This paper empirically examines the relevance of external credit ratings in the capital structure decision-making process with regard to an international firm sample. Using the rating outlook to measure the imminence of a rating change, allows us to test managers' ex-ante capital structure...

This research identifies investors’ environmental tastes as an explanation of the pollution premium in asset pricing. Showing that stocks of firms with higher toxic emissions earn higher risk-adjusted returns in the cross-section of the US stock market, we find that environmental tastes are...