We worked with two microlenders to test impacts of randomly assigned reminders for loan repayments in the text messaging capital of the world. We do not find strong evidence that loss versus gain framing or messaging timing matter. Messages only robustly improve repayment when they include the...

We estimate the effect of demand and price uncertainty on firms' investment decisions from a panel of manufacturing firms. Uncertainty measures are derived from firms' subjective qualitative expectations. They are close to their theoretical counterparts, the variances of future demand and price...

Investment in physical capital at the micro level is infrequent and large, or lumpy. The most common explanation for this is that firms face non-convex physical adjustment costs. The model developed in this paper shows that information costs make investment lumpy at the micro level, even in the...

This paper studies the asset pricing implications of a general equi-librium model in which real investment is reversible at a cost. Firmsface higher costs in contracting than in expanding their capital stockand decide to invest when their productive capital is scarce relativeto the overall...

Advanced market economies are characterized by a continuous process of creativedestruction. Market forces and technological developments play a major role in shaping thisprocess, but institutional and policy settings also influence firms´ decision to enter, to expandif successful and to exit if...

The paper analyses the impact of venture capital finance on growth and innovation activities of young German firms. Among other variables, our panel of firm data includes data on venture capital funding and patent applications. With statistical matching procedures we draw an adequate control...

This article describes the benefits and pitfalls of starting a firm with an entrepreneurial team, drawing on a longitudinal empirical analysis of the life course of 90 team start-ups and 1196 solo start-ups in the Netherlands. In the first three years of their existence, team start-ups perform...

Microfinance has been heralded as an effective way to address imperfections in credit markets. From a theoretical perspective, however, the success of microfinance contracts has puzzling elements. In particular, the group-based mechanisms often employed are vulnerable to free-riding and...

Does an institutional change that eases exit via bankruptcy reform enhance venture growth? We take advantage of a quasi-natural experiment in Japan to examine this question. Using longitudinal data over a 10-year period, we find that bankruptcy reform not only increases the rates of bankruptcy...

We worked with two microlenders to test impacts of randomly assigned reminders for loan repayments in the "text messaging capital of the world". We do not find strong evidence that loss versus gain framing or messaging timing matter. Messages only robustly improve repayment when they include the...