Why do some countries have better institutions than others? More specifically, what accounts for variation in the quality of property rights institutions in different countries? In this paper, I empirically assess four different theories relating to the determinants of property rights...

This paper analyzes the effect of financial leverage on corporate operating performance and how this effect varies across countries. Results for 10,375 firms in 39 countries indicate that the performance of firms with greater leverage is significantly reduced compared to their competitors in...

The public private partnerships are considered as the hybrid of privatization policy. It is one of a range of policies introduced by the public authority to increase the involvement of the private sector in the provision of public services. Although, there is no such reviews of this mechanism,...

We propose that the legal origin explanation of differences in financial indicators lacks the ability to satisfyingly describe investment performance and firm size effects. In this paper we investigate the impact of legal origin and firm size on investment performance for 20 111 firms in 58...

This study investigates the characteristics and attributes that private equity investors prefer when selecting target acquisitions. These characteristics are examined against a matched sample of firms subject to corporate acquisitions via tender/merger offer during 2000–2009, across seven...

The issue of foreign aid dependency in Africa remains controversial among policymakers. The Euro zone, which provides the bulk of foreign aid to developing countries, is currently implementing some austerity programmes. Consequently, this study investigates what really matters; the quantity or...

Abstract: There is by now a vast literature on how institutional environments affect corporate investments. Much of this literature centres on corporate governance structures and the broader legal environment in which firms operate. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of three countries...

The ongoing global financial crisis has led to the largest increase in state intervention since the Great Depression. Direct government ownership in publicly-traded corporations has increased dramatically since 2008. How will this increase in public ownership affect the governance of these...

Using a sample of non-U.S. firms from 22 countries during 2003–2007, we examine the effect of firm-level governance on various features of loan contracting in the international loan market. We find that banks charge lower loan rates, offer larger and longer-maturity loans, and impose fewer...