We examine ownership dynamics in listed founding-family firms over the period 1996–2008. In order to enlarge the understanding of persistence of ownership influence, we analyze determinants of change in the light of family-firm heterogeneity. We detect ownership decreases and increases, alike....

Conventional wisdom holds that product market competition disciplines firms into efficiency of operation. However, in a well known paper, Martin (1993) has shown that in a linear Cournot setting (with costs determined first and product market competition taking place in a second stage) the exact...

The fight against cartels is a priority for antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. What differs between the EU and the US is not the basic toolkit for achieving deterrence, but to whom it is targeted. In the EU, pecuniary sanctions against the firm are the only instruments...

The fight against cartels is a priority for antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. What differs between the EU and the US is not the basic toolkit for achieving deterrence, but to whom it is targeted. In the EU, pecuniary sanctions against the firm are the only instruments...

This paper utilizes the population of personal bankruptcy filings in the state of Delaware during 2003 and finds that household expenditures on durable consumption goods, such as houses and automobiles, contribute significantly to personal bankruptcy. Medical conditions also lead to personal...

We model that firms endogenize the extent of information asymmetry by choosing the optimal level of direct communications with capital markets. We find that leaner firms with less slack (lower cash balance and higher long-term leverage) tend to have greater formal communications. We show that...

This paper investigates the role of director networks in firms' decision-making. Using data on 25,621 unique directors who served on the boards of Samp;P 1,500 firms between the years 1996-2004, we map the entire network of directors and generate measures that account for each director's...

European family-controlled public companies tend to perform less well in the stock market than their American counterparts. Also, while more and more investment funds that focus on family-firm opportunities are being formed in the United States, data indicates that institutional investors remain...

Evidence from firms in 47 countries shows that companies with political connections have higher leverage and higher market shares, but they underperform compared to non-connected companies on an accounting basis. Differences between connected and unconnected firms are more pronounced when...

Recent theories of firm dynamics emphasize the role of financial variables as determinants of firm growth. Empirically examining these relationships has been difficult, since there is a lack of financial data on the small, young, and private firms. Using a unique administrative data set, this...