This thesis contains three separate essays that deal with word of mouth. In the first essay, "Promotional Chat on the Internet," we analyze the firms' incentives to anonymously supply positive reviews of products in chat rooms and other recommendation sites. This, in turn, lowers the credibility...

This thesis consists of two chapters that investigate two important issues in banking of the past decade: the effect of banking consolidation on the borrowers and the regulatory capital requirements for banks. The first chapter analyzes the effect of bank mergers on loan prices, and the welfare...

This thesis consists of three empirical essays on securitization and the resolution of financial distress, examining the information content of prices of mortgage-backed securities, the role of securitization in preventing mortgage renegotiation and the effect of minimum bids in ascending price...

This thesis consists of three essays examining issues related to human capital, careers, and financial economics. In the first chapter, I examine how the process of corporate bankruptcy varies by human capital intensity using a sample of 1,493 public firms that filed for Chapter 11 between 1980...

Venture capital investment performance data and performance attribution are not typically published. Venture investors articulate (and sell to LPs) conflicting strategies; the popular business literature and culture is rife with rapidly changing beliefs about the relative attractiveness of...

This thesis consists of three chapters of independent but related work that investigate theoretically and empirically the organizational forms of delegated portfolio management. The first chapter proposes a theory of the organizational forms of investment vehicles based on adverse selection....

Firm boundaries have been the subject of much scholarly interest in recent years, as firms increasingly hire external, "contingent" workers and outsource previously core activities. However, little empirical research has directly studied what happens differently inside the firm's boundaries,...

Within 27 years from 1979 when the first analogue cellular telephone system was launched, the Wireless Telecommunication industry has evolved drastically. Its technology and service are now in third generation: 3G, and already moving forward to 4G. Within a few years, it will enable the exchange...

This thesis explores in three essays if, how, and why social relationships have a bearing on outcomes in the entrepreneurial process. The first essay attempts to determine which mechanism drives the children of business owners to expect to become and actually enter business ownership themselves....

This thesis consists of three essays covering topics in empirical corporate finance with an emphasis on banking relationships and its effect on liquidity constraints and business growth. In particular, it investigates the effect of monetary capital and human capital constraints and the role of...