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Abstract:
This paper uses recent regulations that have required some companies to increase the number of outside directors on their boards to generate estimates of the effect of board independence on performance that are largely free from endogeneity problems. Our main finding is that the effectiveness of outside directors depends on the cost of acquiring information about the firm: when the cost of acquiring information is low, performance increases when outsiders are added to the board, and when the cost of information is high, performance worsens when outsiders are added to the board. The estimates provide some of the cleanest estimates to date that board independence matters, and the finding that board effectiveness depends on information cost supports a nascent theoretical literature emphasizing information asymmetry. We also find that firms compose their boards as if they understand that outsider effectiveness varies with information costs.

Abstract:
We study the effect of the recent financial crisis on corporate investment. The crisis represents an unexplored negative shock to the supply of external finance for non-financial firms. Corporate investment declines significantly following the onset of the crisis, controlling for firm fixed effects and time-varying measures of investment opportunities. Consistent with a causal effect of a supply shock, the decline is greatest for firms that have low cash reserves or high net short-term debt, are financially constrained, or operate in industries dependent on external finance. To address endogeneity concerns, we measure firms’ financial positions as much as four years prior to the crisis, and confirm that similar results do not follow placebo crises in the summers of 2003–2006. Nor do similar results follow the negative demand shock caused by September 11, 2001. The effects weaken considerably beginning in the third quarter of 2008, when the demand-side effects of the crisis became apparent. Additional analysis suggests an important precautionary savings motive for seemingly excess cash that is generally overlooked in the literature.

Corporate Investment, Cash, Corporate Liquidity, Financing Constraints, Crisis

Abstract:
We investigate the determinants of capital allocation to financial institutions under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Our main finding is that banks’ political ties played a significant role in the distribution of TARP funds. Specifically, connections to House members on finance committees and representation at the Federal Reserve via board members are positively related to the likelihood of receiving TARP capital. The TARP investment amounts are positively related to banks’ size-adjusted political contributions and lobbying expenditures. The effect of political influence is the strongest for poorly performing banks, thus shifting capital allocation towards weaker institutions. Overall, the study provides evidence about various channels through which political activism affects government spending.

financial crisis, bailout, Troubled Asset Relief Program, political connections

Abstract:
This paper proposes that empire building managers strategically initiate self-serving, inefficient acquisitions during periods of intense merger activity ("merger waves"). We postulate that empire building is harder to detect during merger waves because of the difficulty in following and analyzing many deals simultaneously. In addition, it is easier for empire builders to justify the poor performance that is likely to follow inefficient mergers when their actions were ex-ante similar to those of other agents. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that (i) while in-wave corporate acquisitions lead to worse long-term performance relative to non-wave mergers, announcement returns and earnings forecasts fail to reflect this difference; (ii) in-wave mergers are associated with poorer governance; and (iii) managers are less likely to be fired following a bad merger if the acquisition was initiated during a wave. Our results bring forth a possible link, unexplored in the literature, between agency theory and merger waves.

Mergers and acquisitions, Conflicts of Interest, Merger Waves, Valuation

Abstract:
This paper studies the relation between corporate liquidity and diversification. The key finding is that multi-division firms hold significantly less cash than standalone firms because they are diversified in their investment opportunities. Lower cross-divisional correlations in investment opportunity and higher correlations between investment opportunity and cash flow correspond to lower cash holdings, even after controlling for cash-flow volatility. The effects are strongest in financially constrained firms and in well-governed firms, and correspond to efficient fund transfers from low- to high-productivity divisions. Taken together, these results bring forth an efficient link between diversification in investment opportunity and corporate liquidity.

Abstract:
Using unique, hand-collected data, this paper investigates how corporations combine the use of derivative hedging, cash holdings, and bank lines of credit to manage cash flow risks. Consistent with a precautionary saving motive, we find that (i) cash flow hedging derivatives and/or lines of credit serve as substitutes for cash, and (ii) the sensitivity of cash to cash flow volatility is significantly lower for firms that use either derivative hedging, lines of credit, or both. We highlight an important and largely unexplored interaction between cash flow hedging and the use of credit lines: Hedging pushes firms to substitute cash for lines of credit, since it reduces the risk of violating financial covenants. We also investigate the determinants of cash flow hedging. The use of cash flow hedging is highly related to industry, and is concentrated in industries exposed to foreign currency and commodity price risks. We also show that the relation between hedging, cash, and lines of credit is mainly concentrated in financially constrained firms. Overall, our findings shed new light on the joint determination of corporate policies to manage cash flow risks.

derivative, hedging, cash, credit line, liquidity, cash flow risk, financial constraints

Abstract:
Disagreement is a key factor inducing trading, which has been receiving ever-increasing attention in recent years. Most research has focused on disagreement about the expected returns. Several authors have shown that if the average belief coincides with the true expected return in the portfolio context prices are unaffected by disagreement. In this paper we study the pricing effects of disagreement regarding return variances. We show that 1) disagreement about variances has systematic and significant pricing effects, and 2) prices are very sensitive to the degree of disagreement: even if the average belief about the variance is constant, tiny fluctuations in the disagreement about the variance lead to substantial price fluctuations. This second result may offer an explanation for the excess volatility puzzle: when small changes in the degree of disagreement occur, they induce relatively large price changes. Yet, the changes in disagreement may be hard to directly detect empirically, leading to apparent "excess volatility".

heterogeneous beliefs, portfolio optimization, excess volatility

Abstract:
The empirical distribution of firms' market capitalizations is shown to be in excellent agreement with a very skewed lognormal distribution: the largest firms are about 1000 times larger than the median firm. Can this skewed size distribution be consistent with mean-variance portfolio optimization and realistic return parameters? We show that the expected returns implied by the empirical size distribution and portfolio optimization agree with the empirical average returns. Moreover, the portfolio optimization framework can provide a constructive explanation for the observed lognormal distribution. Thus, portfolio optimization is not only consistent with the empirical size distribution, it can actually explain it.

firm size, portfolio optimization, mean-variance analysis, lognormal distribution, Gibrat process, CAPM