Knowledge that Transforms

Abstract Psychological research suggests that individuals are satisficers. That is, when confronted with a large number of options, individuals often choose the first acceptable option, rather than the best possible option ( Simon, 1957 ). Given the vast quantity of information available and the widespread convention of listing stocks in alphabetical order, we conjecture that investors are more likely to buy and sell stocks with early alphabet names. Consistent with this view, we find that early alphabet stocks are traded more frequently than later alphabet stocks and that alphabeticity also affects firm value. We also document how these effects have changed over time.

In a competitive product market, firms that buy their input have lower profit volatility than they would have if they were to make it. This effect on profit volatility is an important consideration in the firms’ capital structure choices and their make or buy decisions when it interacts with the risk-taking incentive of equityholders of levered firms. Even with a cost advantage enjoyed by a supplier and passed on to its customers, in an industry equilibrium of a priori identical firms, only those that use little or no debt outsource their input to the supplier; all significantly debt-financed firms produce their own input and take advantage of the greater profit volatility resulting from internal production.

Abstract We use Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule changes to show that regulatory oversight reduces return misreporting by hedge funds. Specifically, we use a 2004 rule change that expanded SEC oversight of hedge funds and the 2006 revocation of this rule. Differences-in-differences tests show that, following the rule change, misreporting by newly regulated funds decreased. After revocation, funds that exited the regulatory system increased misreporting relative to funds that remained registered. Placebo tests show no change in misreporting by foreign funds exempt from the rule change. We show that regulatory oversight increased the level of flows and decreased the sensitivity of flows to underperformance.

We study how variable annuity affiliation affects fund performance. We find that VA-affiliated funds outperform pure open-end funds by about 70 basis points four-factor alpha per year in case of actively managed US equity funds. We argue that affiliation with a variable annuity wrapper increases the ability of investors to compare performance of funds offered within the same wrapper. This increases the competitive pressure among fund families. We explain the superior performance of VA-affiliated funds in terms of self-selection: only the better funds are chosen by fund families to be part of insurance wrappers.

Abstract The average capital growth rate across firms declines sharply during a recession, and recovers only slowly. We provide a micro-founded explanation for this and several new stylized facts of investment asymmetry. Our investment model features various degrees of reversibility, cyclical macroeconomic shocks, and uncertainty about the state of the economy. Model simulations replicate strikingly different empirical patterns of capital growth rates at the aggregate and firm levels, featuring no slope asymmetry and a positive level asymmetry at the firm level, negative slope and level asymmetries at the aggregate level, and a positive relation between the industry-level slope asymmetry and asset illiquidity.

Abstract More transparent firms enjoy better access to finance, and also enable closer scrutiny by tax authorities and thus face a heavier tax burden, insofar as they are required to report the same data to tax authorities and investors (book-tax conformity). We study this trade-off in a model with distortionary taxes and finance rationing, and test its predictions on an international dataset. As predicted, firms facing low corporate tax rates choose high transparency, particularly if they are not very dependent on external funding. This result is confirmed by the evidence from statutory tax reforms: reductions of corporate tax rates are followed by increases in firm transparency. Moreover, firms choose higher transparency in countries with high audit quality. Investment is positively correlated with transparency, especially for firms more dependent on external finance. Results are stronger in countries with book-tax conformity.

Abstract Extensive research has revealed that alphabetical name ordering tends to provide an advantage to those positioned in the beginning of an alphabetical listing. This article is the first to explore the implications of this alphabetic bias in financial markets. We find that US stocks that appear near the top of an alphabetical listing have about 5–15% higher trading activity and liquidity than stocks that appear toward the bottom. The magnitude of these results is negatively related to firm visibility and investor sophistication. International evidence and fund flows further indicate that ordering effects can affect trading activity and liquidity.

Abstract Using a new dataset on corporate bonds placed in international markets by emerging and developed borrowers, this article demonstrates that a high proportion of short-term debt exacerbates the effect of debt market illiquidity on corporate bond spreads. This effect is present during both periods of financial stability and of financial distress, and it is smaller in the banking sector than in other sectors. The article’s major finding is robust when controlling for potential endogeneity. Moreover, the results are consistent with the predictions of structural credit risk models that argue that a higher proportion of short-term debt increases a firm’s exposure to debt market illiquidity through a “rollover risk” channel.

Abstract Banks (but not stock markets) promote economic growth by facilitating relationship-specific investment between buyers and suppliers of intermediate goods. Combined insights from literature on signaling role of banks and on relationship-specific investment motivate this economic channel: A supplier is reluctant to undertake relationship-specific investment as she cannot observe financial stability and planning horizon of buyer. Banks can mitigate this information asymmetry. Empirical results from twenty-eight industries in ninety countries confirm that industries dependent on relationship-specific investment from their suppliers grow disproportionately faster in countries with a well-developed banking sector. The channel works via increased entry of new firms and higher capital accumulation.

Abstract The end result of major sporting events has been shown to affect next day stock returns through shifts in investor mood. By studying intraday data during the soccer matches that led to the elimination of France and Italy from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we test whether mood-related pricing effects already materialize as events unfold. We use data for a cross-listed firm, which allows for a straightforward identification of underpricing. During the matches, the firm’s stock is underpriced by up to 7 basis points in the country that eventually loses. The probability of underpricing increases as elimination becomes more likely.