Shades of Green: An Examination Into Second Party ESG Ratings In The Municipal Green Bond Market
by Harrison Zane Cole Abstract Since the end of the pandemic the market capitalization of green bonds and investor interest in sustainable investments has grown massively. The tidal wave of ESG funds has accompanied many claims of greenwashing and extreme variation in investment quality. While many investors focus on doing their own due diligence, second […]
Heterogeneity in Mortgage Refinancing
By Julia Wu Abstract Many households who would benefit from and are eligible to refinance their mortgages fail to do so. A recent literature has demonstrated a significant degree of heterogeneity in the propensity to refinance across various dimensions, yet much heterogeneity is left unexplained. In this paper, I use a clustering regression to characterize […]
After The Mega-Buyout Era: Do Public-to-Private Transactions Still Outperform?
By Bryn Wilson Abstract This thesis contributes to existing knowledge of the private equity asset class by examining whether public-to-private leveraged buyouts outperform public peers before and after the mega-buyout era (2005 – 2007). This paper considers the impact of four groups of value drivers on both market- and peer-adjusted returns. These value drivers include […]
Withdrawal: The Difficulty of Transitioning to a Cashless Economy
by Praneeth Kandula Abstract In 2021, modern payment methods such as mobile pay have increased nearly fivefold since their introduction in 2015. This shift to an increasingly cashless, digital economy has been marked by inequitable financial and technological divides. Historically, Black and Latino adults have had less access to financial systems and are less likely […]
Financial Inclusion and Women’s Economic Empowerment in India
by Nehal Jain Abstract On August 14th, 2014 India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi implemented the largest ever financial inclusion scheme to date known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The program aimed to bank all of India’s unbanked population. Prior to the program, India had one of the highest rates of unbanked citizens. The […]
Bang for Your (Green) Buck: The Effects of ESG Risk on US M&A Performance
by Richard Chen Abstract Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) is a fundamental corporate activity that has not received much attention from an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) perspective. In this paper, I analyze how buyer and target ESG risks affect US M&A performance in both the short and long run as measured by deal valuations and […]
Informing the Investor: A Comparative Analysis of the Importance of Pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO) Information on Stock Performance
by Paul Snyder Abstract This paper answers which available information about the company, macroeconomic and market environment, regulatory constraints, and offering before an IPO is most impactful on year-long buy-and-hold abnormal returns and how that changes across time while analyzing the IPO markets of 1999 and 2019. Data was gathered from predominantly company prospectuses and […]
The Elusive “Stock-Picker’s Market”: Dispersion and Mutual Fund Performance
By Jacob Epstein This paper explores the relationship between active mutual fund performance and market dispersion from January 1990 to December 2018. I find a significant positive relationship between dispersion and 4-factor alpha overall, providing some evidence of managerial skill. There are large differences in this relationship by decade and fund selectivity. The results suggest […]
Comparing the Performance of Active and Passive Mutual Funds in Developing and Developed Countries
By Nalini Gupta This paper seeks to test the hypothesis that developing countries or informationally inefficient countries should see higher returns for active mutual funds on average than passive funds and the trend should be reversed in developed nations or informationally efficient economies. This analysis is done using a cross section of eight countries, four […]
