We explore the relationship between vertical scope and the ability to respond to a significant economic shock by studying how firms in the apparel industry have adapted to the Internet. We find that vertically integrated specialty retailers, e.g., The Gap, tended to start on-line sales sooner...

This paper presents a framework for analyzing the costs and benefits of internal versus external capital allocation. The authors focus primarily on comparing an internal capital market with bank lending. While both represent centralized forms of financing, in the former case the financing is...

We study jury trial waivers in a data set of 2,816 contracts contained as exhibits in Form 8-K filings by reporting corporations during 2002. Because these contracts are associated with events deemed material to the financial condition of SEC-reporting firms, they likely are carefully negotiated...

This article presents an interest-group theory of central bank independence. In the absence of an independent central bank, politicians can benefit in the short run by creating an unanticipated burst of inflation that unravels many interest-group deals. Interest groups then have to return to the...