We show that location within a dense regional cluster of interconnected businesses increases a firm’s resiliency in responding to changing economic conditions and is a key driver of competitive success. Compared to their rivals in less dense regional clusters, firms located in dense clusters...

Following state-level legal changes that increase labor dismissal costs, firms increase their innovation in new processes that facilitate the adoption of cost-saving production methods, especially in industries with a large share of labor costs in total costs. Firms with high innovation ability...

Firms strategically choose more conservative capital structures when they face greater competitive threats stemming from the potential loss of their trade secrets to rivals. Following the recognition of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine by U.S. state courts, which exogenously increases the...

We develop a daily measure of average stock variance and study whether it can predict market returns one day ahead. Using a time-invariant prediction model we find a robust predictive relation between these variables which cannot be used to profitably time the market. A closer look reveals that...

We study the role of pyramidal ownership structures in the creation of new firms. Our results suggest that pyramids arise because they provide a financing advantage in setting up new firms when the pledgeability of cash flows to outside financiers is limited. Parent companies supply inside funds...

We show that firms with more illiquid real assets have a higher cost of capital. This effect is stronger when real illiquidity arises from lower within-industry acquisition activity. Real asset illiquidity increases the cost of capital more for firms that face more competition, have less access...

We examine the impact of operating flexibility on firms' costs of equity by focusing on the constraints that labor unions impose on firms' operations. We find that the cost of equity is higher for firms in more unionized industries. The effect holds after we control for a host of industry- and...

We study the effect of real asset liquidity on a firm's cost of capital. We find an aggregate asset-liquidity discount in firms' cost of capital that is strongly counter-cyclical. At the firm-level we find that asset liquidity affects firms' cost of capital both in the cross section and in the...