Very few matters of social importance are more complex than the one before you today. This particular issue is not only about uncovering obscure dollars unscrupulously extracted from the account balances of America's workforce, but it is also about correcting the culture that has permitted the...

This comment letter was submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department in connection with that Department's review of proposals for changes in the regulatory structure for financial institutions. The comment letter presents the following policy recommendations: (1) the thrift charter should be...

In this article, I address a serious problem with the approach to damages embodied in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) that artificially increases awards in securities fraud actions in down markets. Congress enacted PSLRA to limit frivolous lawsuits under the federal...

Finance journal quality is a critical issue for faculty annual evaluations, for the tenure and promotion process, and for the administration of faculty workload plans. Unlike other studies that use objective measures(such as citation frequencies) to rate journals, this study focuses on the...

Insurance company risk is assessed after their acquisitions. An acquisition may increase risk if it is a strategic mismatch, or an acquisition may reduce risk through cash flow diversification. Over thirty-six month periods surrounding insurance company acquisitions, systematic risk changes are...

Given their unique characteristics, insurers that adjust their dividends may create a unique signal. An event study methodology is used to measure the share price response of insurers to dividend increases, and matched control samples of banks and industrial firms are similarly assessed. The...

Hedge funds and other private equity funds are aggressive monitors of corporate America. Their investment strategies are designed to squeeze agency costs and other inefficiencies out of under performing companies. Mutual funds and public pension funds, by contrast, have remained relentlessly...

An earlier report suggested that counterparty risk exposure be added to the litany of misgivings on the economic efficiency, absolute performance, and governance of accelerated stock repurchase agreements (ASRs). In that study, Evergreen Solar in July 2008 issues a convertible, enters into an...