We study the link between a firm's quality of governance and its alliance activity. We consider alliances as a commitment technology that helps a company CEO overcome agency problems that relate to the inability to ex-ante motivate division managers. We show that well-governed firms are more...

We study holdings in merger and acquisition (M&A) targets by financial conglomerates in which affiliated investment banks advise the bidders. We show that advisors take positions in the targets before M&A announcements. These stakes are positively related to the probability of observing the bid...

We study holdings in Mamp;A targets by financial conglomerates which affiliated investment banks advise the bidders. We show that advisors take positions in the targets before Mamp;A announcements. These stakes are positively related to the probability of observing the bid and to the target...

We study the strategies of the market in the inter-dealer market. We show that market makers actively learn from the dealers they trade with and strategically react to the information content of the orders they receive. We identify quot;hidingquot; and quot;experimentingquot; as main types of...

We study IPOs by focusing on the degree of portfolio diversification of the shareholders taking the company public. We argue that a less diversified shareholder has more to gain from taking the company public and would be more willing to accept a lower price for the sale of its shares, i.e....

We study how the introduction of a defined contribution market based retirement system affects the propensity of the investor to participate in the stock market. By using data on the quot;Swedish experimentquot;, we focus on the decision to invest directly in stocks and we see how it changes...

We study the impact of menu representation on portfolio choice and we show that investors choose assets as a function of the way they are represented in the menu available to them. We use the choices of mutual funds for retirement accounts of the Swedish population. We show that investors prefer...

We study the link between social interaction and stock market bubbles. We argue that an increase in social interaction may facilitate the birth of a cascade-type pattern and indirectly of a bubble. We concentrate on a form of interaction that is rooted back in the past: college-based interaction...

We study the link between portfolio choice and different college-based interaction - defined as the one that relates the portfolio choice of an investor to that of the other investors who went to the same college. We explain it in terms of a common cultural imprinting and the development of...

We study the puzzle of portfolio underdiversification and proximity investment from a novel perspective, linking it to the process of urbanism. We find that urban portfolios are more focused - i.e., less diversified and more concentrated in quot;closequot; stocks - than urban portfolios. We...