We examine why corporate governance varies widely across countries and across firms, and why such variation matters. Using a proprietary database from Governance Metrics International on corporate governance practices across a large number of countries and firms for 2006-2011 and employing a...

We study the effect of a country's political freedom status on corporate payouts around the world. In both OLS and two-stage regressions, we find that firms in less free countries pay out more cash, suggesting that low political freedom is associated with a less friendly investment environment....

We examine the role of national culture — an important informal institution — in the profit reinvestment decisions of small firms in emerging markets. Prior economic development literature focuses on formal institutions as determinants of growth. However, in emerging markets where formal...

Based on the social analysis framework of Williamson, we argue that national culture – especially the individualism/collectivism dimension – located in the social embeddedness level can guide behaviors and decisions in a country, including the choice of exchange rate regime. We argue that...

Recent events, most notably the Global Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, have made it increasingly apparent that liquidity is synonymous with corporate survival. In this paper, we explore how governments can fulfill an important need as suppliers of liquidity. Building on the financing...