Over the past two decades, by some measures, paying dividends has become a less favorable choice for firms. At the same time, the business environment in which firms operate has also become more competitive. This raises an interesting question: does a firm's market power in its product market...

Discount rates are essential to applied finance, especially in setting prices for regulated utilities and valuing the liabilities of insurance companies and defined benefit pension plans. This paper reviews the basic building blocks for estimating discount rates. It also examines market risk...

We examine the difference in cash holdings between high-tech and non-high-tech firms from 1974 to 2007. The average cash-to-assets ratio of non-high-tech firms remained stable throughout the period. In contrast, the average cash ratio of high-tech firms more than tripled from 1980 to 2007. This...