This paper analyzes the characteristics and impact of loans made to executives for purposes of stock purchase, option exercise and relocation. We find that loans made to assist executives in purchasing stock or excercising options are larger and have higher interest rates than relocation loans....

We examine the impact of changes in equity-option margin requirements on the liquidity of options and underlying stock markets. We find that the decrease in margin was associated with an increase in spreads and trade informativeness, and a decrease in depth for the underlying stocks. In...

In December 2000, the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange launched a new premium market segment for companies that voluntarily commit to "good practices of corporate governance." We construct a composite index (NM6) that combines six proxies for the main governance practices targeted by Bovespa’s reform....

This set of two essays addresses questions about the impact of SFAS No. 131, which provides the current GAAP for segment reporting. Many firms enhanced their segment reports in compliance with SFAS No. 131, while some did not. The first essay documents the impact of the new standard on the...

In this study, we use some relatively unique characteristics of the Brazilian stock market to test corporate governance, capital structure, and payout decisions hypotheses. In Chapter One, we find that a composite index (NM6) that proxy for the main governance practices targeted by Bovespas...

The growing interest from telecommunication services providers to offer wireless based services has spurred an also growing demand for wireless spectrum. This has made the tasks related to spectrum management more complicated, especially those related to the allocation of spectrum between...

This dissertation has three essays. In the first essay, I investigate whether the decision to repurchase stock is driven by investor demand for repurchases. Specifically, I hypothesize that firms cater to investor demand for repurchases by initiating repurchases when investors place premiums on...