Accounting information was often used to determine the effect of quality management initiatives. Relation between quality management and financial performance of the companies was extensively explored but with the conflicting results. The most recent studies introduced intermediary factors...

This paper, a chapter in the forthcoming Research Handbook on the Economics of Corporate law, describes the leading research related to credit ratings, and assesses regulatory proposals related to ratings, including those in the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. It explains how rating agencies have...

The Student Loan Marketing Association, “Sallie Mae,” was formed by the federal government in 1972 to facilitate a secondary market for student loans. Now an independent entity, SLM Corporation is the largest lender and servicer of student loans in the U.S. As Sallie Mae made the transition...

This study examines whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve women borrowers at the base of the economic pyramid are likely to adopt a written code of positive organizational ethics (POE). Using econometric analysis of operational and economic data of a sample of MFIs from across the...

We examine misconduct in credence good markets with price taking experts. We propose a market-level model in which price-taking experts extract surplus based on the value of their firm's brand and their own skill. We test the predictions of the model using sales complaint data for exclusive and...

Traditional business models of credit rating agencies (CRAs) are criticized for creating incentives for misreporting. This paper investigates a potential alternative in which CRAs receive revenue from advertisement only. We use a two-period Bayesian reputation model and show that CRAs will shirk...