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This dissertation bundles three empirical studies in the area of corporate finance and banking. These studies investigate corporates' financing activity with a special focus on the interaction between the banking industry and corporate borrowers. By showing how changes in the banking industry affect firms' financing decision and performance, this dissertation highlights the important role of the banking industry in shaping the real economy in a world of market friction in place. Chapter 2 asks the question whether and how government interventions in the U.S. banking sector have benefited the U.S. corporate borrowers during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. We focus on firms' stock performance and find that government capital infusions in banks have a significantly positive impact on borrowing firms' stock returns. Chapter 3 looks into firm's bond maturity dispersion activity and the impact on firms' funding liquidity. We find that larger, more leveraged, less profitable, growth-oriented, and non-bank dependent firms exhibit the largest maturity dispersion of outstanding bonds. We further find that more bond maturity dispersion results in higher funding availability and lower funding costs. The effects are stronger for firms that face more funding liquidity risk. Chapter 4 investigates whether labor market frictions in the target market influence the mode in which out-of-state banks enter the new market following the U.S. interstate banking deregulation and consequently affect local economic activity. The result shows that banks enter new markets by establishing new branches after the relaxation of non-compete enforcement in the target market, while they enter by acquiring incumbent banks' branches after the enforcement becomes restrictive in the target market. Interestingly, only bank entries via new branches significantly increase bank competition, improve the availability of credit to small businesses, and facilitate economic growth.

SCANT ATTENTION HAS BEEN PAID TO THE POLITICAL EFFECTS OF ARMS TRANSFERS ON MILITARY INTERVENTION IN AFRICA. UTILIZING THEORIES OF ARMS TRANSFERS AND COUPS D'ETAT, A CAUSAL MODEL WAS CONSTRUCTED AND DATA WERE COLLECTED FOR 35 AFRICAN NATIONS. AN EVENT-COUNT ANALYSIS IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONVENTIONAL REGRESSION TECHNIQUES WAS EMPLOYED FOR STATISTICAL ESTIMATION. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT ARMS TRANSFERS SERVE TO MEET THE MILITARY'S CORPORATE INTERESTS AND HAVE A LONG-TERM DIRECT EFFECT ON REDUCING THE LIKELIHOOD OF COUPS IN AFRICA. HOWEVER, ARMS TRANSFERS CONTRIBUTE TO AFRICAN REGIME INSTABILITY INDIRECTLY BY ENHANCING THE MILITARY'S POSITION VIS-A-VIS CIVILIAN INSTITUTIONS IN SOCIETY. FORMER FRENCH COLONIES HAVE EXPERIENCED SIGNIFICANTLY FEWER COUPS THAN THE REST OF AFRICA, BUT THROUGHOUT SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, COUNTRIES THAT EXPERIENCED AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN OR A COUP ARE MORE LIKELY TO HAVE MILITARY INTERVENTION IN POLITICS.

__Abstract__ This dissertation bundles three empirical studies in the area of corporate finance and banking. These studies investigate corporates' financing activity with a special focus on the interaction between the banking industry and corporate borrowers. By showing how changes in the banking industry affect firms' financing decision and performance, this dissertation highlights the important role of the banking industry in shaping the real economy in a world of market friction in place. Chapter 2 asks the question whether and how government interventions in the U.S. banking sector have benefited the U.S. corporate borrowers during the financial crisis of 2007-2009. We focus on firms' stock performance and find that government capital infusions in banks have a significantly positive impact on borrowing firms' stock returns. Chapter 3 looks into firm's bond maturity dispersion activity and the impact on firms' funding liquidity. We find that larger, more leveraged, less profitable, growth-oriented, and non-bank dependent firms exhibit the largest maturity dispersion of outstanding bonds. We further find that more bond maturity dispersion results in higher funding availability and lower funding costs. The effects are stronger for firms that face more funding liquidity risk. Chapter 4 investigates whether labor market frictions in the target market influence the mode in which out-of-state banks enter the new market following the U.S. interstate banking deregulation and consequently affect local economic activity. The result shows that banks enter new markets by establishing new branches after the relaxation of non-compete enforcement in the target market, while they enter by acquiring incumbent banks' branches after the enforcement becomes restrictive in the target market. Interestingly, only bank entries via new branches significantly increase bank competition, improve the availability of credit to small businesses, and facilitate economic growth.

Taiwan is undergoing both a process of nation building and a phase of democratic consolidation, and the experience of divided government at the national level together with Taiwan's unresolved relationship with China have further complicated matters. The end result of these developments will, therefore, have enormous political consequences both for the island, as well as for the peace and stability of eastern Asia. This special issue aims to examine two separate, but closely related, issues: the effects of an emerging national identity in Taiwan and the consequences of the island's rapid democratization. This introduction summarizes the key arguments of this collection of articles.

Generational succession in leadership is always an important event because the differences in formative experiences of a new generation can result in radically different policies and views of the world. The recent leadership transition in China thus deserves scholarly attention. In the aftermath of the Sixteenth Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, this edited volume aims to examine the "prospects and challenges" for China's new leaders in the areas of elite politics, political reform, democratization, the economy, the military, Sino-U.S. relations, and cross-Strait interactions. This introductory chapter summarizes the key arguments of this collection of articles.