Unlocking Local Market Information Through Franchising

The authors thank Maria Guadalupe (the editor), the anonymous associate editor, three referees, Pranav Desai (discussant), Nathaniel Baum-Snow (discussant), Wei Wang (discussant), Umit Gurun, Giorgo Sertsios, and Jean-Marie Meier as well as seminar participants at the Finance Management Association Annual Meeting 2022, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association sessions held at the Allied Social Science Associations Annual Meeting 2023, and the 37th Australasian Finance and Banking Conference for helpful comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are the authors’ own. This paper was previously circulated with the titles “Experimenting with Firm Boundaries: The Case of Franchising” and “Franchising Dreams: Corporate Expansion and Local Growth.”