We examine how firms redraw their boundaries after acquisitions using plant-level data. We find that there is extensive restructuring in a short period following mergers and full-firm acquisitions. Acquirers of full firms sell 27% and close 19% of the plants of target firms within three years of...

We empirically and theoretically examine how consumer credit access affects dis- placed workers. Empirically, we link administrative employment histories to credit reports. We show that an increase in credit limits worth 10% of prior annual earnings allows individuals to take .15 to 3 weeks...

We analyze the interaction of firm product quality and pricing decisions with financial distress and bankruptcy in the airline industry. We consider an airline's choices of quality and price as dynamic decisions that trade off current cash flows for future revenue. We examine how airline...

We use text-based computational analysis of business descriptions from 10-Ks to examine in which industries conglomerates are most likely to operate and to understand conglomerate valuations. We find that conglomerates are more likely to operate in industry pairs that are closer together in the...

We examine the participation of public and private firms in merger waves and productivity outcomes. We show that public firms participate more than private firms as buyers and sellers of assets and their participation is more cyclical. Public firms are affected more by credit spreads and...

This article reviews the conglomerate literature, with a focus on recent papers that have cast strong doubt on the hypothesis that conglomerate firms destroy value on average when compared to similar stand-alone firms. Recent work has shown that investment decisions by conglomerate firms are...

This article reviews the conglomerate literature with a focus on recent papers which have cast strong doubt on the hypothesis that conglomerate firms destroy value on average when compared to similar stand-alone firms. Recent work has shown that investment decisions by conglomerate firms are...

We study the effect of real asset liquidity on a firm's cost of capital. We find an aggregate asset-liquidity discount in firms' cost of capital that is strongly counter-cyclical. At the firm-level we find that asset liquidity affects firms' cost of capital both in the cross section and in the...

We study how firms differ from their competitors using new time-varying measures of product differentiation based on text-based analysis of product descriptions from 50,673 firm 10-K statements filed yearly with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This year-by-year set of product...

We introduce a new framework for forming peer firm portfolios that can account for firm uniqueness and organizational form. Our new vocabulary-based peer firm portfolios explain much cross sectional dispersion in firm valuations and generate a direct measure of firm product market uniqueness. We...