We study the impact of social connections between judges and executives on the outcomes of Securities Class Action Litigation (SCAL). Judges who share a social network with a firm’s executives are more likely to dismiss lawsuits against the firm. These connected cases are also resolved much...

We examine the influence of common ownership on commonalities in the information environment. Specifically, we study commonalities in financial statements and in the actions of key agents such as financial analysts and firm managers who contribute and respond to the information environment....

We propose that the value of the earnings reporting process as an information source lies in limiting delays in the release of bad news either by inducing managers to disclose it voluntarily, or by directly releasing the negative news that managers have incentives to withhold. We compare...