We study advertising at the brand level in a sample of corporate acquisitions. New owners display an elevated propensity to sharply cut advertising in acquired brands. This behavior is most pronounced in private equity transactions. When a buyer's existing brands overlap with the acquired...

We use business register data for the United Kingdom to document the importance of the different channels that firms use to adjust their size. We show how the choice of adjustment channel impacts upon firm-level variables such as wages or productivity.

Just as portfolio managers are seeking positive alpha, corporate investors are seeking Tobin's q larger than 1. The present paper develops a quantitative framework in which this process can be analyzed, and prescriptions for concrete financing decisions can be obtained. Specifically, we focus on...

I examine the effects of entrenchment on corporate investment and firm performance. To achieve identification, I use a novel measure of entrenchment and an instrumental variable based on firms' IPO cohort. I find that entrenchment reduces capital expenditures, R&D, and productivity, weakens a...

We examine the effects of entrenchment on corporate investment and firm performance. To achieve identification, we use a novel measure of entrenchment and an instrumental variable based on firms' IPO cohort. We find that entrenchment reduces capital expenditures, R&D, and productivity, weakens a...

We examine the effect of credit default swap (CDS) trading on firm investment, finding a post-CDS introduction decrease in debt issuance and acquisitions, which remains robust to propensity score matching, instrumenting CDS introduction, and controlling for past investment and financing...

We show that executives cut investment when their incentives become more short-term. We examine a unique event in which hundreds of firms eliminated option vesting periods to avoid a drop in income under accounting rule FAS 123-R. This event allowed executives to exercise options earlier and...

Stronger creditor rights reduce credit costs and thus may allow firms to increase leverage and investments, but also increase distress costs and thus may prompt firms to lower leverage and undertake risk-reducing but unprofitable investments. Using a German bankruptcy law reform, on average, we...

I show that access to the public debt market is associated with a significant reduction in the level of capital expenditures and takeovers, especially for firms with higher credit risk. Firms accessing the bond market also become less likely to violate debt covenants, reduce the level of payouts...

This paper studies the capital allocation decisions of firms that are comparable except for ownership under a unique setting using investment level data. We find allocative inefficiency across ownership to be exacerbated under policy distortions through subsidized credits targeted at state-owned...