The links between individual ability, human capital investment, and labor productivity are generally hard to address because productivity is unobservable. We overcome this problem by examining artist productivity as reflected in art auction prices. First, we observe an inverted-U shaped...

We investigate the importance of bid-ask spread induced biases on event date returns as exemplified by seasoned equity offerings by NYSE listed firms. We document significant negative return biases on the offering day which explain a large portion of the negative event date return documented in...

Insurance pricing is subject to stricter regulation in some states than others. This cross-sectional variation, coupled with the occurrence of staggered deregulation in several states, enables a powerful test of the political cost hypothesis that managers manipulate accruals to mitigate adverse...

The current economic crisis has raised serious questions about the doctrine of shareholder value maximization. In light of these questions we find corporate executives increasingly expressing doubts and confusion over what the proper goal of their businesses should be. Meanwhile, many observers...