines the sensitivity of equity values of oil producers to changes in the uncertainty of future oil prices. We document that this sensitivity is negatively correlated with a firm's debt ratio and its production costs. These results indicate that companies that are more likely to...

We examine companies that issue tracking stock or undertake a minority carve-out. These restructurings create equity claims on a business unit yet the parent retains control. Although the average announcement stock price effect is approximately 3%, our evidence implies that these equity...

We investigate whether operating performance improves when a firm creates traded equity claims on a subsidiary without relinquishing control. We find that the change in a parent firm's operating performance following an equity carve-out is negatively related to the fraction of subsidiary shares...