Extreme negative events adversely influence people's sentiment and induce pessimism in risk assessments in unrelated domains. Motivated by this finding, we examine whether managers of firms located in close proximity to terrorist attacks and mass shootings become more pessimistic and choose more...

This paper examines whether the corporate decisions of S&P 500 CEOs are influenced by spousal risk preferences. We hand-collect data on the cultural origins of CEOs and their spouses to measure within-marriage transmission of cultural norms. We find that spousal risk preference influences a...