Assuming benevolent managers, the debt-overhang problem suggests that distressed firms generally refrain from issuing equity. In contrast, agency theory predicts that distressed firm managers have strong self-interests to finance even deteriorating projects through equity issuance. This paper...

I examine large shareholders' externalities on other claim holders when firms are financially distressed. To this end, I develop a tractable dynamic model of the interplay between these blockholders and regular equity holders. Blockholders' information acquisition and investment decisions play a...

While previous work suggests two competing explanations for the effect of labor market regulation on firms' demand for debt, our results reconcile both the “strategic use of debt” and “financial flexibility” view. Exploiting staggered changes to labor laws in 28 OECD countries, we find...

This study explores developments in corporate creditworthiness before and after ownership events. We utilize the Blockholders database recently produced by Dlugosz, Fahlenbrach, Gompers, and Metrick (2006) and discover that ownership-construction is generally associated with prior and post...

This paper examines the effect of ownership structure of a controlling shareholder on the financial constraints of non-financial firms in 22 economies for the 1982-2009 period. We find that the overinvestment propensity of a controlling shareholder becomes less severe with an increase in...

We empirically test whether banks' ownership network affects the relationship between product diversification and performance for a sample of European commercial banks. We measure banks' ownership network by the distance between the bank and its largest ultimate owner in pyramids. This measure...

While previous work suggests two competing explanations for the effect of labor market regulation on firms' demand for debt, our results reconcile both the “strategic use of debt” and “financial flexibility” view. Exploiting staggered changes to labor laws in 28 OECD countries, we find...

The financial crisis brought to light weakness in the assessments of risks and vulnerabilities in banks. Consequently, an insight into how the ownership structure of a bank affects investment decisions, performance and ultimately insolvency risk - the focus of this paper - is crucial. Our...

This study provides new stylized facts on the determinants of corporate failure and acquisition in Germany. It also offers important lessons for the design of empirical studies. We show that firms experiencing failure or acquisition are significantly different from surviving firms on a number of...

Life insurers' odds of being placed under regulatory control (for example, conservatorship or receivership) during the financial crisis years of 2008 and 2009 increased with deteriorating fundamentals at a much higher rate than during normal times or during the previous recession. However, no...