We show that the relationship between aggregate investment and Tobin's q has become remarkably tight in recent years, contrasting with earlier times. We connect this change with the growing empirical dispersion in Tobin's q, which we document both in the cross-section and the time-series. To...

Most research on firm financing studies the choice between debt and equity. We model an alternative source - non-core asset sales - and allow asset sales to occur for operational as well as financing motives. We identify three new factors that drive a firm's choice between selling assets and...

We provide causal evidence that discount rate changes by the Federal Reserve affected economic output in the 1920s. Our identification strategy exploits county-level variation in access to the Fed's discount window, and we implement this strategy with hand-collected data on banking and...

We provide novel evidence of how discount rates affected lending and output during and after the 1920-1921 depression. Our identification strategy exploits county-level variation in access to the discount window and hand-collected data on banking and agriculture in Illinois. High discount rates...