This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the role of blockholders (large shareholders) in corporate governance. We start with the underlying property rights of public corporations; we discuss how blockholders are critical in addressing free-rider problems and why, like...

Certification by online analysts and early investors can generate excitement among potential token investors, leading to successful initial coin offerings (ICOs). We test the general notion of "wisdom of crowds" using novel data on nearly 3,400 ICOs, including sequential investor subscriptions...

While developments in the law of insider trading usually attract significant scholarly interest, far less attention has been paid to the design and effects of the Securities and Exchange Commission's complementary Regulation Fair Disclosure. Yet, this article argues that the SEC's current...

This paper uses information cascades theory to analyze the art market. It focus on the art stars, explaining the phenomenon that in the art market a small fraction of artists accounts for most of the trade and dominate the financial activity. We analyze fine art auction data. In particular, we...

This paper studies communications between investors and firms as a form of corporate governance. The main premise is that activist investors cannot force their ideas on companies; they must persuade the board or other shareholders that implementing these ideas is beneficial to the firm. I show...

We study the use of asset-backed money in a neoclassical growth model with illiquid capital. A mechanism is delegated control of productive capital and issues claims against the revenue it earns. These claims constitute a form of asset-backed money. The mechanism determines (i) the number of...

This paper aims to shed light on some of the major allocative consequences of financial market bubbles. In March 1997, the Neuer Markt in Germany opened. Six years later, in June 2003, it closed forever. In the interim period lay the spectacular rise and fall of the first and most important...

I derive a firm's optimal public disclosure policy aimed at minimizing its cost of raising capital from the equity market. Following the public disclosure, the institutional investors offer incentive contracts to their buy-side analysts to acquire independent private information. Due to the...

Current theoretical and empirical research suggests that small banks have a comparative advantage in processing soft information and delivering relationship lending. The most comprehensive analysis of this view found using U.S. data that smaller SMEs borrow from smaller banks and smaller banks...