We analyze several hundred firms that expand via acquisition and/or increase their reported number of business segments. The average combined market reaction to acquisition announcements is positive but, according to the Berger and Ofek (1995) method for valuing conglomerates, the excess values...

We provide evidence that corporate tax status is endogenous to the financing decision, which induces a spurious relation between measures of financial policy and many commonly used tax proxies. Specifically, both interest expense and lease payments are tax deductible. Thus, a firm that finances...

We provide evidence that corporate tax status is endogenous to the financing decision, which induces a spurious relation between measures of financial policy and many commonly used tax variables. Specifically, both interest expense and lease payments are tax deductible. Thus, a firm that...

We address whether mutual funds act effectively through the proxy voting process by supporting wealth increasing items. We examine 212,620 voting decisions made by 1,794 mutual funds from 94 fund families for 1,047 shareholder proposals voted on between July 2003 and June 2005. We find that...

Despite mixed stock returns for acquirer shareholders in large stock-for-stock mergers, acquiring-firm merger proxy votes rarely fail, and in our sample the average approval out of votes cast exceeds 95%. We seek to determine whether such votes are effective in monitoring management's...

We examine shareholder voting on management-sponsored compensation proposals from 1992 through 2003 to determine how voting has evolved as a result of changes in the corporate governance environment. We investigate three questions: have regulatory changes and changes in investor sentiment...