Foreign Investors and US Treasuries Alexandra M. Tabova & Francis E. Warnock We build, from confidential security-level surveys, a novel dataset on the size, flows, coupon payments, and returns of the US Treasuries portfolios of foreign and US investors. The internally consistent dataset provides evidence on foreigners’ Treasuries portfolios that…

Inflation and the Relative Price Premium Abstract This study shows that relative price dispersion impacts risk premia. Notably, firms associated with goods and services that have increased (decreased) in price relative to the headline inflation rate earn high (low) returns. We refer to this return spread of 0.71% per month…

The Effect of Childcare Access on Women’s Careers and Firm Performance  Abstract We study the effect of government-subsidized childcare on women's career outcomes and firm performance using linked tax filing data. Exploiting a universal childcare reform in Quebec in 1997 and the variation in its timing relative to childbirth across…

Syndicated Lending, Competition and Relative Performance Evaluation Abstract Relative performance evaluation (RPE) intensifies competitive pressure by tying executive compensation to the profits of rivals. We show that these contracts make loan syndication harder by reducing banks’ willingness to participate in loans underwritten by banks named in their RPE contracts. Lead…

Green Revenues Authors: Johannes Klausmann, Philipp Krueger & Pedro Matos Abstract: Using a novel measure of a firm's green revenues, this paper sizes up the green economy. We shed light on the drivers behind global public firms increasing business activities that help with the transition to a low-carbon and more…

(Not) Everybody’s Working for the Weekend: A Study of Mutual Fund Manager Effort Abstract We develop a novel measure of effort to revisit the fundamental questions of asset management: how does effort relate to incentives; and how does effort affect performance? Using unique observations of daily work activity, we define…

Climate Transition Beliefs  Abstract We study expectations about the trajectory of the energy transition (climate transition beliefs) as drivers of “green” investment decisions and return expectations. In a survey of U.S. retail investors (N=1,007), we document considerable heterogeneity in climate transition beliefs at different horizons. Climate transition optimism positively correlates…

Human Capital, Intrinsic Motivation, and Productivity: Evidence from the Hidden Costs of Government Shutdowns We study how intrinsic motivation affects human capital retention and productivity using millions of employee records for the U.S. federal government. Exploiting heterogenous exposure to government shutdowns as shocks to intrinsic motivation, we show that affected…

Outsourcing Workplace Safety Abstract I study if firms deliberately sacrifice workplace safety for profits by using contract workers, for whom they are not legally liable. I exploit a regression discontinuity design around the amendment to the Occupational Health and Safety Act in Korea,2017, which expanded the legal accountability of firms…