We study the effects of going public using a unique panel of firms in 16 European countries for which we observe financial data before and after firms' initial-public-offering (IPO) attempts. We compare firms that complete their IPO with firms that withdraw their IPO. We instrument the going...

We study the effects of going public using a unique panel of firms in 16 European countries for which we observe financial data before and after firms' initial-public-offering (IPO) attempts. We compare firms that complete their IPO with firms that withdraw their IPO. We instrument the going...

How do firms manage their operational leverage? We study this question in the context of U.S. multinationals facing changes in foreign labor regulations. We find that firms facing higher labor protection in foreign countries replace their integrated operations with arm's-length relations in...

We revisit the relationship between ownership concentration and firm value using hand-collected data on the stakes of owner-managers immediately before and after IPOs. We instrument for the reduction in concentration using market returns on the three months prior to the IPO. Short-run market...

We analyze the financial leverage of firms that collude to soften product market competition by forming a cartel. We find that cartel firms have lower leverage during collusion periods. This is consistent with the idea that cartel firms strategically reduce leverage to make their cartels more...

An important and robust finding in the capital structure literature is the inverse relation between profitability and leverage. We revisit this relation in light of a novel quasi-natural experiment that increases market power for a subset of firms and has spillovers on their suppliers. We find...

We propose a novel identification strategy for estimating the effects of business group affiliation. We study two-firm business groups, some of which split up during the sample period, leaving some firms as stand-alones. We instrument for stand-alone status using shocks to the industry of the...