Corporate control theory suggests mergers and acquisitions protect shareholder value by allowing good managers to take control of the assets of bad managers. It therefore predicts (1) the acquisitions of poorly-managed targets by well-managed bidders will create more value than other...

We study whether digital technology streamlines the regulatory process and reduces the costs of complying with regulation. To identify the effect of digital technology on regulatory compliance costs, we leverage a quasi-experimental policy change which mandates the use of an internet-based flow...

We identify the effect of public guarantees on market discipline by exploiting the rich variation in U.S. state guarantees of property-liability insurer obligations. We find that insurer financing is significantly more risk-sensitive in the absence of government guarantees. The effects are...

This paper examines the relation between the degree and type of strategic interaction among industry firms and firm performance. As a measure of firm performance, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate the efficiency of a firm relative to the ‘best practice' firms in its industry....

A vast majority of insurers are regulated by each state in which they conduct business; however, a small subset of specialized firms, risk retention groups (RRGs), are largely exempt from most aspects of duplicative regulation no matter how many states they operate. This paper analyzes the...

We investigate the role of organizational structure in financial services markets by examining the U.S. life insurance industry. Traditionally stock and mutual life insurers were equally represented, but now the industry is mainly comprised of stock firms. We find operational efficiency, access...

We explore whether life insurers use a unique reinsurance arrangement to manage their regulatory capital. Typical reinsurance arrangements allow insurers to reduce their regulatory capital by transferring liabilities, and the associated assets, to reinsurers. With modified coinsurance, insurers...