Do the recently mandated human capital disclosures (HCDs) have value implications for asset prices, and if so, do they affect shareholders and debtholders in the same way? Our recent study examines the information content of newly mandated HCDs for shareholders and debtholders. Importantly, we show that firms’ HCDs are not purely boilerplate and convey information… Read More »
Disagreement about firm value between potential buyers and sellers is particularly prevalent in private startups’ mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Startups are generally uncertain about their future performance and lack a robust financial track record. In M&A transactions, sellers often have more and better information (e.g., detailed information about the startup’s products and product markets) to… Read More »
Do UK employers misreport information about gender pay equity? While many countries have attempted to close gender pay gaps with legislation, such as the 1963 Equal Pay Act in the US and the 1970 Equality Act in the UK, a common criticism of these laws is that enforcement is difficult because firms need not publicly… Read More »
Over the past few decades, there has been growing concern that corporations are increasingly exerting their influence on government policymaking. The discourse in this area, both within the political arena and academia, often focuses on domestic channels that firms use to influence policymaking. This includes channels such as lobbying, political contributions, and charitable giving. However,… Read More »
The meteoric rise in popularity of cryptocurrency in the investment sphere has generated significant challenges for the legal system. Since 2020, courts have been absorbing the litigation resulting from cryptocurrencies’ reputation as the next “hot investment,” as well as dealing with the litigious fallout from the previous cryptocurrency meltdown in 2018. As such, disputes arising… Read More »
Technology moves fast, and the law often struggles to keep up. This is particularly true in consumer finance, where new ways of constructing and delivering financial products and services can quickly outpace traditional regulatory frameworks. Indeed, the policy attention garnered by the financial technology (fintech) sector is largely focused on how best to regulate new… Read More »
The management board of a company rings the bell on the stock exchange floor in an evocative manner. Trading on the stock exchange has finally begun following months of the issuing process. But does the positive experience of ringing the stock market bell really persist throughout the day? No, not all IPOs go according to… Read More »
Many of today’s most popular firms are selling products that exhibit network effects; that is, the value created by the product increases with the number of users adopting it. Examples include social media platforms (e.g., Twitter and LinkedIn), information technology providers (e.g., Apple and Huawei), and video game companies. Firms selling these network products can… Read More »
In my recent paper, I study whether and how private equity (PE) fund investors (hereafter general partners or GPs) manipulate their fund performance during fundraising periods. Recent studies (i) have found abnormally high PE fund valuations during fundraising periods and (ii) have debated (but have not settled) whether these valuations reflect manipulating the existing funds’… Read More »
Municipal bonds are the primary source of financing for local governments, with the value of outstanding municipal bonds reaching $4.1 trillion as of March 2022. Historically, the default rate of these bonds has been very low. This raises the question of why so many municipal bonds have different issuance costs (yield spread), even with similar… Read More »
