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...

We examine whether M&A transactions between firms sharing a common lender differ in important ways from those without common lenders. Consistent with the idea that banks serve a positive matchmaking role, we find higher abnormal announcement returns for deals in which the bidder and target share...

This paper aims to shed light on the alleged contradiction between the observed conglomerate discount and a value creating effect of diversification itself. For this reason, we apply endogenous switching regressions on a sample of 51,878 US-firm years recorded over the years 1992-2012 in order...

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...

This study investigates the association between media uncertainty and a comprehensive set of corporate decision-making measures that capture firm, investment, and financial risk. We report evidence that CEOs and firms who attract greater media uncertainty are more risk-seeking. Media uncertainty...

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...

Articles in the top finance journals largely ignore the potential of outlier-induced bias in empirical research. When finance researchers do address outliers they use techniques that tend to cause additional problems. We illustrate the problems via simulations as well as replications of studies...