Firms with central boards of directors earn superior risk-adjusted stock returns. A long (short) position in the most (least) central firms earns average annual returns of 4.68%. Firms with central boards also experience higher future return-on-assets growth and more positive analyst forecast...

Trust is an important determinant of start-up financing. In a simple agentbased model it is determined what the best trusting strategy is for a collective of investors and whether it is rational for an individual investor to deviate from this collective optimum. Trust depends on a measure of...

We use a survey approach to learn about valuation professionals' choices and implementations of valuation techniques in practice. The survey design allows us to control for a respondent's professional subgroup (e.g., consulting), education, experience, and valuation purpose characteristics. We...

Trust is an important determinant of start-up financing. In a simple agent-based model it is determined what the best trusting strategy is for a collective of investors and whether it is rational for an individual investor to deviate from this collective optimum. Trust depends on a measure of...

This paper studies the effect of investor sentiment on stock returns in three Central European markets: the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The results show that sentiment is a key variable in the prices of stocks traded on these markets and its impact is stronger here than in more developed...

This study develops a general equilibrium model within which self revelation of ability - that is not accompanied by any signaling - is compatible with arrival at rational expectations equilibriums (REE). In the model, economic agents either are 'confident', 'overconfident', or 'under-confident'...

It appears intuitively plausible that actively managed funds by investment professionals should do better than a naïve strategy of buying a market index, which any uninformed person can do at much lower cost than paying a professional manager. However, the evidence points to the contrary:...

The recent global financial crisis reignited concerns over systemic risk in the financial industry as a new type of systemic risk emerged – the severe loss of asset value due to illiquidity. The crisis has sparked a large body of research and has led to a number of new quantitative indicators...

In an experiment with professional analysts, we study their reliance on CEO personality information when producing financial forecasts. Drawing on social cognition research, we suggest analysts apply a stereotyping heuristic believing that extraverted CEOs are more successful. The...

The VCT scheme offers large tax breaks (worth around 38.4% of the amount subscribed) to encourage UK taxpayers to invest in start-up companies. Taking account of deadweight and other effects, the scheme currently costs close to £1 in tax subsidies per additional £1 invested in eligible venture...