Using hand-collected data on divisional managers at S&P 500 firms, we study their role in internal capital budgeting. Divisional managers with social connections to the CEO receive more capital. Connections to the CEO outweigh measures of managers' formal influence, such as seniority and board...

Industries that are more central in the network of intersectoral trade earn higher stock returns than industries that are less central. To explain this finding, I argue that stocks in more central industries have greater market risk because they have greater exposure to sectoral shocks that...