We exploit Medicare national coverage reimbursement approvals of medical devices as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate how private and publicly traded firm financing decisions and product introductions respond to exogenous changes in investment opportunities. We find that publicly traded...

We analyze the interaction of firm product quality and pricing decisions with financial distress and bankruptcy in the airline industry. We consider an airline's choices of quality and price as dynamic decisions that trade off current cash flows for future revenue. We examine how airline...

We analyze the role of toeholds (non-controlling but significant equity stakes) as a source of information for a bidder. A toehold provides an opportunity to interact with the target and its management and in the process get a better sense of the possible synergies from a merger or takeover. A...

The first essay provides theory concerning the risk-taking incentives of microfinance borrowers in varying cases: individual liability, group liability without social sanctions, and group liability with social sanctions. The results provide insight into how a community's social capital and a...

This thesis examines the relationship between real flexibility and financial structure using detailed economic and financial data on firms in 17 manufacturing industries. I investigate the impact of real flexibility on firms' finance capacity, namely, their ability to obtain debt, borrow...

We develop a profit-maximizing neoclassical model of optimal firm size and growth across different industries based on differences in industry fundamentals and firm productivity. In the model, a conglomerate discount is consistent with profit maximization. The model predicts how conglomerate...

We examine the effect of industry life-cycle stages on within-industry acquisitions and capital expenditures by conglomerates and single-segment firms controlling for endogeneity of organizational form. We find greater differences in acquisitions than in capital expenditures, which are similar...