This paper shows that shocks to social benefits have local multiplier effects that are borne primarily by economically fragile households. Using a large welfare reform in the UK, we document that recipients not only lose benefits income, but also experience a lower relative likelihood of...

I document a beneficial effect of the government's participation in product markets. Exploiting the 2008-09 financial crisis as a natural experiment, I show that federal procurement contracts insulate government contractors' performance from the crisis. By 2009, government contractors had 19%...

After remaining close to 30% for four years, the FCA's market cleanliness statistic for takeovers decreased to about 15% between 2010 and 2013. This paper investigates the possible explanations for the fall in the statistic. We find evidence to exclude methodological bias, information leaking...

Entrepreneurs undertake more R&D when financiers are better informed about their projects because they expect to receive more funding should those projects prove successful.Financiers learn more about projects when entrepreneurs perform more R&D because then the opportunity cost of misinvesting...

We exploit enforcement actions for violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in non-OECD countries to study the effect of anti-bribery enforcement on unpunished firms. Firms in the same country-industry as the violator experience significant increases in revenue (+6.4%) and asset...