This paper examines whether dividend policy is associated with earnings management and whether the relationship varies across countries with wide-ranging degrees of institutional strength and transparency. Based on a sample of 23,429 corporations from 29 countries, we show that dividend payers...

We examine the governance transfer effect of corporate blockholders in a sample of 892 block acquisitions across 42 countries from 1990 to 2008. Using earnings management as a proxy for corporate governance outcome, we find that target firms' earnings management is aligned with that of block...

This paper investigates whether foreign institutional investors affect the global convergence of financial reporting practices. Using several measures of reporting convergence, we show that U.S. institutional ownership is positively associated with subsequent changes in emerging market firms'...

This paper examines the determinants and pricing of liquidity commonality using intraday data from 39 markets over 15 years. We show that liquidity commonality is driven by both market-level and firm-level factors. Liquidity commonality is higher in weaker and more-volatile economic and...

We hypothesize that short selling has a disciplining role vis-à-vis firm managers that forces them to reduce earnings management. Using firm-level short-selling data for 33 countries collected over a sample period from 2002 to 2009, we document a significantly negative relationship between the...

This paper investigates whether foreign institutional investors affect the global convergence of financial reporting practices. Using several measures of reporting convergence, we show that U.S. institutional ownership is positively associated with subsequent changes in emerging market firms'...

This paper investigates the impact of international political risk on government bond yields in 34 debtor countries using a comprehensive database of 109 international political crises from 1988 through 2007. After employing the total number of international political crises as a proxy for...

Using a comprehensive international sample of 18,932 firms across 40 countries, we find that cross-country variations in ownership concentration are attributable to differences in firm sizes. Ownership concentration in large firms differs strikingly between countries. For example, large U.S....

Motivated by ongoing debates on investment-cash flow sensitivity (ICFS) and its documented decline and disappearance in the U.S., we investigate the determinants of ICFS. Using firm-level data across 41 countries for the 1993–2013 period, we document an important role of asset tangibility in...

This paper examines whether firms' auditor choice affects their ability to access foreign equity capital. Using the equity holdings of 34,837 foreign mutual funds from 28 countries, we find evidence that appointing a Big 4 auditor increases the level of foreign mutual fund ownership in firms....