We show that stock characteristics identified by <link rid="b14">D'Avolio (2002)</link> provide a reliable index of the mostly unobservable short sales constraints. Specifically, we find that this index is positively related to the level of short interest and to short selling costs implied by the disparity in prices...

Realized growth can be viewed as a proxy for the unobservable investment opportunity set (IOS) of the firm, and provides a benchmark against which IOS proxy variables can be compared. Results from such a comparison indicate that many of the variables from earlier studies, including...

The 1992 National Energy Policy Act (NEPA) intensified competition in the electric utility industry by allowing nonutility generators to produce and sell power in wholesale energy markets. Congress expected NEPA to lead to improved operating efficiencies by substituting market forces for...

This study investigates the association between ownership concentration and information asymmetry between informed and uninformed investors, and explores several mechanisms that mitigate such a relation. Using a large sample of Korean firms whose ownership structure is highly concentrated, we...

Using a unique, comprehensive data set from a survey on corporate governance practices among Korean listed firms, this paper shows that business group (chaebol) firms have overall stronger governance practices but weaker shareholder rights and lower dividend payout ratios than independent firms...

Using a unique dataset of Korean listed companies for which trade initiators are correctly identifiable, we estimate bias-free PIN (probability of informed trading) that is no longer subject to the trade misspecification problem and test whether it is related to expected returns. Unlike prior...

This paper examines the relation between business group affiliation and the cost of debt capital. The co-insurance effect associated with business groups can reduce the cost of debt, while expropriation by controlling shareholders can raise the cost of debt. We find that firms affiliated with...

In this paper we compare the relations between the changes in the personal wealth of CEOs and firm performance among Japanese and American companies. Using a personal income measure imputed from annual personal income tax amounts for Japanese executives, we show that Japanese and US CEOs are...