Do credit ratings affect the information content of corporate disclosure? Using novel data on rating analysts to obtain exogenous variation in rating information, we find that greater uncertainty in credit ratings increases the quality of information disclosed by the firm. This is consistent...

This volume presents a new approach to today's tax controversies, reflecting that debates about taxation often turn on the differing worldviews of the debate participants. For instance, a central tension in the academic tax literature — which is filtering into everyday discussions of tax law...

This symposium paper critically evaluates the developing 'Post-Shareholder-Value' ('PSV') paradigm in corporate governance scholarship and practice, with particular reference to Professor Colin Mayer's influential theory of the corporation as a unique long-term "commitment device". The paper's...

We investigate the relationship between board independence and firm's long-term performance, as measured by Tobin's q. In a longitudinal sample of 1,143 firms in the S&P 1500 list from 1997 through 2006, we find some evidence of a significant nonlinear relationship. Two of three nonlinear models...

The extant literature has used measurements of CEO risk-taking incentives which do not include the effects of termination provisions such as severance agreements. This paper provides a general form model that allows for the valuation and computation of CEO compensation structures including...

This paper develops the building blocks for a legal theory of finance. LTF holds that financial markets are legally constructed and as such occupy an essentially hybrid place between state and market, public and private. At the same time, financial markets exhibit dynamics that frequently put...

This paper develops the building blocks for a legal theory of finance. LTF holds that financial markets are legally constructed and as such occupy an essentially hybrid place between state and market, public and private. At the same time, financial markets exhibit dynamics that frequently put...

In 1984, in 1990 and in 2005 Congress passed laws exempting certain financial contracts from the standard provisions of the bankruptcy code. In each case, the effect of the law was to protect collateral securing the contract from those provisions of the bankruptcy code that allow a judge to...

We explain why central counterparties (CCPs) emerged historically. With standardized contracts, it is optimal to insure counterparty risk by clearing those contracts through a CCP that uses novation and mutualization. As netting is not essential for these services, it does not explain why CCPs...