We survey 612 entrepreneurs who are members of microcredit programs across three developing countries to examine the determinants of firm employment. We find that for opportunity-motivated entrepreneurs, a greater number of employees are predicted by pre-entry means (managerial skill,...

Resource slack represents a double-edged sword, simultaneously fueling and hindering growth. Drawing on Penrose's growth theory and Stevenson's entrepreneurial management theory, we have developed and tested a conceptual model that provides a more nuanced account of the resource slack-growth...

Do entrepreneurs have optimism in subsistence economies, and if so, how does it influence entrepreneurial outcomes? We investigate this question by taking the situated view of optimism. We reason that variations in optimism are a function of the type of opportunity pursued and the diversity of...

We address two apparent paradoxes of risk management: (1) managers hedge in order to avoid negative earnings surprises, yet they tend to hedge risks uninformative of the value of the company; and (2) the presence of options in managers' compensation distorts their incentive to hedge, inducing...

This paper looks for evidence of adverse selection in the relationship between primary insurers and reinsurers. We test the implications of a model in which informational asymmetry – and therefore, its negative consequences – decline over time. Our tests involve a data panel consisting of...

We explore the effects that optimism bias has on the demand for insurance. Our theory is based on a simple binomial model of the demand for insurance in which consumers make optimistically biased assessments concerning the likelihood of future outcomes. From this model, we derive an insurance...

This paper investigates the valuation effects of reinsurance purchases in a contingent claims framework. The comparative statics of the model suggest that, other things held constant, the demand for reinsurance will be greater, 1) the higher the firm's leverage, 2) the lower the correlation...