type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>We study the economic consequences of a recent Securities and Exchange Commission securities regulation change that grants foreign firms trading on the U.S. over-the-counter (OTC) market an automatic exemption from the reporting requirements of the 1934 Securities Act. We...</p>

type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>Although sell-side analysts often privately interact with managers of publicly traded firms, the private nature of this contact has historically obscured direction examination. By examining a set of proprietary records compiled by a large-cap NYSE-traded firm, I offer...</p>

We show that media coverage of mutual fund holdings affects how investors allocate money across funds. Fund holdings with high past returns attract extra flows, but only if these stocks were recently featured in the media. In contrast, holdings that were not covered in major newspapers do not...

When multiple projects can require attention at unpredictable times, institutions (firms) can respond by choosing the number of projects they simultaneously undertake (medium term) and by acquiring attention capacity (long term). Idleness is an optimal response and not a sign of shirking. In the...

This paper exploits a natural quasi-experiment to isolate the effects that were uniquely due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX): U.S. firms with a public float under $75 million could delay Section 404 compliance, and foreign firms under $700 million could delay the auditor's attestation...

We examine how country-level legal and institutional differences in creditor and shareholder rights shape the use of bond covenants. Using comprehensive debt covenant information for a sample of Yankee bonds issued by firms from more than 50 countries, we find that bond contracts for firms...

"We rely on a survey of Swiss firms to document deviation from first-best for reasons of internal 'fairness' when allocating resources. This 'socialist' practice is more widespread in smaller than in larger firms. It ignores the reputation and past performance of the managers who apply for...

We examine the impact of country-level political rights on the cost of debt for corporate bonds issued by firms incorporated in 39 countries. Similar to, but separate from, the relation for creditor rights, greater political rights are associated with lower yield spreads. A one standard...