We examine a comprehensive sample of going-dark deregistrations where companies cease SEC reporting, but continue to trade publicly. We document a spike in going dark that is largely attributable to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Firms experience large negative abnormal returns when going dark. We find...

This paper investigates the effect of regulation that mandates open access to information on managers' disclosure choices and investors' reactions to disclosures. The recently passed Regulation FD (Reg FD) requires firms to make material disclosures broadly available. Using a sample of firms...

This paper examines the economic consequences of a regulatory change mandating OTCBB firms to comply with reporting requirements under the 1934 Securities Exchange Act. This change substantially increases mandated disclosures for firms previously not filing with the SEC. We document that the...

Recent advances in information technology allow firms to provide broader access to their disclosures. We examine the determinants and effects of the decision to provide unlimited real-time access to conference calls (i.e., quot;openquot;conference calls). Our evidence suggests that the decision...

Using data from private placement contracts, we analyze relationships between investors and issuers, and their impact on corporate governance and performance. Most investors have a relationship with the issuer pre-placement and many new relationships are formed through the placement agreement....

We use extensive hand collected surveys reporting governance practices of Brazilian firms in 2004, 2006, and 2009 to build a broad corporate governance index and analyze the evolution of corporate governance in Brazil and the association between governance and firm value. We find that corporate...

The relation between multiple directorships, busy directors and firm performance has been researched predominantly in the context of developed economies, notably the US. This paper extends the existing literature on multiple directorships in two ways; first, by providing additional evidence on...

In this manuscript, I examine the firm's ex ante cost of equity capital in the quarter before and the quarter after the filing of a shareholder securities lawsuit as well as in the quarter before and the quarter after the final resolution of the shareholder lawsuit. I find that the adjustment in...

An important issue in evaluating corporate governance is how to measure it. In prior work on emerging markets, we have advocated measuring firm-level governance using country-specific indices, tailored to each country's laws and institutions. An alternate approach, used in commercial indices, is...

Three problems pose severe challenges to identify the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm value and performance. These are construct validity, limited data, and endogeneity. To deal with them we use a broad composite measure of CSR and panel data with firm fixed and random...