This paper tests the hypothesis that irrational market misvaluation affects firms' takeover behavior. We employ two contemporaneous proxies for market misvaluation, pre-takeover book/price ratios and pre-takeover ratios of residual income model value to price. Misvaluation of bidders and targets...

We review theory and evidence relating to herd behavior, payoff and reputational interactions, social learning, and informational cascades in capital markets. We offer a simple taxonomy of effects, and evaluate how alternative theories may help explain evidence on the behavior of investors,...

We review here theory and evidence relating to herd behavior, payoff and reputational interactions, social learning, and informational cascades in capital markets. We offer a simple taxonomy of effects, and evaluate how alternative theories may help explain evidence on the behavior of investors,...

These slides summarize a paper on opportunism by corporate insiders. We show that opportunistic insiders can be identified through the profitability of their trades prior to quarterly earnings announcements (QEAs), and that opportunistic trading is associated with various kinds of...

An unresolved issue in empirical research on corporate control is the extent to which takeovers improve target and bidder firm value. The bidder's abnormal return at the time of the bid gives a biased estimate of the market's valuation of the bidder's gain from takeover, because the form of the...

We show that opportunistic insiders can be identified through the profitability of their trades prior to quarterly earnings announcements (QEAs), and that opportunistic trading is associated with various kinds of firm/managerial misconduct. A value-weighted trading strategy based on (not...

A manager who wants to be viewed favorably has an incentive to advance or delay the arrival of information about his firm's profitability. In the model, a high ability manager tries to advance resolution of a likely-favorable outcome, while a low ability manager may defer resolution. Such...

We offer a model in which sequences of individuals often converge upon poor decisions and are prone to fads, despite communication of the payoff outcomes from past choices. This reflects both direct and indirect action-based information externalities. In contrast with previous cascades...

This paper examines how imperfect institutional memory affects organizational decisions. In our model, new managers are aware of their firm's previous actions but not the rationale for these actions. If the environment is stable, we find that a firm that has followed an old investment policy...

An information cascade occurs when it is optimal for an individual, having observed the actions and possibly payoffs of those ahead of him, to take the same action regardless of his own information. When there are informational cascades, society may reap only a modest fraction of the potential...