Using data from a Big 4 professional services firm, I examine the performance evaluation score penalties associated with part-time working arrangements. First, I establish that performance evaluation scores (1) suffer for employees working part-time, and (2) rebound when part-timers return to...

We examine whether political corruption impedes innovation. Using a comprehensive sample of US firms, we find that corruption has a substantial, negative relation with the quantity and quality of innovation. These results are robust to using various fixed effects, proxies for corruption and...

Political corruption imposes substantial costs on shareholders in the U.S. Yet, we understand little about the basic factors that constrain or exacerbate the negative consequences of political corruption. Using federal corruption convictions data, we find that firm-level economic rents and...

The newspaper industry has struggled in recent decades, as readers and marketing revenue have migrated to digital outlets. Facing these pressures, many US newspapers have downsized or closed completely. We examine changes in firm behavior after they experience a shock to the local newspaper...

I examine the ability of the U.S. investor protection regime to limit insider trading returns, absent Section 16(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the short-swing rule). I find that, in this setting, U.S. insiders execute short-swing trades that (i) beat the market by about 15 basis...

Motivated by survey evidence, we examine the relation between worker substance abuse and workplace fraud. In our sample of medical doctors, nearly 10% of all frauds occur in the 0.01% of worker-years when the doctor receives a professional sanction for substance abuse. Doctors receiving such...

We use payroll data from a Big 4 accounting firm to examine the starting wage differentials for H-1B visa holders. Prior research in other industries has found both positive and negative differentials, but primarily relies on surveyed salary data. We observe that relative to U.S. citizen new...

We examine the market reaction to charitable pledges by individual blockholders of public firms. As this philanthropy may signal a weakening preference for wealth maximization and maybe indicative of distraction or relaxed monitoring, these agency costs may overwhelm any reputation benefits. We...

This study examines the change in crime observed in the weeks following the release of both violent and non-violent top-selling video games between 2006 and 2011. We find that the release of Mature-rated video games is associated with an increase in overall crime in the weeks following release....

We examine how corruption influences the mortgage market. Prior research documents that corruption is most costly in cases, like home buying, where government interaction is frequent and necessary. Accordingly, after anti-corruption laws pass bank-offices both accept more mortgage applications,...