We study the role of pyramidal ownership structures in the creation of new firms. Our results suggest that pyramids arise because they provide a financing advantage in setting up new firms when the pledgeability of cash flows to outside financiers is limited. Parent companies supply inside funds...

We show that firms with more illiquid real assets have a higher cost of capital. This effect is stronger when real illiquidity arises from lower within-industry acquisition activity. Real asset illiquidity increases the cost of capital more for firms that face more competition, have less access...

We study whether the constraints on firms' operations imposed by labor unions affect firms' costs of equity. The cost of equity is significantly higher for firms in more unionized industries. This effect holds after controlling for several industry and firm characteristics, is robust to...

We examine whether, and to what extent, shareholder voting rights affect institutional investment decisions. Our analysis compares institutional investment in dual-class firms, where multiple share classes carrying differential voting rights allow insiders to control the firm and leave outside...

We argue that portfolio choices can play a role in resolving asymmetric information problems between top managers who aspire to run the firm and the board of directors who must appoint a new CEO. Our intuition is that if ownership of the firm's stock serves to convey a manager's private...

We investigate what determines the maturity of lines of credit to small businesses. Our results provide strong support for the hypothesis that shorter loan maturities serve to mitigate the problems associated with borrower risk and asymmetric information that are typical of small business...

This article examines managerial ownership structure and at-issue yield spreads on corporate bonds. There is a positive relation between managerial ownership and borrowing costs, and this relation is weaker at higher levels of ownership. In addition, managerial stock options have a larger effect...

I examine how CEO compensation packages and pay-performance sensitivities are related to firms' capital structures. The results are fully consistent with shareholders designing compensation contracts not only to align incentives with managers, but also to mitigate stockholder-bondholder...