The goal of product design is to obtain maximum functionality and aesthetic beauty at a minimum cost. Additionally consumers are attracted to designs that reflect their use, behaviors, and psychological responses more so than designs which simply alter the visual appearance of a product. When...

We examine the causal impact of public-sector spending on corporate investment. Making use of population count revisions in census years as exogenous shocks to the cross-sectional allocation of federal funds, we find that increases in federal spending reduce firms' investment, R&D spending,...

We investigate how corporate environmental responsibility (CER) actions affect firm value. We adopt an event studies approach using two narrowly-decided 5-to-4 Supreme Court rulings and show that firms gain value when they are expected to increase their CER activities. The market reactions are...

This paper documents evidence that financial constraints increase firms' toxic emissions given that firms actively trade off abatement costs against potential legal liabilities. Exploring three quasi-natural experiments in which firms' financial resources are likely exogenously impacted, we find...