Electricity cannot be economically stored, leading to volatile spot prices and implying that standard cost-of-carry relations are not useful for pricing electricity forward contracts. We model spot and forward power markets, evaluating the demand for risk reduction and assessing equilibrium spot...

We explore the conditional version of the CAPM and the CCAPM using the methodology of Lettau and Ludvigson (2001). As a conditioning variable, we use the Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan. The ability of the confidence index to explain the cross-section of the 25...

The impact of debt capacity on recent tests of competing theories of capital structure is examined. Controlling for debt capacity, the pecking order appears to be a good description of the financing policies of a large sample of firms. The main results are first, that internally generated funds...

We provide an examination of the use of zero-cost collars and equity swaps by corporate insiders to hedge the risk associated with their personal holdings in the company's equity. These financial instruments have important implications for insider trading and incentive-based contracts. Our...

We empirically investigate the relationship between corporate governance structure and diversification. Using a sample of 199 firms beginning in 1985 and following these firms through 1994, we examine 1) if governance structure is significantly different between focused and diversified firms; 2)...

We find that CEO compensation is less sensitive to stock-price performance the greater the extent of firm diversification. Our empirical evidence is consistent with a theory of managerial entrenchment as well as with a theory of optimal contracting between shareholders and managers. To...

We examine how shocks to the supply of credit impact corporate financing and investment using the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., the passage of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act, and regulatory changes in the insurance industry as an exogenous...

We examine the evolution of corporate capital structures and find that little of the variation in leverage is captured by previously identified determinants, such as size, market-to-book, profitability, industry, etc. Instead, the majority of variation in leverage ratios is driven by an...

We explore the time-series relationship between investor sentiment and the small-stock premium using consumer confidence as a measure of investor optimism. We estimate the components of consumer confidence related to economic fundamentals and investor sentiment. After controlling for the time...

Critics contend that the use of compensation peer groups has resulted in inflated CEO pay that cannot be justified based on economic fundamentals. We examine this issue using the mandated disclosure of compensation peers that began in 2006. Although firms generally select compensation peers...