We study the effects of competition on loan rates and loan portfolio quality in microcredit markets using a new database from rating agencies, covering 379 for-profit and nonprofit microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 67 countries over 2002-2008. First, we find competitive pressures from...

The shape of the flow-performance relationship in the hedge fund industry is not constant over time, but varies across market conditions. We employ a switching regression approach to explain quarterly hedge fund flows, based on two regimes where either inflows or outflows are dominating,...

Conventionally, information acquisition is motivated by its instrumental value – the value derived from adapting action to new knowledge. In this paper, we explore the notion of reassurance, whereby people seek to acquire information in order to remove lingering doubts or fears. We formulate...

Consumers confronted with a product that offers an unexpected benefit are often uncertain whether the benefit is relevant to them. They might choose (or not) to reduce this uncertainty by thinking more about the offered benefit's relevance to their life. This paper argues that such heightened...

This paper questions the notion that expatriates should adjust to their host country, by showing that adjustment and its consequences are affected by cosmopolitanism and expected assignment duration. A study of 260 expatriates in the U.S. reveals that cosmopolitans expecting shorter (longer)...