Three Essays on Intangible Capital in Corporate Finance.

Summary This thesis explores the implications for corporate finance of the growing importance of intangible capital in determining the competitive advantage of firms. In the first chapter (with C. Lenoir, CREST), we show that insufficient access to short-term financing is an obstacle to the development of firms' customer base. In the second chapter (with T. Libert of PSE and C. Hurlin of Université d'Orléans), we analyze the effects of under-diversification of banks' borrower bases. Our results indicate that concentration exposes lenders to the idiosyncratic risk of their borrowers and that it leads to a greater synchronization of credit flows between banks. In the third chapter (with V. Lyonnet of OSU and C. Hebert of Paris Dauphine/Tilburg U.), we show that firms use M&A to acquire specialized human capital when external hiring is too costly.