Using a newly constructed data set, we compare sources of funds and investment activities of venture capital (VC) funds in Germany, Israel, Japan and the UK. Sources of VC funds differ significantly across countries, e.g. banks are particularly important in Germany, corporations in Israel,...

We investigate whether cultural differences between professional decision-makers affect financial contracts in a large dataset of international syndicated bank loans. We find that more culturally distant lead banks offer borrowers smaller loans at a higher interest rate and are more likely to...

This paper examines the effects of a bank centered financial system on firm performance in Japan. We find that when access to bond and equity markets is limited, close bank-firm ties increase the availability of capital but do not lead to higher profitability or growth. This is largely because...

Using a unique newly constructed data set on Israeli IPO firms in the 1990s, we study costs and benefits of universal banking. The post-issue accounting profitability of firms underwritten by bank affiliated underwriters that were also borrowers from the same bank in the IPO year, is...

We analyze the disclosure practices of companies as a function of their interaction with the U.S. markets for a group of 794 firms from 24 countries in Asia-Pacific and Europe. Our analysis uses the Transparency and Disclosure scores developed recently by Standard amp; Poor's. These scores rate...

We analyze the disclosure practices of companies as a function of their interaction with U.S. markets for a group of 794 firms from 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe. Our analysis uses the Transparency and Disclosure scores developed recently by Standard amp; Poor's. These scores rate...

A defining characteristic of developing countries is the inadequacy of basic services normally required to support organized economic activity. One way in which the private sector acts to facilitate development is through investments orchestrated by agglomerations of firms called business...

As in many countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Sweden), concentrated ownership is a ubiquitous feature of the Indian private sector over the past seven decades. Yet, unlike in most countries, the identity of the primary families responsible for the concentrated ownership changes...

This paper reviews existing studies of the role of business groups, a poorly understood organizational form that is ubiquitous in most emerging markets. Despite the abundance of descriptive and historical studies, each typically focused on a single country, there is a paucity of theoretical work...

Some scholars have argued that globalization should pressure firms to adopt a common set of the most efficient corporate governance practices, while others maintain that such convergence will not occur because of a variety of forms of path-dependence. With new data on governance in 24 developing...