We conduct a randomized field experiment (RFE) to assess whether startup firms perceive accounting expertise as an important investor credential. We send 13,358 unsolicited and unique emails to active startup firms across the US, showing an interest in them with a proposition to meet a bogus...

Institutional investors located in cities with social norms friendlier towards the environment (“green” cities) are sensitive to corporate environmental practices. Their portfolios are tilted away from stocks exhibiting negative environmental practices, particularly those headquartered in...

Does physical proximity to monitoring capital affect the firm's IPO decision? Using a geographic framework, we measure the amount of monitoring capital of equity investors and banks in each U.S. region. When regional equity capital is abundant, collateral-poor resident firms are more likely to...

This paper examines racial preferences of shareholders in the context of corporate director elections. Focusing on director nominees receiving negative recommendations from the dominant proxy advisor ISS, we document a higher propensity of mutual fund managers to vote for such nominees who match...

We develop a 10K-based measure of spatial variation in the availability of value-relevant information that reflects the multi-dimensional nature of firm location. Spatially distributed information generates location-based information asymmetries that affect institutional portfolio decisions and...

We explore umpires' racial/ethnic preferences in the evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity. This effect only...

We explore how umpires' racial/ethnic preferences are expressed in their evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity....

Major League Baseball umpires express their racial/ethnic preferences when they evaluate pitchers. Strikes are called less often if the umpire and pitcher do not match race/ethnicity, but mainly where there is little scrutiny of umpires. Pitchers understand the incentives and throw pitches that...