We examine the reaction of the equity options market to accounting earnings announcements over the period 1996–2008 using changes in implied volatility to measure the options market response to earnings news. We find that positive earnings surprises and positive profit announcements produce a...

We examine the impact of managerial mood on corporate tax avoidance—a ubiquitous corporate decision. Using variation in local sunshine as exogenous shocks to managerial mood, we report strong, robust evidence that negative mood induced by cloudy weather leads firms to undertake more aggressive...

We study how media coverage impacts pricing of IPOs around the world. Higher media coverage in the pre-IPO period leads to lower IPO initial returns. The effect is mitigated in countries with better financial reporting quality, greater shareholder rights protection, and more stringent media...

We examine the role and economic consequences of emotions in influencing the judgment of corporate executives. Analyzing a large sample of U.S. public firms, we find that sunshine-induced good mood leads managers to make upwardly biased earnings forecasts. Importantly, our evidence implies that...

We propose that extra-organizational factors such as exposure to sunshine are an important driver of innovators' performance. Prior research highlights the critical role non-pecuniary factors play in influencing inventors' productivity, yet most of these studies focus on organizational and job...

In this paper, we examine how cultural norms along the dimensions of individualism-collectivism and uncertainty-avoidance affect corporate innovation. Using a comprehensive sample across 41 countries, we find that firms located in countries with higher levels of individualism generate more and...

The finance literature offers two competing possibilities on how investors respond to the quality of public financial statements in their pricing decisions. They could collect either (a) more private information to benefit from lower information collection cost or (b) less private information...

This paper examines whether managerial ability facilitates corporate innovative success. First, we show that managerial ability is positively associated with innovative output. Second, we show that the positive association between managerial ability and innovative output is weaker for older CEOs...

This paper examines the role of local attitudes towards gambling on corporate innovative activity. Using a county's Catholics-to-Protestants ratio as a proxy for local gambling preferences, we find that firms located in gambling-prone areas tend to undertake riskier projects, spend more on...

Using terrorist attacks as exogenous shocks to investor sentiment, we study the impact of investor sentiment on initial public offering (IPO) pricing. IPOs listed within the 30-day period following terrorist attacks, on average, experience lower first-day returns. The documented impact of...