This book introduces the reader to the 'world of finance', more exactly to one core activity: investment banking. Analysing the practices of traders, analysts, brokers and bankers it reveals how their contrasting perspectives on shares are put to use and the consequences this has for investment...

We show that product differentiation reduces the informativeness of a firm's stock price (or its peers' stock prices) about the value of its growth opportunities. This results in less efficient exercise of a firm's growth options when managers rely on information in stock prices for their...

We study investors' perceptions of inflation through the lens of a high-frequency event study and document that they have a stagflationary view of the world. In response to higher-than-expected inflation, investors expect firms' nominal cash flows to remain stagnant while discount rates...

We show how product variety affects asset prices in a general-equilibrium model. We analytically characterize the unique equilibrium and estimate the model to match asset pricing and product market moments. The equity premium and risk-free rate can be reconciled for risk aversion levels around 4...