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We propose a theoretically motivated factor model based on investor psychology and assess its ability to explain the cross-section of U.S. equity returns. Our factor model augments the market factor with two factors that capture long-and short-horizon mispricing. The long-horizon factor exploits the information in managers’ decisions to issue or repurchase equity in response to persistent mispricing. The short-horizon earnings surprise factor, which is motivated by investor inattention and evidence of short-horizon underreaction, captures short-horizon anomalies. This 3-factor risk-and-behavioral model outperforms other proposed models in explaining a broad range of return anomalies.

This study assesses whether the accrual-generating process is adequately described by a linear model with respect to a range of underlying determinants examined by prior literature. We document substantial departures from linearity across the distributions of accrual determinants, including measures of size, performance, and growth. To incorporate non-linear relations, we employ a recently developed multivariate matching approach (entropy balancing) to adjust for determinants in place of relying on a linear model. Entropy balancing identifies weights for the control sample to equalize the distribution of determinants across treatment and control samples. In simulations drawing random samples from deciles where a linear model displays poor fit, we find that entropy balancing significantly improves accrual model specification by reducing coefficient bias relative to linear and propensity-score matched models. Consistent with entropy balancing retaining sufficient power, we find that its estimates detect seeded accrual manipulations and explain variation in accruals around equity issuances.

Using the notion of customer concentration, the authors argue that firms should evenly spread their revenues across their customers, rather than focusing on a few major customer relationships. Prior literature suggests that major customers improve efficiency and provide access to resources, thereby producing positive performance outcomes. However, building on industrial organizational literature and modem portfolio theory, the authors argue that concentration of revenues reduces the supplier firm's bargaining power relative to its customers and hurts the ability of the supplier firm to appropriate value, which, in turn, hurts profits. Using a sample of 1,023 initial public offerings (IPOs) and robust econometric methods, they find that customer concentration reduces investor uncertainty and positively impacts IPO outcomes, but significantly hurts balance sheet-based outcomes (e.g., profitability). The results suggest that a 10% increase in customer concentration reduces profitability by 3.35% (or about $7 million) in the subsequent year, or 9.4% cumulatively over the next four years (or about $20.32 million). Further, the authors find that the negative effects of customer concentration decrease with increase in organizational (marketing, technological, and operational) capabilities and increase with low customer credit quality.

We show that global political uncertainty, measured by the U.S. election cycle, on average, leads to a fall in equity returns in fifty non-U.S. countries. At the same time, market volatilities rise, local currencies depreciate, and sovereign bond returns increase. The effect of global political uncertainty on equity prices increases with the level of uncertainty in U.S. election outcomes and a country’s equity market exposure to foreign investors, but does not vary with the country’s international trade exposure. These findings suggest that global political uncertainty increases investors’ aggregate risk aversion, leading to a flight to safety.

This paper investigates the effects of going public on innovation by comparing the innovation activity of firms that go public with firms that withdraw their initial public offering (IPO) filing and remain private. NASDAQ fluctuations during the bookbuilding phase are used as an instrument for IPO completion. Using patent-based metrics, I find that the quality of internal innovation declines following the IPO, and firms experience both an exodus of skilled inventors and a decline in the productivity of the remaining inventors. However, public firms attract new human capital and acquire external innovation. The analysis reveals that going public changes firms' strategies in pursuing innovation.

Banks produce short-term debt for transactions and storing value. The value of this debt must not vary over time so agents can easily trade it at par like money. To produce money-like safe liquidity, banks keep detailed information about their loans secret, reducing liquidity if needed to prevent agents from producing costly private information about the banks' loans. Capital markets involve information revelation, so they produce risky liquidity. The trade-off between less safe liquidity and more risky liquidity determines which firms choose to fund projects through banks and which ones through capital markets.

We analyze initial public offering (IPO) activity under political uncertainty surrounding gubernatorial elections in the United States. There are fewer IPOs originating from a state when it is scheduled to have an election. To establish identification, we develop a neighboring-states method that uses bordering states without elections as a control group. The dampening effect of elections on IPO activity is stronger for firms with more concentrated businesses in their home states, firms that are more dependent on government contracts (particularly state contracts), and harder-to-value firms. This dampening effect is related to lower IPO offer prices (hence, higher costs of capital) during election years.

Drawing on signaling theory, this study provides preliminary evidence that prior financing certifies firm quality to investors and reduces information asymmetries in equity crowdfunding. We examine 221 business plans and project descriptions of start-ups that ran equity crowdfunding campaigns on Crowdcube in 2017 and 2018. Almost half of the start-ups had previously raised funds through business angels, venture capitalists, crowdfunding, or grants. Prior financing positively affects campaign success. Overall, the effect is larger for firms backed by multiple investor types and for firms that have run successful crowdfunding before. To isolate the quality signal from the additional benefits related to an affiliation with other investors, we analyze whether the effect of prior financing is moderated by the uncertainty around a project. In support of a signaling effect, preliminary evidence suggests that prior financing is most relevant for firms in the uncertain seed stage. Among the different investor types, we find that, in particular, an affiliation with venture capitalists signals quality. Such an affiliation is more important for firms with low levels of human and social capital. Our study adds to the understanding of how equity crowdfunding interacts with traditional forms of entrepreneurial finance.

The world is constantly changing, and with an evolving global environmental crisis, there is a growing trend of Corporate Social Responsibility, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure initiatives. The final report on the new E.U. taxonomy for sustainable activities was released in 2020, making ESG disclosure more relevant. This paper investigates the effects of ESG initiatives on the financial performance of Norwegian listed companies from 2010 to 2019. ESG is measured through the Thomson Reuters Eikon ESG disclosure score and financial performance through ROA and Tobin's Q. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this relationship has been investigated in Norway. Using panel data regression analysis and two proxies for the dependent variable (financial performance), the results of this study are mixed. In particular, findings suggest a strong significant relationship between ESG initiatives and financial performance. More specifically, the regression model, with ROA as the dependent variable, suggests that ESG initiatives have a clear negative impact. On the other hand, the variable Tobin's Q increases when ESG increases. This could be explained by the different horizons of the measures and other factors affecting the business environment.