We identify the causal effects of short-selling bans on stock prices using regression discontinuity (RD). We exploit three threshold-based rules that determine a stock's short-selling eligibility on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Short-selling bans affect short-selling volume at all thresholds....

We test whether bank loans change public bond yields. A 10% increase in bank debt raises bond yields by 15bps, reflecting a trade-off between the benefits of bank cross-monitoring and higher bond risk. This effect is smaller for firms with no CDS and junk debt, where bank monitoring is most...

Stocks that hedge against sustained market downturns — periods from peak to trough in S&P500 levels at the business cycle frequency — should have low expected returns, but they do not. We use ex-ante firm characteristics and covariances to construct a tradeable Safe Minus Risky (SMR)...

Corporate dividends cluster on increments of 5, like 25, 50, and 75. Firms that pay dividends on these `prominent' amounts have lower operating performance and five-factor alphas 60 b.p. per year lower. Consistent with agency frictions that reduce managerial effort and lead to lazy decisions, we...