Investor protection is associated with greater investment-sensitivity to q and lower investment-sensitivity to cash flow. Finance plays a role in causing these effects; in countries with strong investor protection external finance increases more strongly with q, and declines more strongly with...

Previous studies find that U.S. firms make large equity issues when stock prices are high for the purpose of building precautionary cash savings. We find these effects internationally, but only in countries where it is less costly to issue equity. In countries where external finance is costlier,...

Previous studies link equity market liberalization to economic growth in emerging markets. In the 24 emerging markets that we study, liberalizations always coincide with other economic reforms, making identification difficult. Theories linking liberalization to growth predict that at the...