
U.S. corporations headquartered in states with greater public corruption are prone to more unethical behavior, reflective of a state-level "culture-of-corruption". We test for state-level differences by exploiting passage of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) that curtailed bribery of foreign officials. Firms in corrupt states, especially firms trading with more corrupt countries, suffer greater value (Tobin's Q) and performance (ROA) decline following FCPA, indicating larger losses from restrictions on bribery. Culture-of-corruption is also manifest in greater agency problems: Firms in corrupt states are more likely to manage earnings, face securities fraud litigation and be adversely affected by state-level anti-takeover laws.
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 10 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Top 10% |
