We study the relationship between corporate debt, corporate risk and firm-level investment, using a sample of 25,000 listed companies across 47 countries over the last two decades. We find higher leverage reduces investment but show the effect varies with risk, as measured by firm time-varying...

For a large sample of 48 countries, we find robust evidence that strong creditor rights are associated with low long-term leverage across countries. We further find that strong creditor protection lowers long-term debt issuance, the extent to which investments are financed with long-term debt,...

We augment the LLSV creditor rights index with a new “restructuring index” that measures the incentives provided to creditors to grant concessions outside formal bankruptcy. We study the joint impact of the two indexes on a firm's leverage policy. We show that the two indexes have at most a...

This paper presents evidence that firms choose conservative financial policies partly to mitigate workers' exposure to unemployment risk. We exploit changes in state unemployment insurance laws as a source of variation in the costs borne by workers during layoff spells. We find that higher...

This paper studies the effect of labor protection on the relation between employee satisfaction and firm capital structure across 32 countries. The stakeholder theory of capital structure states that firms whose values are derived largely from their human capital tend to maintain a lower debt...

This paper examines the relation between information asymmetry, capital structure and the cost of capital across countries, particularly focusing on how the relation is influenced by the various aspects of institutional environment. Results show that firms with more informational asymmetries...

During the COVID-19 market crash, U.S. stocks with higher institutional ownership -- in particular, those held more by active, short-term, and more exposed institutions -- performed worse. Portfolio changes through the first quarter of 2020 reveal that institutional investors prioritized...

A new indicator of profitableness (DIRR) of the investor and recipient of the investment project is proposed, which is a generalization and development of the concept of internal rate of return (IRR). It is formed in the form of the sum of the cost of the participant's capital and the project's...

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing has mushroomed in the recent past. As assets under management have grown impressively, so have questions. This chapter surveys the landscape of ESG investing, starting with definitions, components, investing strategies, market size, and the...