Generation X directors are slowly replacing Baby Boomers on U.S. corporate boards and will eventually dominate corporate boardrooms in the U.S. and around the world. We provide the first robust evidence of a significantly positive effect of Generation X directors on corporate performance. The...

This paper investigates whether and how prior alliance relationships create value in the context of subsequent mergers between partner firms. We argue that an acquirer's prior alliance experience with the target reduces information asymmetry and thus improves acquisition performance....

We show that R&D investment explains a significant portion of the increase in the average cash-to-assets ratio of U.S. firms, which more than doubled between 1980 and 2012. In 1980, an average firm held $0.04 in cash for $1.00 of R&D spending, but this had increased to $0.60 by 2012. The...

Using the extent to which firms rely on knowledge workers, we find significant unequal distribution of economic gains across workers and firms after non-compete enforcement weakens. While lower enforceability may expose firms to greater hold-up problems, it incentivizes workers to invest in...

Exploiting reforms of state covenants-not-to-compete laws to capture exogenous variation in barriers to compete for talent, I show that firms increase cash holdings when talent competition intensifies. The effect is concentrated among firms for which talent is more important and in industries...

Exploiting reforms of state covenants-not-to-compete laws to capture exogenous variation in barriers to compete for talent, I show that firms increase cash holdings when talent competition intensifies. The effect is concentrated among firms for which talent is more important and in industries...