Diversified firms trade at a discount relatively to similar single-segment firms. We argue in this paper that this observed discount is not per se evidence that diversification destroys value. Firms choose to diversify. Firm characteristics, which make firms diversify, might also causethem to be...

We examine how different economies would design an optimal corporate governancesystem structured from three of the main mechanisms of corporate governance (managerial ownership, monitoring by banks, and disciplining by the takeover market). We allow for interactions among the mechanisms. The...

Two different financial systems with some opposing features have evolved in the advanced economies, namely the insider system and the outsider system. In this paper, we provide a theoretical framework where the features of the optimal governance systemare derived as a function of economy-wide...

We argue that earnings management and fraudulent accounting have important eco-nomic consequences. In a model where the costs of earnings management are endoge-nous, we show that in equilibrium, low productivity firms hire and invest too muchin order to pool with high productivity firms. This...

We examine the response of prosocial employees and boards of directors to corporate misconduct. We develop several proxies for the presence of prosocial employees and directors, based on the density of social networks and social capital in the county of the firms' headquarters and companies'...

We find that firms grant more rank and file stock options when involved in financial reporting violations, consistent with managements' incentives to discourage employee whistle-blowing. Violating firms grant more rank and file options during periods of misreporting relative to control firms and...

We examine the impact of geographical proximity on the acquisition decisions of US public firms over the period 1990-2003. Transactions where the acquirer and target firms are located within 100km of each other are classified as local transactions. We find that acquirer returns in local...

This paper examines the effect of CEO compensation contracts on misreporting. We find that the sensitivity of the CEO's option portfolio to stock price is significantly positively related to the propensity to misreport. We do not find that the sensitivity of other components of CEO compensation,...

Recent frauds have questioned the efficacy of the SEC's enforcement program. We hypothesize that differences in firms' information sets about SEC enforcement and constraints facing the SEC affect firms' proclivity to adopt aggressive accounting practices. We find that firms located closer to the...

This paper examines the prevalence of informed trading in the corporate debt market prior to takeover announcements. Unlike target stocks, target bonds do not always gain in an acquisition. Target bonds rated higher than the acquirer's stand to lose whereas those rated lower stand to gain. We...