We study the effect of the recent financial crisis on corporate investment. The crisis represents an unexplored negative shock to the supply of external finance for non-financial firms. Corporate investment declines significantly following the onset of the crisis, controlling for firm fixed...

This paper studies the relation between corporate liquidity and diversification. The key finding is that multi-division firms hold significantly less cash than standalone firms because they are diversified in their investment opportunities. Lower cross-divisional correlations in investment...

Disagreement is a key factor inducing trading, which has been receiving ever-increasing attention in recent years. Most research has focused on disagreement about the expected returns. Several authors have shown that if the average belief coincides with the true expected return in the portfolio...

We show that acquisitions initiated during periods of high merger activity (ldquo;merger wavesrdquo;) are accompanied by poorer quality of analysts' forecasts, greater uncertainty, and weaker CEO turnover-performance sensitivity. These conditions imply reduced monitoring and lower penalties for...

This paper provides novel evidence that corporate political influence operates through renegotiations of existing government contracts. Using detailed data on contractual terms and renegotiations around sudden deaths and resignations of local politicians, the estimates show that politically...

Small business size standards increased considerably in the United States since 2002. Following their staggered introduction across industries, we find lower shares of small businesses in industry establishments and employment and declines in job creation and business formation. Consequently,...