We examine the effect of liability protection on the compensation of directors and on takeover outcomes. Consistent with the hypothesis that directors require additional compensation if they bear liability, we find that director compensation is higher for firms that provide less liability...

Research suggests that firms can use either debt or dividends as a commitment device to mitigate the free cash flow problem. We hypothesize that firms which face limitations on debt may use increased dividend payments as a second-best bonding device. Limitations on debt are implicit in state...

Riskier firms use more covenants, yet effective covenants should reduce the probability of bankruptcy by restricting management's actions. We disentangle these two relations between covenant use and bankruptcy risk by considering predicted and actual covenant use. We find that predicted covenant...

Riskier firms use more covenants, yet effective covenants should reduce the probability of bankruptcy by restricting management's actions. We disentangle these two relations between covenant use and bankruptcy risk by considering predicted and actual covenant use. We find that predicted covenant...

We examine the impact of state payout restrictions on firm credit ratings and bond yields. Using publicly traded bond data for a sample of large firms, we find that firms incorporated in states with more restrictive payout statutes (e.g., New York and California), have better credit ratings and...

Upon examining the language used in recent SEC filings, we find that severance agreements are often paid whether or not the CEO leaves the firm due to a change in control. We hypothesize that since severance agreements compensate CEOs in the event of termination, CEOs with these agreements will...

We investigate whether outliers in cross-country samples and the common methods we use to address them affect the trustworthiness of our empirical results. Our analysis begins by documenting recent international business (IB) research practices in the identification and treatment of outliers. We...