In 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission eliminated uninstructed broker voting in director elections. We observe that average director approval rates remain high after the change in regulation, while the probability of a director being voted off the board remains low. Using event study...

We use exogenous changes in the probability that firms adopt executive ownership guidelines (EOGs) to measure the influence of board connections on the spreading of executive compensation policy. EOGs require managers to hold pre-specified equity ownership levels, and their use has increased...

Sovereign bond benchmarks are important determinants of corporate bond issuance and maturity. We show that by providing benchmark rates, long-maturity government issues complement the issuance of similar-maturity corporate issues. Government and corporate bond issues are also substitutes and...

We show that short sellers are constrained by their losses. Using unique data on the mark-to-market profits of short sellers of U.S. stocks, we document an asymmetric response of short selling to gains versus losses. Short selling substantially falls following large losses but does not respond...

In the secondary art market, artists play no active role. This allows us to isolate cultural influences on the demand for female artists' work from supply-side factors. Using 1.5 million auction transactions in 45 countries, we document a 47.6% gender discount in auction prices for paintings....

We examine the wealth effects of the SEC's recent proxy access rule to facilitate director nominations by shareholders. We focus on how a firm's governance characteristics affect the market reaction to the rule. We find more negative announcement effects for firms with high probabilities of...

This online appendix belongs to the paper "Disappearing Call Delay and Dividend-Protected Convertible Bonds" and provides a further investigation of explanators of call delay. Internet Appendix I sets out a dividend-related signaling model that can explain a delay in calling...

We show that run-ups in U.S. target firm stock returns preceding merger announcements have declined drastically over recent decades. The negative trend in target run-ups cannot be fully explained by changes in deal or target characteristics associated with merger anticipation. However, it...

This paper shows that exogenous director distraction affects board monitoring intensity and leads to a higher level of inactivity by management. We construct a firm-level director "distraction'' measure by exploiting shocks to unrelated industries in which directors have additional...

This paper studies convertible security design for a sample of 819 issuers over the years 2000 through 2007. We examine the determinants of the choice of fixed income claim and the method of payment using a nested logit regression model. We find that firms select security designs that reduce...