This case study explores which variables - macroeconomic, institutional, and capital controls - are most important in explaining cross-country differences in bond market development. It uses the ratio of amount of local currency bonds outstanding over GDP as a measure of bond market development...

Weld, Michaely, Thaler, and Benartzi (2009) find that the average nominal U.S. stock price has been approximately $25 since the Great Depression. They report that this “nominal price fixation is primarily a U.S. or North American phenomenon.” Using a larger data set from 38 countries, we...

This paper investigates the effect of competition among credit rating agencies on ratings quality. Specifically, we study how the ratings quality of a small local rating agency (DBRS) responds to competition from a large global rating agency (S&P) in rating Canadian corporate bonds. We find that...

Research on capital structure and product market interactions shows that high leverage is associated with substantial losses in market share due to unfavorable actions by customers and competitors. We examine whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects firms' interactions with...

Equity market liberalizations open up domestic stock markets to foreign investors. A puzzle in the literature is why developing countries exhibit relatively small financial impacts associated with liberalizations. We use cross-firm variation in corporate governance at the time of the official...