We examine the dynamic ownership structure of corporate bonds after initial issuance. We find that as bonds “season”, the market learns more about them. This learning leads to less concentrated bond ownership over time. Specifically, learning induces a shift in bond ownership from more...

We study how firms choose their debt maturity structure. We argue that because of lower information-gathering costs, institutional investors prefer to invest in firms with bonds outstanding across multiple maturities. We show that, in segmented markets, this preference for firms with bonds of...

We study how the presence of short sellers affects the incentives of the insiders to trade on negative information. We show it induces insiders to sell more (shares from their existing stakes) and trade faster to preempt the potential competition from short sellers. An experiment and...

Parent guarantees to subsidiary bond issues can circumvent restrictive covenants on parent debt, and transfer wealth from bond- to equity-holders or maximize parent managers' private benefits. We find that parent firms expecting stringent covenants on their own debt more likely guarantee...

In a cross-country study, we investigate how staggered passage of national leniency programs from 1990-2012 has affected firms' margins and merger activity. We find that these programs, which give amnesty to cartel conspirators that cooperate with antitrust authorities, reduced the gross margins...

Firms in global markets often belong to business groups. We argue that this feature can have a profound influence on international asset pricing. In bad times, business groups may strategically reallocate risk across affiliated firms to protect core “central firms.” This strategic behavior...

In this paper, we estimate the behavioral component of the Grinblatt and Han (2002) model and derive several testable implications about the expected relationship between the preponderance of disposition-prone investors in a market and volume, volatility and stock returns. To do this, we use a...

We study the degree of information substitutability in the financial market. Exploiting the cross-sectional and time-series variations of the pandemic-triggered lockdowns that have hampered people's physical interactions hence the ability to collect, process, and transmit soft information, we...