Technological imitation may play a crucial role in motivating firms to innovate. However, theoretical predictions and empirical findings on the role of imitation have not yet reached a consensus. One major gap in the previous studies is that the empirical tests are based on samples consisting of...

Using a large dataset of Korean public and private firms, we show that public listing does not influence the supply of trade credit among firms affiliated with a large business group (chaebol). Meanwhile, non-affiliated public firms provide more trade credit to customers than their private...

This study proposes a generalized partial adjustment model of dividends in which managers set target dividends based on adaptively-formed earnings prospects. We show that firms adjust dividends to their target payouts much faster than previously documented. When managers form future earnings...

We find that a firm facing higher uncertainty has a higher value of cash. This effect is attributed to the increased value of the option to wait and see as well as the aggravated financial constraints and mitigated agency conflicts

This study investigates the relationship between product market competition and the market value of innovation using firm-level patent data of US firms over the period 1977-2005. We find that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between competition and the value of innovation. Furthermore,...

Using a semiparametric smooth-coefficient partial adjustment model, this study finds evidence for asymmetric peer effects on capital structure adjustment speeds between overlevered and underlevered firms. Overlevered firms' adjustment speeds and peer firm shocks have a U-shaped relationship,...

This study investigates how uncertainty affects firms' target capital structure using a panel data set of U.S. public manufacturers between 2003 and 2018 and finds that high-uncertainty firms have 10.1 (8.1) percentage points lower mean book (market) targets than low-uncertainty firms. This...

This study investigates the predictability of stock market returns using a novel corporate investment measure that captures the lumpiness of firm-level investment. We find that the proportion of firms with investment spikes ("spike") is a strong predictor of excess stock returns. Specifically,...

We examine the effect of a large dividend tax cut on corporate investment efficiency by exploiting the 2003 personal taxation reform in the U.S. as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a difference-in-differences approach based on the probability that a firm's marginal investor was an individual...

This study investigates whether economic policy uncertainty (EPU) magnifies peer effects in corporate investment in China. Through use of the peer-firm-average idiosyncratic stock return to capture exogenous variation in peer firms' investment activities, we show that peer effects are stronger...