Extant research shows that entrepreneurs are typically overly optimistic about their ventures' prospects, and that such optimism hampers performance. We analyze how dispositional optimism affects the adjustments to entrepreneurs' expectations after they receive negative feedback on their task...

We analyze whether gender interactions at the top of the corporate hierarchy affect corporate performance. Using a comprehensive data set of family-controlled firms in Italy, we find that female directors significantly improve the operating profitability of female-led companies. To mitigate...

Estimating difference-in-differences models on a comprehensive dataset of Italian companies, we provide novel insights into the literature on political uncertainty and firm investment. We first establish that local political uncertainty leads to declining investment. Next, we show that family...

Using a large dataset of US investors and their portfolio startups, we analyze the phenomenon of micro VC investors, that is, VC firms managing funds smaller than $50 million. We show that investments by micro VCs have increased at a much steeper rate than those by traditional VCs during...