This study tests for the international presence of dividend catering across a sample of twenty-three countries. We find evidence of catering among firms incorporated in common law countries but not for those in civil law nations. Catering persists even after controlling for the effect of the...

This paper re-examines the reaction of stockholders and bondholders to announcements of filing of Chapter 11 with a sample of 274 NYSE/AMEX and NASDAQ firms that announce bankruptcy during the period 1979-1989. Although the market reaction of these securityholders is the subject of considerable...

Using a comprehensive sample of mutual funds and fund families for the period 1992-2004, this paper examines the impact of fund management companies' organizational forms on the level of agency costs observed within mutual funds. We find that, all else being equal, (1) funds managed by public...

This paper investigates the influence of managerial entrenchment on private placements by examining the firm's decision to appoint representatives of the private investors to the board without shareholder approval. By analyzing a sample of U.S. firms that appoint directors in combination with...

Legal rights of investors have been recognized as an essential component of corporate governance. We assess the efficacy of these rights by an examination of the corporate governance effects of 215 shareholder derivative lawsuits filed in U.S. courts over the period, 1982-1994. We find...

We test whether a bias exists in analyst recommendations for firms that file for bankruptcy during 1995-2001. We fail to find over-optimism in analyst recommendations, including those of affiliated analysts. Our multivariate analysis of the market reaction to changes in analyst recommendations...

Rodrik [JIE 1996] argues for coordinated government policy when emerging countries are stuck in a low wage equilibrium because of a coordination failure. Because the return to intermediate output is markedly below that realised when a minimum threshold number of varieties must produced in...

Through a comparison of serial and once bankrupt firms over the period 1970-1996, those factors that lead to a successful reorganization are examined. It is found that serial bankrupt firms generally fail to restructure their top management around the time of their initial reorganization while...

Contrary to the concerns of the Council of Institutional Investors and other shareholder activists, it is reported that the incidence of multiple board memberships appointments by corporate directors is low, with only 4% of the sample holding three or more seats. It is found that directors in...

The changing nature of initial public offering (IPO) underpricing is examined using a sample of 513 IPOs launched in the UK from 1993 to 2001. It is found that the mean UK underpricing is initially less than that in the USA, reverses itself in the mid-1990s, returns to a lower level during the...