China’s venture capital (VC) market features significant government ownership of VCs. We examine the impact of government-owned VCs on the exit success of entrepreneurial firms. We distinguish between types of government VC according to the degree of government ownership (whole versus partial)...

This paper studies the interactions between corporate law and VC exits by acquisitions, an increasingly common source of VC-related litigation. We find that transactions by VC funds under liquidity pressure are characterized by (i) a substantially lower sale price; (ii) a greater probability of...

We document substantial variation across startups in whether and when they appoint outside directors, and the type of directors they appoint. The startup-director match depends on professional connections and individual experience profiles. Early-stage investors are more likely to serve as...

Entrepreneurs who take their firm public during an active corporate control market face an increased risk of losing control through a takeover. I examine the extent to which the threat of takeover impacts IPO firms’ decisions and find that an active takeover market in an IPO firm’s industry...

I present the first study that systematically examines the implications of ESG adoption for the credit ratings business. I find that, with a recent move by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s towards incorporating ESG issues into their analysis, credit ratings positively reflect firms with lower...