This paper studies the performance of mutual funds around the world using a sample of 10,568 open-end actively managed equity funds from 19 countries between 1999 and 2005. Performance is measured using four alternative benchmark models, including an international version of the Cahart...

Crowdfunding is a buzzword that signifies a sub-set in the new forms of finance facilitated by advances in information technology usually categorized as fintech. Concerns for financial stability, investor and consumer protection, or the prevention of money laundering or funding of terrorism...

In Legal Determinants of External Finance, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert Vishny (“LLSV”) argue that the reason that some countries have bigger capital markets than others can be traced to the legal origin of the country, i.e. whether it is a common...

In the last dozen years, economists have produced a considerable body of research suggesting that the historical origin of a country’s laws is highly correlated with a broad range of its legal rules and regulations, as well as with economic outcomes. Much of this research has dealt with rules...

In 2018, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) amended its rules to allow a company to directly list on the Big Board without engaging in an initial public offering (IPO). This process--called a direct listing--allowed a company to list its stock faster and cheaper, and at least theoretically, at a...

We examine the spread of UCITS funds around the world, and consider whether such mutual funds that adopt higher standards of voluntary investor protection expand their operations to other countries with higher or lower investor protection regimes. The data indicate equity funds spread to...

We examine the spread of Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) funds around the world and consider whether such mutual funds, which voluntarily adopt higher standards of investor protection, expand their operations to other countries with higher or lower...

The proliferation of unconstrained mutual funds calls into question the effectiveness of retail investor protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Analyzing trading data and prospectuses of a hand-selected sample of all unconstrained mutual funds launched from 2010 through 2015...

The global financial crisis of 2008 has stimulated the debate on corporate governance and shareholder protection. The intuitive reason for the topicality of shareholder protection is that insolvencies mainly harm shareholders as the companies' residual claimants. In addition, ideally,...