Using a sample of 2477 privatizations from 108 countries that raised $1.2 trillion between 1977 and 2000, we analyze the choice between raising funds in public versus private capital markets. This choice is influenced by capital market, political, and firm-specific factors. Share issue...

Foreign directors can affect firm value through their advising and monitoring functions. However, the demand for these directors, as well as their effect on firm performance is likely to be influenced by firm- and country-level characteristics. In a large sample of non-U.S. firms, we find that...

Using an original dataset of fully monetized LBOs initiated from 1990-2006, we examine the emergence of an entrepreneurial transaction strategy focused on revenue growth and its incidence relative to more "classic" strategies focused on operating efficiencies. We additionally show how the...

We argue that management sells assets when doing so provides the cheapest funds to pursue its objectives rather than for operating efficiency reasons alone. This hypothesis suggests that (1) firms selling assets have high leverage and/or poor performance, (2) a successful asset sale is good news...

Promotion decisions for professors are critical for any university and this is especially true when promotion also involves the granting of tenure. In this paper, we report the number of publications for Finance professors promoted to Associate or Full Professor at schools similar to the...

This article has two related tasks. First, we review the articles published in this Special Issue on Corporate Control, Mergers, and Acquisitions. These articles provide new evidence on several aspects of corporate control and governance including the value and performance effects of various...

We show that acquirer returns are significantly higher in stock-swap acquisitions of difficult-to-value targets, as measured by Ramp;D intensity and idiosyncratic return volatility. This finding contributes to an explanation of the determinants of, and value gains from, using stock as a method...

We address whether mutual funds act effectively as monitors through the proxy voting process by supporting wealth increasing items. We examine 213,579 voting decisions made by 1,799 mutual funds from 94 fund families for 1,047 shareholder proposals voted on between July 2003 and June 2005. In...

We address whether mutual funds act effectively through the proxy voting process by supporting wealth increasing items. We examine 212,620 voting decisions made by 1,794 mutual funds from 94 fund families for 1,047 shareholder proposals voted on between July 2003 and June 2005. We find that...

We provide an in-depth comparison of US and UK shareholder proposal rules and relate the differences in rules to differences in proposing activities, using comprehensive shareholder proposal data from both countries for 2000-2006. UK proposal rules are more onerous on proposal sponsors, but UK...