We explore the conditional version of the CAPM and the CCAPM using the methodology of Lettau and Ludvigson (2001). As a conditioning variable, we use the Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan. The ability of the confidence index to explain the cross-section of the 25...

The impact of debt capacity on recent tests of competing theories of capital structure is examined. Controlling for debt capacity, the pecking order appears to be a good description of the financing policies of a large sample of firms. The main results are first, that internally generated funds...

This paper provides large-sample evidence pertaining to the use of and wealth effects associated with provisions for termination fees in merger agreements between 1989 and 1998. The evidence suggests that target termination fee clauses are an efficient contracting device through which target...

Zero-cost collars and equity swaps provide insiders with the opportunity to hedge the risk associated with their personal holdings in the company's equity. Consequently their use has important implications for incentive-based contracting and for understanding insider-trading behavior. Our...

We examine how shocks to the supply of credit impact corporate financing and investment using the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., the passage of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act, and regulatory changes in the insurance industry as an exogenous...

We provide empirical evidence on how the practice of competitive benchmarking affects CEO pay. We find that the use of benchmarking is widespread, and has a significant impact on levels and changes in CEO compensation. The practice is controversial and one view is that it is inefficient because...

Critics contend that the use of compensation peer groups has resulted in inflated CEO pay that cannot be justified based on economic fundamentals. We examine this issue using the mandated disclosure of compensation peers that began in 2006. Although firms generally select compensation peers...

This paper examines the shareholder wealth effects of bids by controlling shareholders seeking to acquire the remaining minority equity stake in a firm - deals commonly referred to as minority freeze-outs. Minority claimants in freeze-out offers receive an allocation of deal surplus at the bid...

We examine the role of board connections in explaining how the controversial practice of backdating employee stock options spread to a large number of firms across a wide range of industries. The increase in the likelihood that a firm begins to backdate stock options that can be explained by...

Exercises of employee stock options generate substantial cash inflows to the firm. These cash inflows substitute for costly external finance in those states of the world in which the demand for investment is high. Using the fact that the proceeds from option exercises exhibit a distinct...