We investigate the impact of founding-family ownership structure on the agency cost of debt. We find that founding-family ownership is common in large, publicly traded firms and is related, both statistically and economically, to a lower cost of debt financing. The evidence also indicates that...

The literature provides conflicting evidence on the relation between corporate international activity and the cost and level of debt financing. Based on this evidence, we explore the impact of firm international activity on debt financing. Using a market-based sample of U.S. firms, we find...

Recent research suggests that firm internationalization is associated with greater exchange rate risk and a higher cost of equity capital. However, there is no research on the relation between the level of firm international activity and the cost of debt financing. This study offers the first...

We posit that placing insiders on the board facilitates information flows to outside directors, mitigates the CEO's role as information gatekeeper, and allows managers to be more independent of the CEO. We find that inside directors are more prevalent in environments of greater information...

Creditor reliance on accounting-based debt covenants suggests that debtors are potentially concerned with board of director characteristics that influence the financial accounting process. In a sample of Samp;P 500 firms, we find that the cost of debt financing is inversely related to board...

We investigate the informational content of corporate insider buying activity and argue that the market impact of insiders' transactions varies based on the length of interval between the insider buying activity and the disclosure of information to the public. Based on a sample obtained from the...

We investigate the impact of founding-family ownership structure on the agency cost of debt. We find that founding-family ownership is common in large, publicly traded firms and is related, both statistically and economically, to a lower cost of debt financing. The evidence also indicates that...

Prior literature finds that diversified firms sell at a discount relative to the sum of the imputed values of their business segments. We explore this documented diversification discount and argue that it stems from the risk reducing effects of corporate diversification. Consistent with this...

We argue that information about firm activities can vary substantially in the presence of founder or heir ownership, thereby influencing the risks borne by minority investors. We explore two hypotheses with regard to these controlling shareholders and corporate transparency, focusing on their...

Recent research indicates that founding families have substantial stakes in roughly one-third of the largest U.S. companies and, in these firms, control nearly twenty percent of all board seats. Burkart, Panunzi, and Shleifer (2003) suggest that a key element in the desirability of family...