We examine the relation between the shareholder base and payout policy. Consistent with the idea that the shareholder base is related to the cost of external financing we find that fi rms with small shareholder bases have lower payout levels and maintain higher cash holdings. We show that...

Stock market behavior of individual investors is highly correlated with stock market behavior of their co-workers. For example, a ten percentage point increase in the fraction of co-workers that purchase stocks in a given month is associated with a two percentage point increase in the likelihood...

This paper considers changes in market comovement of merging US firms. Comparing the expected to the actual post merger comovement, we find that the post merger beta exhibits excess comovement with the acquiring firm. This suggests that the firm's comovement is at least partly determined by its...

Merton (1987) shows that stocks that not all investors are informed about should yield a return premium. This premium depends on the shadow cost of incomplete information which in turn is composed of the shareholder base, relative market size and idiosyncratic risk. Utilizing a comprehensive...

This paper provides a general model of voluntary and mandatory disclosure. In the present incomplete contract setting, disclosure determines the probability that the cash flow is verifiable. While disclosure is necessary to secure new financing, it provides existing claimholders with a windfall...

Stock market investment decisions of individuals are positively correlated with that of co-workers. Sorting of unobservably similar individuals to the same workplaces is unlikely to explain our results, as evidenced by the investment behavior of individuals that move between plants. Purchases...