Smooth mixtures, i.e. mixture models with covariate-dependent mixing weights, are very useful flexible models for conditional densities. Previous work shows that using too simple mixture components for modeling heteroscedastic and/or heavy tailed data can give a poor fit, even with a large...

This paper examines the information content of the forward-looking statements in the Management Discussion and Analysis section (MD&A) of 10-K and 10-Q filings using a Naive Bayesian machine learning algorithm. I find that firms with better current performance, lower accruals, smaller size,...

In this paper we develop a measure of competition based on management's disclosures in their 10-K filing and find that firms' rates of diminishing marginal returns on new and existing investment vary significantly with our measure. We show that these firm-level disclosures are related to...

This paper examines the relationship between annual report readability and firm performance and earnings persistence. This is motivated by the Securities and Exchange Commission's plain English disclosure regulations that attempt to make corporate disclosures easier to read for ordinary...

In the wake of the recent housing and financial crisis, many have argued that consumers are defaulting on their mortgage for strategic reasons, either because they are "underwater" or to preserve access to credit from other types of debt products, in order to maintain their consumption of other...