Equity markets are increasingly seen as important sources of investment funds in many emerging economies. Furthermore, many countries see the development of such markets as a means to facilitate both foreign equity portfolio investment and foreign direct investment (FDI). This may occur through acquisition of shareholdings in domestic companies, which supplements the low levels of funding from ...

Websites have become an essential component in firms’ IT portfolios. Many business processes require website functionalities to operate smoothly. This study aims at investigating how firm website affects cost of equity, an important factor in firm valuation. We conducted a cross-sectional regression using a unique dataset consisting of 3,312 firm websites operated by US public firms. Firm websi...

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This paper investigates the role of management earnings forecasts in mitigating information asymmetry between investors and managers relating to moral hazard, and explains how earnings guidance can facilitate monitoring. I demonstrate that firms that are more susceptible to moral hazard problems and more difficult to monitor are also more likely to issue annual earnings forecasts and they do so...

Bank payouts divert cash to shareholders, while leaving behind riskier and less liquid assets to repay debt holders in the future. Bank payouts, therefore, constitute a type of risk-shifting that benefits equity holders at the expense of debt holders. In this paper, we provide insights on how incentives stemming from inside debt impact bank payout policy in a manner that protects debt holder in...

We estimate the sensitivity of investment to the cost of outside equity for young firms. For estimation, we exploit differences across firms in eligibility to a new tax relief program for individual outside investors in the UK. On average, investment increases 1.5% in response to a 10% drop in the cost of outside equity. This average conceals substantial heterogeneity: 1% of eligible firms issu...

Contingent capital in the form of debt that converts to equity when a bank faces financial distress has been proposed as a mechanism to enhance financial stability and avoid costly government rescues. Specific proposals vary in their choice of conversion trigger and conversion mechanism. We analyze the case of contingent capital with a capital-ratio trigger and partial and on-going conversion. ...

We analyze the internal consistency of using the market price of a firm’s equity to trigger a contractual change in the firm’s capital structure, given that the value of the equity itself depends on the firm’s capital structure. Of particular interest is the case of contingent capital for banks, in the form of debt that converts to equity, when conversion is triggered by a decline in the bank’s...

Investors and managers evaluate potential investments in terms of risk and return. Empirical research in marketing has focused on linking marketing activities with returns but has neglected marketing’s role in determining firm risk. Yet, the theoretical literature asserts that investments in market-based assets such as brands should lead to reductions in firm risk. Researchers in finance, accou...