Corporate cash holdings can predict stock returns, but whether it is a risk or mispricing effect is still unclear. Through constructing a cash factor ‘LMS’, this study explores the mechanisms of cash-returns relationship. We find that although LMS is pervasive and captures co-movement in...

This paper studies how population aging affects individuals’ choice between entrepreneurship and employment by enterprises. We develop a theoretical model where individuals are different in their entrepreneurial ability. A representative worker integrates the professional status of all workers...

This paper examines the role of institutional trading during the option backdating scandal of 2006-2007. Unlike their inability to anticipate other corporate events, institutional investors as a group display negative abnormal trading imbalances (i.e., buy minus sell volumes) in anticipation of...

This study examines whether state-level economic conditions affect the liquidity of local firms. We find that liquidity levels of local stocks are higher (lower) when the local economy has performed well (poorly). This relation is stronger when local financing constraints are more binding, the...

The literature on managerial style posits a linear relation between a CEO's past experiences and firm risk. We show that there is a non-monotonic relation between the intensity of CEOs' early-life exposure to fatal disasters and corporate risk-taking. CEOs who experience fatal disasters without...

This study examines how changes in the information environment affect the informational advantage of geographically proximate agents. We find that the long-term advantage of local agents disappeared at the turn of the millennium. This is accompanied by the reduction in local bias of...

We study how operating efficiencies in horizontal mergers affect market reactions of merging firms' rivals, customers, and suppliers. We measure operating efficiency gains using projections disclosed by merging firms' insiders. Higher efficiency gains are associated with lower announcement...