This paper shows that local institutional investors are effective monitors of corporate behavior. Firms with high local ownership have better internal governance and are more profitable. These firms are also less likely to manage their earnings aggressively or backdate options and are less...

We investigate the impact of government-provided child care on women's careers. Using a unique employer-employee matched data set from Germany, we find that mothers in low child care counties experience a 25% larger earnings penalty than mothers in high child care counties. This penalty is...

This paper examines the impact of counter-stereotypical female role models on women's labor supply and occupational choices. Using hand-collected data from Gallup surveys that cover a long time series, we create a direct measure of counter-stereotypical female role models based on the fraction...

This study examines whether mood affects the aggregate state-level macroeconomy through its impact on firm-level decisions. Using sky cloud cover as a proxy for mood, we show that mood affects the economic expectations of small business managers. After relatively sunnier periods, managers have...

This paper examines whether people's mood and optimism affects economic activity. We consider two sets of exogenous proxies for optimism that are unrelated to the economic environment: (i) weather (average temperature and cloud cover) and (ii) sports and political optimism. We show that economic...

Using the economic setting of sell-side equity analysts, we demonstrate that racial/ethnic diversity does not always help minority groups. Race/ethnicity of analysts influences their forecasting style and accuracy, where these accuracy differences primarily reflect the effects of brokerage...