This paper investigates the actual performance of 2,895 Initial Public Offerings of companies that were backed by venture capital from 1968 through 1998. It seeks to refute the myth that investors demand very high annualized and cumulative rates of return to compensate for the risks they are...

Financial markets have experienced unprecedented transformations, signs of which have emerged since the late 1970s. In recent years substantial consolidation occurred. In response to changes in macroeconomic variables, such as GDP, industrial production, inflation and the political business...