We construct a mortality table for U.S. public companies during 1985–2006. We find that firms' age-specific mortality rates initially increase, peaking at age three, and then decrease with age, implying that the first three years of public life are critical. Financial intermediaries involved...

We construct a mortality table for U.S. public companies during 1985-2006. We find that firms' age-specific mortality rates initially increase, peaking at age three, and then decrease with age, implying that the first three years of public life are critical. Financial intermediaries involved...

As in years past, to catalyze the students in my Ph.D. F798 class to think of finance ideas, I asked each one of them to read the abstracts of finance articles published in the last 5 years in JF, JFE, RFS and JFQA. Some general observations from the hard data above and the soft data generated...

To catalyze my fourth-year Ph.D. students in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to think of new ideas after their comprehensive examinations, I asked each one of them to read the abstracts of finance articles published in the last 5 years in JF, JFE, RFS and JFQA. Here are some...