Using variations in local real estate prices as exogenous shocks to corporate financing capacity, we investigate the causal effects of financial flexibility on cash policies of US firms. Building on this natural experiment, we find strong evidence that increases in real estate values lead to smaller corporate cash reserves, declines in the marginal value of cash holdings, and lower cash flow se...

Incident Response has always been perceived as a very important issue in every Corporate Security Policy. Every security incident has to be treated differently according to many different factors that define its significance, magnitude and effects. In this context, many Incident Response best practices were developed and adopted in corporate or legal frameworks and standards. On the other hand,...

We study the causal effect of labor unions on corporate payout policy by using a regression discontinuity (RD) design. Passing a union election leads to an 8.7% lower dividend ratio and a 17.9% lower total payout ratio (including both dividends and share repurchases) than failing an election in the following year. The negative effect of unions on payout is absent in firms located in states with...

This paper argues that the large reduction in corporate tax rates and only gradual widening of tax bases in many countries over the last decades are consistent with tougher international competition for foreign direct investment (FDI). To make this point we develop a model in which governments compete for FDI using corporate tax rates and tax bases. The model’s predictions regarding the slope o...

BACKGROUND The Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC) provides a basis for nation states to limit the political effects of tobacco industry philanthropy, yet progress in this area is limited. This paper aims to integrate the findings of previous studies on tobacco industry philanthropy with a new analysis of British American Tobacco's (BAT) record of charitable giving to develop a gener...

This paper describes part of a solution to the interpretation of human-readable policy documents into semi-automatic conformance checking. Using a socio-cognitively motivated representation of shared knowledge, and applying appropriate inference mechanisms from a normative perspective, a mechanism to automatically detect potentially non-conforming blog entries is detailed. Candidate non-conform...

We examine firm valuation with optimal liquidity (retained earnings) and dividend choice under revenue uncertainty that incorporates debt financing and bankruptcy costs. We revisit the conditions for dividend policy irrelevancy and the role of retained earnings and dividends. Retained earnings have a net positive impact on firm value in the presence of growth options, high external financing co...

Prior research has documented evidence that entrenched managers tend to avoid debt. Contrary to this evidence, I find that firms with weak shareholder rights, as measured by the Gompers et al. (2003) governance index, actually use more debt finance and have higher leverage ratios. I provide an explanation by showing that entrenched managers choose conservative (safe) investment policies and the...

We propose and investigate a new channel through which the resource curse a stylized fact that countries rich in natural resources grow slower operates. Predatory governments are more likely to expropriate corporate profits in natural resource industries when the price of resources is higher. Corporations whose profits are more dependent on the price of resources can mitigate the risk of exprop...