We model the role various forms of nonrecourse secured debt play in efficiently redeploying assets whose value is state-specific. Ex ante, an entrepreneur and an asset redeployer make noncontractible state-specific investments in the primary and next-best uses of an asset, respectively. The...

Shareholder agreements govern the relations among shareholders in privately held firms, such as joint ventures and venture capital-backed companies. We provide an economic explanation for key clauses in such agreements-namely, put and call options, tag-along and drag-along rights, demand and...

We provide a direct estimate of the magnitude of agency costs in publicly held corporations. We compute an explicit performance benchmark that compares a firm's actual Tobin's Q to the Q* of a hypothetical value-maximizing firm having the same inputs and characteristics as the original firm. The...

We analyze the role of knowhow acquisition in the formation and duration of joint ventures. Two parties become partners in a joint venture to benefit from each other's knowhow. Joint operations provide each party with the opportunity to acquire part of its partner's knowhow. A party's increased...