Using a sample from 38 economies, we examine the relation between bank regulators’ supervisory power and loan spreads. We find that loans issued by banks in economies with more powerful supervisors have higher spreads. The positive association is more pronounced when firms have lower credit...

Innovation is a contract intensive economic activity in a world of incomplete contracts. We show that trust mitigates incomplete contracting and enhances innovation by acting as an informal contracting mechanism. Trust plays an especially important role when formal laws and regulations are...

We investigate the effect of stock market liberalization on technological innovation. Using a sample of 20 economies that experience stock market liberalization, we find that these economies exhibit a higher level of innovation output after liberalization, and this effect is disproportionately...

This study first establishes a causal relation between insider trading and the likelihood of stock price crash occurrence, and then investigates potential channels through which the former influences the latter. Exploiting the initial enforcement of insider trading laws in a country as a natural...

We examine the impact of financial reporting on corporate innovation. We find that firms that exhibit more conservative financial reporting generate fewer patents. Their patents also result in fewer citations and lower economic benefits. These effects of conservative financial reporting on...

We show that credit default swap (CDS) trading on a firm's debt positively influences its technological innovation output measured by patents and patent citations. This positive effect is more pronounced in firms relying more on debt financing or being more subject to continuous monitoring by...

This paper examines the disciplinary role of corporate pension deficits in the market for corporate control. We find that companies with larger pension deficits are less likely to engage in diversifying mergers, experience higher merger announcement returns, pay lower premiums to targets, and...

This paper examines the executive compensation schemes of firms whose employees invest in company stocks in the defined contribution (DC) pension plan. In sum, I find that during the period 1992 to 2007, firms with higher employee ownership in the DC plan are more likely to reduce the level and...

We show that stock liquidity negatively affects firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings. To identify the causal effect, we use the decimalization of stock trading as an exogenous shock to liquidity. The negative CSR effect of liquidity is more pronounced for firms where short-term...