Abstract We develop a new data set to study asset specificity among nonfinancial firms. Our cover the liquidation values of each category assets on firms’ balance sheets and provides information across major industries. First, we find that firms have high specificity. For example, value fixed is 35% net book in average industry. Second, analyze determinants document assets’ physical attributes ...

We investigate the susceptibility of democracies to demagogues, studying tensions between representatives who guard voters’ long-run interests and demagogues cater short-run desires. Parties propose consumption investment. Voters base choices on current-period valence shocks. Younger/poorer economies economically disadvantaged voters are attracted demagogue’s disinvestment policies, forcing far...

This article analyzes the impact of the residential security maps created by the Home Owners’Loan Corporation (HOLC) during the 1930s on residential mortgages in Philadelphia. Researchers have consistently argued that HOLC caused redlining and disinvestment in U.S. cities by sharing its color-coded maps. Geographic information systems and spatial statistical models were used to analyze address-...

The financial sector’s response to pressures around climate change has emphasized the role of disclosure, notably through recommendations Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Disclosures. This Perspective examines two dimensions expectations behind transparency and disclosure initiatives: belief that disinvestment is driven by disclosure; investment ‘switches’ from high- lo...