In a “perfect” market, Miller and Modigliani's celebrated dividend irrelevance argument holds, whereby a dividend payment or omission is identical in impact to changes in a firm's share structure. Consequently, the dividend payment itself is irrelevant to valuation; what matters is the...

We examine the difference in cash holdings between high-tech and non-high-tech firms from 1974 to 2007. The average cash-to-assets ratio of non-high-tech firms remained stable throughout the period. In contrast, the average cash ratio of high-tech firms more than tripled from 1980 to 2007. This...

Recently, aqueous Zn/MnO2 batteries have attracted considerable attention due to their safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, capacity decay caused by Mn dissolution greatly limits their further development. Herein, LiTFSI is employed as an electrolyte additive to inhibit...

We present new models for simulating the steady and unsteady transport of pollutant. Then the simple central-upwind schemes based on central weighted essentially non-oscillatory reconstructions are proposed in this paper for computing the one- and two-dimensional steady and unsteady models....

Import competition has had an enormous impact on the US economy. This paper looks at whether such competition has increased the risk of US firms and is a factor that can partly explain the Fama–French disappearing dividends phenomenon. We show that firms facing more import competition do face...

This paper examines the effects of European Commission’s (EC) new leniency program on the EC’s capabilities in detecting and deterring cartels. As a supplementary analysis, the US leniency is studied. I discuss a dynamic model of cartel formation and dissolution to illustrate how...

Legal institutions play an important role in affecting delay in settlement. But little research has investigated the institutional causes of delay. The empirical literature is ambiguous regarding the impact of trial-court delay on settlement delay. I analyze the timing of bargaining and the...

There have long been claims that compensations for noneconomic damages are random because tort law does not provide clear guidance regarding these compensations. I investigate, in both settled and tried medical malpractice cases, whether noneconomic damage payments are arbitrary and what...