We investigate the valuation effects of leadership structure in Switzerland where, in contrast to the U.S., a separation of the CEO and chairman functions is common. Consistent with the majority of prior research focusing on the U.S., we find no evidence of a systematic and significant...

This paper empirically investigates the impact of both the first release of analysts' stock recommendations to a limited clientele and the subsequent dissemination of the same information in a major newspaper to a broader audience. For a sample of 1460 stock recommendations published in FuW,...

This paper contributes to the very small empirical literature on the effects of competition on managerial incentive schemes. Based on a theoretical model that incorporates both strategic interaction between firms and a principal agent relationship, we analyze the relationship between product...

This paper investigates the problem of time stamp errors in the IBES database, the most important data provider of analyst recommendations and forecasts currently. We compare IBES to alternative data sources and show that IBES announcement dates of both recommendations and forecasts are...

There is still no consensus regarding a generally accepted factor model to assess risk-adjusted hedge fund performance. In this paper, we compare three alternative factor models: the widely used Fung and Hsieh (2004) seven-factor model, a recently proposed extension to an eight-factor model, and...

We show that peer firms play an important role in shaping corporate earnings management decisions. To overcome identification issues in isolating peer effects, we use an instrumental variables strategy based on two plausibly exogenous events: fund flow-induced selling pressure by passive...

We study the role of competition in customers' reactions to litigation against firms, using anonymized mobile phone location data. A class action lawsuit filing results in a 4% average reduction in customer visits to target firms' outlets in the following months. The effect strongly depends on...

A focal point in strategic and regulatory debates about the pros and cons of diversification among financial institutions continues to be the issue of economies of scope in financial intermediation. In this paper, we summarize the theoretical research on the value of diversification in financial...

We use a unique dataset from a large retail bank to examine the impact of financial advice on personal retirement savings. We document that retirement-related financial advice is associated with an increase in tax-exempt retirement accounts and equity investments, both at the extensive as well...

We investigate whether the diversification discount is simply a proxy for poor corporate governance. We find that the negative value impact of diversification is amplified by adverse governance variables such as low CEO ownership, low board independence, and board classification, and that...