We examine the relation between international institutional ownership and payout policy using a comprehensive data set of equity holdings from 37 countries over the years 2000-2007. We find that foreign institutional ownership is negatively associated with the likelihood that a firm pays...

We study how organizational complexity affects capital structure and firm value. We measure organizational complexity as the number of layers in the firm's subsidiary structure, and focus on a sample of US firms over the period 1998-2006. We argue that organizational complexity makes the firm...

This Paper investigates the impact of ownership patterns on the way the firm is monitored, on the liquidity of its shares, and on its stock price. Building on the literature showing that local mutual funds (funds holding geographically close firms) enjoy superior returns due to private...

We study the decisions of international asset managers to outsource portfolio management of their funds and we link these decisions to market integration. Using a structural model of selfselection, we endogenize the decision to outsource in a comprehensive sample of international mutual funds...

We focus on an exogenous event that changes the cost of capital of a company – the addition of its stock to the S&P 500 index – and investigate how companies react to it by modifying their corporate financial and investment policies. This allows us to test capital structure theories in an...

We study the link between information barriers in global markets and the organizational form of asset management. Fund families outsource funds in which they are at an informational disadvantage to generate performance. Using a structural model of self-selection, we endogenize the outsourcing...

We study international outsourcing in the asset management industry. We argue that subcontractor management companies use the funds they manage on behalf of third parties to subsidize their own inhouse funds. On average, inhouse funds outperform the outsourced funds by 7.5 basis points per...

We investigate whether mutual funds whose investors and stocks are decoupled (i.e., investor location does not coincide with that of the stock holdings) benefit from a natural hedge as they have fewer outflows during market downturns and fewer inflows during upturns. Using a sample of equity...

We show that the currency risk embedded in the benchmarks of international mutual funds negatively affects fund performance. More specifically, a high benchmark-implied currency risk induces funds to invest in markets with less volatile currencies, leading to a higher degree of currency...

We study outsourcing relationships among international asset management firms. We find that in companies that manage both outsourced and inhouse funds, inhouse funds outperform outsourced funds by 0.85% annually (57% of the expense ratio). We attribute this result to preferential treatment of...