The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) predicts that the expected return on a stock depends on its systematic risk as measured by its beta. However, recent empirical evidence suggests that the relation between beta and realized returns is weak or even non-existent. The traditional two-step...

We examine whether stock prices fully reflect the value of firms? intangible assets, focusing on research and development (Ramp;D). Since intangible assets are not reported on financial statements under current U.S. accounting standards and Ramp;D spending is expensed, the valuation problem may...

This paper addresses the statistical properties of time series driven by rational bubbles a la Blanchard and Watson (1982). Using insights on the behavior of multiplicative stochastic processes, we demonstrate that the tails of the unconditional distribution emerging from such bubble processes...

This paper examines aggregate primary capital market activity in a cross section of emerging market and developed countries. We analyze data on the value of funds raised domestically via issues of debt and equity securities in public capital markets in 32 countries over the period 1980-95. There...

We investigate the formation and structure of 248 financial exchanges throughout the world. First, we empirically analyze the determinants of exchange formation as well as the impact of exchange formation on the domestic country's economy. Second, conditional on formation, we use a probit model...

UK asset price reactions to RPI announcements are examined from the early 1980s up to April 1997. Announcements are decomposed into their expected and unexpected components using survey data on inflation expectations. Asset prices do not appear to respond to the expected component of...

This paper contains a multivariate analysis of the effects of macroeconomic news on the U.S. bond market. In particular, we consider releases of Employment Situation and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports (released monthly on pre-announced dates) and the excess returns of 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 30...

Capital expenditure plans at the beginning of the year, from a US government survey of firms, explain more than three quarters of the variation in real annual aggregate investment growth between 1948 and 1993. The negative correlation of contemporaneous investment and stock returns is explained...

We test whether the impact of financial constraints on firm value is observable in asset returns. We form portfolios of firms based on observable characteristics related to financial constraints, and test for common variation in the stock returns of these firms. Financially constrained firms?...

Is sovereign borrowing so different from corporate debt that there is no need for bankruptcy-style procedures to protect debtors? With the waiver of immunity, sovereign debtors who al-ready face severe disruption from short-term creditors grabbing their currency reserves are also exposed to...