Publications

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Summer 2019
Article

The Political Influence of Voters' Interests on SEC Enforcement

By: Jonas Heese

I examine whether political influence as a response to voters’ interest in employment levels is reflected in the enforcement actions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). I find that large employers are less likely to experience SEC enforcement actions.... View Details

Keywords: SEC Enforcement; Government Preferences; Voters' Interests; Political Influence; Employment; Public Opinion; Government Administration; Governance Compliance; Political Elections

SSRN

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

International Enforcement of U.S. Patents

By: Robert C. Pozen and Jordan Hirsch

A company that owns a U.S. patent can enforce its patent protections in three ways: by filing a lawsuit in U.S. federal district court, by bringing action in the International Trade Commission, or through the World Trade Organization. This note discusses the pros and... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Patents; Courts and Trials; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights

10 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Government Preferences and SEC Enforcement

Keywords: by Jonas Heese

December 2022
Article

Does Industry Employment of Active Regulators Weaken Oversight?

By: Jonas Heese

I study whether industry employment of active regulators weakens oversight. To examine this question, I exploit that the Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP), the German capital-market regulator responsible for enforcing public firms’ compliance with accounting... View Details

Keywords: Conflict-of-interest Policies; Directorships; Enforcement Actions; Industry Employment; Self-regulatory Organizations; Governance Compliance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Conflict of Interests

fall 2010
Article

Lawsuits and Empire: On the Enforcement of Sovereign Debt in Latin America

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed, Laura Alfaro and Noel Maurer

The re-occurring phenomenon of sovereign default has prompted an enormous theoretical and empirical literature. Most of this research has focused on why countries ever chose to pay their debts (or why private creditors ever expected repayment). The problem originates... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Debt Securities; Motivation and Incentives; Markets; Equity; Banking Industry; Latin America

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Forthcoming
Article

Is There Too Little Antitrust Enforcement in the U.S. Hospital Sector?

By: Zarek Brot-Goldberg, Zack Cooper, Stuart Craig and Lev Klarnet

From 2002 to 2020, there were over 1,000 mergers of U.S. hospitals. During this period, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took enforcement actions against 13 transactions. However, using the FTC’s standard screening tools, we find that 20% of these mergers could have... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Health Industry

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2022
Case

Polarizing Government Work: McKinsey & Co. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

When Donald Trump announced his run for president in 2015, he placed immigration front and center in his campaign. He promised to drastically expand U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and build a border... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Immigration; Public Opinion; Ethics

Article

Measuring Audit Quality

By: Shivaram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Xin Zheng

In this paper, we document 45 specific allegations related to audit deficiencies based on GAAS, as detailed in 141 AAERs and 153 securities class action lawsuits over the violation years 1978–2016. Next, we use these allegations to validate existing popular proxies of... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Audit Deficiency; AAER; Securities Class Action Lawsuits; Enforcement; Accounting Audits; Quality; Measurement and Metrics

SSRN

August 2017
Article

Is the SEC Captured? Evidence from Comment-Letter Reviews

By: Jonas Heese, Mozaffar Khan and Karthik Ramanna

SEC oversight of publicly listed firms ranges from comment letter (CL) reviews of firms’ reporting compliance to pursuing enforcement actions against violators. Prior literature finds that firm political connections (PC) negatively predict enforcement actions,... View Details

Keywords: Comment Letters; Political Connections; Regulatory Capture; SEC Enforcement; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics

SSRN

Article

The Covid-19 Pandemic Should Not Delay Actions to Prevent Anticompetitive Consolidation in U.S. Health Care Markets

By: Leemore S. Dafny

This article describes potential regulatory and legislative reforms to assist antitrust enforcement agencies in halting anticompetitive acquisitions and practices, and preserving and promoting competition in health care markets. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Markets; Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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01 Mar 2007
News

Private Equity under Investigation

division, the Justice Department has every reason to step in. The worry, though, is that the antitrust enforcers will again mistake competition for collusion because they don’t understand the complexities and nuances of this business.... View Details

Keywords: Josh Lerner; syndication; antitrust enforcement; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

October 2022
Background Note

Note on Cyberattacks and Regulatory Regimes

By: Frank Nagle, George A. Riedel, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Describes common types of cyberattacks on enterprises and their costs, as well as the fragmentary regulatory regimes through which U.S. states and regulatory agencies at the start of 2021 attempted to encourage disclosure of cyberattacks and to pursue enforcement... View Details

Keywords: Regulations; Regulatory Agencies; Cyberattacks; Governance; Corporate Disclosure; Cybersecurity; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Aiyesha Dey and George Serafeim

The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of... View Details

16 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 16, 2008

School Note 309-022 A company that owns a U.S. patent can enforce its patent protections in three ways: by filing a lawsuit in U.S. federal district court, by bringing action in the International Trade... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Regulators Ease Up on Companies Generating Political Benefits

politicians and the voters who elected them—fostering greater employment, say. SEC enforcement actions can be costly for companies, about a third of which go out of business after being targeted. Heese... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

09 Mar 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Causes and Consequences of Firm Disclosures of Anticorruption Efforts

Keywords: by Paul Healy & George Serafeim

09 Nov 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Securities Litigation Risk for Foreign Companies Listed in the US

Keywords: by Beiting Cheng, Suraj Srinivasan & Gwen Yu

February 2011 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Brazil: Leading the BRICs?

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Aldo Musacchio

Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, had announced plans to sustain GDP growth above 5% annually and continue the country's leadership role among emerging economies. Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil benefited from strong economic growth and stable policies under the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Intellectual Property; Infrastructure; Economic Growth; Trade; International Relations; Economic Systems; Globalization; Corporate Strategy; Brazil; Russia; India; China; United States

November 2019
Case

Floating the Exchange Rate: In Pursuit of the Chinese Dream

By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong

In the decades following 2005, China faced significant financial challenges. Inflation spiraled upwards and China’s economy stagnated in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. The country’s leaders took an interventionist approach to weather the storm, controlling... View Details

Keywords: Exchange Rate; Inflation; Debt; Currency Exchange Rate; Inflation and Deflation; Borrowing and Debt; China