We show that IPOs have non-trivial positive spillover effects on local labor markets, business environments, consumer spending, real estate, and migration. We mitigate endogeneity concerns about unobserved heterogeneity with restrictive geographic fixed effects coupled with a matching procedure....

We exploit unique features of the U.S. municipal bond underwriting market to assess how political integrity affects primary financial market outcomes. We show that state corruption and political connections have strong effects on several aspects of municipal bond sales and underwriting....

We examine how boardroom gender diversity reforms impact the monitoring role of institutional investors. Using reforms from 25 countries that aim to improve gender diversity on boards, we find that the reforms increase the association between institutional ownership and subsequent female...

We examine the impact of social norms (individualism, risk aversion, and authoritarian control index) on firm capital structure in the G20 countries from 1995 through 2009. Our results show that increases in individualism increase firm willingness to use debt and decrease the average cost of...

This paper examines the impact of social norms on firm value and the capital structure of firms engaged in the production of tobacco, alcohol, and gambling services ('sin stocks') in the G20 nations. We first demonstrate that sin stocks are undervalued in countries where social norms are...

We examine the valuation impact of employee-friendly (EF) culture. Using a sample of 3,457 firms from 43 countries for the period 2003 to 2014, we show that firms with a more EF culture have higher valuations (Tobin's q). The impact on valuation stems from improved technical efficiency and...

We examine the joint effects of bank regulation and internal governance on bank stand-alone and systemic risk. Using a broad international sample, we find that banks with better governance in countries with better regulatory quality have lower risk. These results are stronger in more developed...