We hypothesize that firms structure their asset holdings so as to shelter assets from extraction by politicians and bureaucrats. Specifically, in countries where the threat of political extraction is higher, we hypothesize that firms will hold a lower fraction of their assets in liquid form....

This study investigates empirically the factors that determine whether firms borrow from banks and other finance companies versus issuing bonds for sale to the public. I analyze 1,560 new borrowings from banks, non-bank private lenders, and the public debt market by 1,480 U.S. public firms over...

This dissertation is comprised of two essays in which I investigate the idea that cross-subsidization of poorly-performing units within conglomerates is a cause for the value loss from diversification. In the first essay, I document a significant curvilinear relation between the value of...

I conduct an examination of the cross-sectional and time-series evidence on the decision to reduce dividends over the 40-year period of 1965-2004. As my core analysis, I empirically investigate whether the decision to cut dividends is caused by the exhaustion of corporate cash reserves and the...

An investment into an ARM-backed security requires the estimation of its theoretical, "fair", value, which can be determined using a stochastic valuation model and a well-specified prepayment function. In this study, we develop a general framework for the valuation of ARM-backed securities,...

This paper develops an empirical framework that allows the degree of out-of-sample predictability in any specific dataset to serve as conditioning information in portfolio choice and market timing decisions. The forecasting model is developed from a real-time investment perspective by allowing...

How does a corporate board select their new CEO and directors? These questions are interesting to both practitioners and researchers. In my first essay, I develop a search-matching model which predicts that new CEOs who are better matches to the firms will stay longer, perform better, and...

Leverage-reducing exchange offers are consistently associated with a reduction in shareholder wealth. This study examines the motivations behind these exchange offers in light of their negative impact on shareholders' wealth by characterizing a sample of 151 firms conducting leverage-decreasing...

During the 1990s and beyond, countries around the world have witnessed calls and/or mandates for more outside directors on publicly-traded companies’ boards even though extant studies find no significant correlation between outside directors and corporate performance. We examine the connection...

Between 1993 and 2000 at least 18 countries saw publication of guidelines that propose minimum representation of outside directors on corporate boards. The apparent premise underlying this movement is that boards with significant outside directors will make different and, perhaps, better...