There exists large and persistent variation in not only how, but when employees are paid, a fact largely unexplored by theory. This paper develops a theory of optimal pay timing when workers make time-inconsistent savings and borrowing decisions. The model justifies the existence of a wide range...

This survey provides a synthesis of the empirical capital structure literature. Our synthesis is divided into three parts. The first part examines the evidence that relates to the cross-sectional determinants of capital structure. This literature identifies and discusses the characteristics of...

We find that a firm's investment is highly sensitive to the investments of other firms headquartered nearby, even those in very different industries. It also responds to fluctuations in the cash flows and stock prices (q) of local firms outside its sector. These patterns do not appear to reflect...

We study the impact of trader anonymity on trading behavior and price characteristics. Revealing the identity of informed traders allows the market to better disaggregate the source of orders, but does not guarantee more informative prices. When markets are less anonymous, informed traders...

In this article we review and discuss empirical studies that examine how a firm's financing choice affects its strategic decisions and relationships with its non-financial stakeholders, such as its customers or workforce. Generally, high leverage appears to inhibit a firm's ability or...

We explore umpires' racial/ethnic preferences in the evaluation of Major League Baseball pitchers. Controlling for umpire, pitcher, batter and catcher fixed effects and many other factors, strikes are more likely to be called if the umpire and pitcher match race/ethnicity. This effect only...

City level differences in industry-adjusted Tobin's q, an estimate of the value created for shareholders, are large, and have widened sharply over the last twenty years. Proxies for a city's appeal to high-skill workers, such as existing education rates and favorable weather, are strongly...

We document lead-lag effects in stock returns between co-headquartered firms operating in different sectors. Such geographic lead-lags yield risk-adjusted returns of 5-6% per year, about half that observed for industry lead-lag effects. However, while industry lead-lag effects are strongest...

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) pay higher underwriting fees to issue tax-exempt bonds, compared to similar non-HBCUs. This appears to reflect higher costs of finding willing buyers: the effect is three times larger in the far Deep South, where racial animus remains the most...

We find that a corrupt local environment amplifies the effects of financial distress. Following regional spikes in financial misconduct, credit becomes both more expensive and harder to obtain for nearby borrowers -- even those not implicated themselves. This is particularly harmful for...