In 1997, France Telecom went through a partial privatization. Using a database that tracks over 200,000 eligible participants, we analyze employees’ decisions whether to participate; how much to invest; and what stock alternatives to select. The results are broadly consistent with a...

In 1997, France T‚l‚com, the state-owned French telephone company, went through a partial privatization. The government offered current and prior France T‚l‚com employees the opportunity to buy portfolios of shares with various combinations of discounts, required holding periods,...

This chapter studies the bidding for a copper mine that was offered for sale by the Peruvian government as part of the country's privatization program. The mine itself had a valuable real option component, in the form of the right to develop the mine after completing exploration, which we...

This chapter studies the bidding for a copper mine that was offered for sale by the Peruvian government as part of the country's privatization program. The mine itself had a valuable real option component, in the form of the right to develop the mine after completing exploration, which we...

In this article, we study a well-known real option: the opening and closing of mines. Using a new database that tracks the annual opening and closing decisions of 285 developed North American gold mines in the period 1988-1997, we find that the real options model is a useful descriptor of mines'...

Savings bonds have always served multiple objectives: funding the U.S. government, democratizing national financing, and enabling families to save. Increasingly, the authors write, that last goal has been ignored. A series of efficiency measures introduced in 2003 make these bonds less...

We examine the information flow for four stocks over seven months to trace the relationship between on-line discussion, news activity, and stock price movements. On-line discussions support numerous unsubstantiated rumors, substantial on-point exchanges, and quick dissemination of imminent and...

Most mutual funds use day-old fund holdings but current-day prices to calculate net asset values. This practice, sanctioned under SEC Rule 2a-4, results in deviations between reported net asset values (NAVs) and returns and the economic values of those quantities. Using a sample of 26 funds'...

Using a new database, we document the determinants of involuntary consumer bank account closures. During 2001–2005, approximately 30 million debit accounts were involuntarily closed for excessive overdrafting. We focus on multiple factors to explain this phenomenon: household economics and...

This paper reports the results of a 2007 experiment testing whether specific process simplification can foster increased take-up rates for savings products, particularly by low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. Tax refund recipients at certain H&R Block tax preparation offices were given the...