As firms grow older, their profitability seems to decline. We first document this phenomenon and show that it is very robust. Then we offer two non-exclusive explanations of why firms may age. First, corporate aging could reflect a cementation of organizational rigidities over time. Consistent...

Although growth opportunities fade and profitability declines as firms mature, older firms are no more likely to be acquired than young firms are. This paper documents and explains that phenomenon. We argue that, because mature organizations are rationally less flexible, they are more costly to...

As firms have more assets in place, more of management's limited attention is focused on managing assets in place rather than developing new growth options. Consequently, as firms grow older, they have fewer growth options and a lower ability to generate new growth options. This simple theory...

Previous studies show that economic policy uncertainty has been rising steadily since the 1960s (Baker et al. 2014), and that this secular increase has led to harmful economic outcomes such as reduced investment rates (Gulen and Ion 2016). Other studies find that politically connected directors...

This paper explores whether directors’ political experience assists firms in navigating through policy uncertainty when making investment decisions. Prior research shows that policy uncertainty results in a decline in corporate investments. We find that these declines attenuate by 49% when...

We examine the underpricing and long-term performance of a broad set ofSwiss IPOs from 1983 to 2000. The average market adjusted initial return is34.97%. Our results support the ex ante uncertainty hypothesis, the signal-ling hypothesis and, to some extent, the market cyclicality hypothesis...

This paper examines whether the chairmen of the board (COBs) impose their life cycles on the firms over which they preside. Using a large sample of unlisted firms, we find a robust negative relation between COB age and firm performance. COBs age much like ‘ordinary' people. Their cognitive...

We examine the underpricing and long-term performance of a broad set of Swiss IPOs from 1983 to 2000. The average market adjusted initial return is 34.97%. Our results support the ex ante uncertainty hypothesis, the signalling hypothesis and, to some extent, the market cyclicality hypothesis as...