We find that ownership changes much less over time in private firms than in public firms. The average largest shareholder in private (public) Norwegian firms keeps the same stake in 82% (14%) of two consecutive years. In private firms past ownership dominates ownership determinants proposed in...

We explore to what extent firms deliberately manage their financial reports by exploiting the flexibility of generally accepted accounting principles. Using a sample of Oslo Stock Exchange-listed firms with 20-50% equity holdings in other firms, we find that firms with high financial leverage...

We examine how negative liquidity shocks to households propagate to firms. We show that higher taxes on the personal home of private firms' controlling shareholders are associated with higher dividend and salary payments from firms to shareholders and with lower cash holdings, investments,...