We hypothesize that public firms that create novel innovations rely more on arm's length financing (equity and public debt) than on relationship based bank financing. A primary reason is that banks, unable to evaluate novel technologies, will tend to discourage investing in innovative projects...

We study the offer choice between rights and firm commitments for a sample of industrial firms issuing equity in the 1930's and 1940's. Unlike existing studies, our sample is drawn from a time period when rights were as common an offer method for industrial firms as were firm commitments. This...

The adoption of a Managed Distribution Policy or Plan (MDP) by closed-end funds appears effective in dramatically reducing, even eliminating, fund discounts. We investigate two possible explanations: the signaling explanation proposed in the literature, that the MDP serves as a positive signal...

We test the hypothesis that US corporations headquartered in states with greater public corruption are also prone to more unethical behavior when operating abroad. We exploit passage of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that curtailed bribery of foreign officials and find firms in corrupt...

Firms rely on patenting and trade secrecy to protect their intellectual property. We study how changes in the trade-off between patenting and secrecy affect firms' stock liquidity and financing outcomes. We show that an international trade agreement (TRIPS) that strengthened patent protection...

Does the specific background and expertise of outside directors influence corporate policies? While the literature recognizes that directors contribute to firm value through their monitoring and advisory functions, the precise manner and extent to which directors' expertise affects the firm's...

The literature suggests that while decentralized decision-making can allow for greater specialization in an organization, it heightens the cost of coordinating decisions. The mutual fund industry – in particular, sole- and team-managed balanced funds – provides an ideal setting to test the...

Using a sample of bank loans, we study how financial contracts are different when there are conflicts of interest not only between the contracting parties but within one of the contracting parties. Such conflicts can arise in lending syndicates when, for instance, the lead arranger has the...