Private Firms

The Role of "Expert Reviewers" in Private Capital Markets

We study initial coin offerings (ICOs) to understand how an unregulated market overcomes information frictions and...

The Persistent Ownership Structure of Private Firms

We find that ownership changes much less over time in private firms than in public firms. The average largest shareholder in private (public) Norwegian firms keeps the same stake in 82% (14%) of two consecutive years. In private firms...

Shareholder Illiquidity and Firm Behavior: Financial and Real Effects of the Personal Wealth Tax in Private Firms

We examine how negative liquidity shocks to households propagate to firms. We show that higher taxes on the home of private firms’ controlling shareholders are associated with higher dividend and salary payments from firms to...

Paid Leave Pays Off: The Effects of Paid Family Leave on Firm Performance

We explore how lowering labor market frictions for female workers affects corporate performance. Using the staggered adoption of state-level Paid Family Leave acts, we provide causal evidence on the value created by relieving...

Public versus Private Equity

The last twenty years or so have seen a sharp decline in public equity. I present a framework that explains the forces that cause the listing propensity of firms to change over time. This framework highlights the benefits and costs of a...

Is it Worthwhile to Augment the Legal Protection of Public Debt Placed by Privately Held Companies?

We examine the effects of a law amendment in Israel in 2011 that imposes a set of minimum corporate governance standards on privately held firms that issue publicly traded bonds. Two main results emerge. First, consistent with US...

Post-Acquisition Performance of Private Acquirers

We provide the first evidence on the performance of private operating firms as acquirers. Private bidders experience greater post-acquisition operating per- formance improvements compared to public bidders. This effect is not due...

Financial Dependence and Innovation: The Case of Public versus Private Firms

In this paper, we examine the relation between innovation and a firm's financial dependence using a sample of privately-held and publicly-traded U.S. firms. We find that public firms in external finance dependent industries spend...

Contracting About Private Benefits of Control

The separation of control and ownership ? the ability of a small group effectively to control a company though holding a minority of its cash flow rights ? is common throughout the world, but also is commonly decried. The control group, it...

The Dutch Private Company: Successfully Relaunched?

This Chapter in a comparative book on private limited liability companies starts with an illustration of the former success of the Dutch limited liability company (BV). Next it addresses the competitive European legal environment...

A Primer on the Uncorporation

More and more companies appear with strange abbreviations behind their business name. Consider Chrysler Group LLC (instead of Inc.) or LVMH Montres and Joaillerie France SAS. Some even speak about the 'endangered corporate form'...

Constraints on Private Benefits of Control: Ex Ante Control Mechanisms Versus Ex Post Transaction Review