U.S. common stocks are simultaneously traded on multiple trading centers. We study quotes and trades with millisecond timestamps during the flash crash of May 6, 2010 and document new findings about order dynamics when the fragmented market is under stress. First, relative to May 5, 2010, the...

We examine a large sample of mergers involving earnout payments made by bidders to target shareholders. Our findings suggest that earnouts serve two non-mutually-exclusive functions: as risk reduction mechanisms against misvaluation of high asymmetric information targets, and as retention...

We investigate empirically the nature of Japanese executives' compensation contract. The principal issues examined are: the extent Japanese executives are rewarded for performance both in the short term and in the long term, the role of alternative governance and control mechanisms unique to...

The volume of acquisitions involving privately held firms has far surpassed that of publicly traded firms in recent years; yet this segment of the take-over market remains largely unexplored. In analysing the unique features of private target take-overs, we compare the mergers and acquisitions...

We model that firms endogenize the extent of information asymmetry by choosing the optimal level of direct communications with capital markets. We find that leaner firms with less slack (lower cash balance and higher long-term leverage) tend to have greater formal communications. We show that...

In comparison to the abundant evidence on CEOs' compensations, little is known about the compensation of other senior executives and on how the pay differential between CEO and other senior executives affects firm performance. We examine several potential explanations of the pay differential in...

This study examines the extent to which individual demographic characteristics of owners influence capital structure decisions. Using the Federal Reserve's 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances, we estimate the joint effects of traditional capital structure determinants and manager age, gender,...