This paper empirically studies how social learning among consumers shapes firms' optimal strategies of using advertising to signal product quality. I present an equilibrium model that describes both consumers' and firms' learning and decision-making under quality uncertainty. My model allows me...

We investigate how competition in product niches affects the ultimate timing of product release for experience goods using data on motion pictures in the United States. We identify product niches that movies occupy along three different product dimensions: common actor, common director, and...

We investigate how competition in product niches affects the ultimate timing of product release for experience goods using data on motion pictures in the United States. We identify product niches that movies occupy along three different product dimensions: common actor, common director, and...

Most microenterprises barely grow beyond subsistence level, as profitable investments are not realized due to barriers like credit, savings, and managerial constraints. Using panel data, this study identifies subgroups that would benefit by an intervention aiming to alleviate constraints. Two...

Does increasing inflation affect firms' investment decisions? This article employs the European Investment Bank Investment Survey (EIBIS) dataset to explore the association between the increased inflation that the EU countries have experienced since 2021, and firms' investment decisions. We find...

We show that set-up costs are a key determinant of the capital structure of young firms. Theoretically, when firms face high set-up costs, they can only be established by leveraging up and lengthening debt maturity. Empirically, we use a large sample of French firms to show that young firms have...

U.S. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are dominant producers in the economy, yet they invest considerably less relative to their operating scales and exhibit much lower Tobin's q than domestic firms. Counterintuitively, investment and Tobin's q plunge despite concurrent productivity increase...

We study the impact of financing constraints on corporate risk management. Using data on credit scores matched with unique information on firm level commercial insurance purchases, we find that financing constraints lead to higher insurance spending. We adopt a regression discontinuity design...