We investigate the impact of political connection on corporate risk-taking by connected firms, their industry counterparts, as well as non-rival firms from 48 countries. We find that political connection induces higher risk taking by connected firms. By contrast, we do not find evidence that...

We examine whether CEO extraversion, an important personality trait associated with leadership, affects firms' expected cost of equity capital. We measure CEO extraversion using CEOs' speech patterns during the unscripted portion of conference calls. After controlling for several CEO and firm...

We use actual negotiations between angel investors and entrepreneurs to study the impact of personal characteristics on investment outcomes. We construct a unique dataset with 707 investment requests led by 1,089 entrepreneurs and find that the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur,...

We examine whether personality differences between the CEO and CFO influence audit fees. Audit fees should reflect engagement risk associated with a client. We use personality differences between the CEO and CFO as a proxy for potential poor communication, reluctance to share information, and...

The spot price of crude oil declined from $106.07 per barrel on June 30, 2014 to $53.45 per barrel on December 31, 2014, representing a 50% decline within six months. By December 31, 2015, the spot price had declined further, to $37.13, and it remains substantially below its level during 2011...

Using a large sample of partial cross-border mergers and acquisitions from emerging countries, we show that these acquisitions significantly reduce the risk of the target firms and that the risk reduction is directly related to the changes in the international shareholder base and the strength...