This study examines the role of institutional common owners on a firm's cost of equity capital. Following the theoretical and empirical literature on common ownership, we hypothesize that common owners could reduce a firm's cost of capital by reducing product market competition and improving...

Is common ownership the Doomsday Machine for the operation of free markets, competition and capitalism as we know it? An observer of cutting-edge law and economics literature may indeed tend to believe that we are approaching a point of ultimate antitrust apocalypse. This article tries to unfold...

Research on IPOs commonly focuses on the relation between firms' pre IPO ownership structure and subsequent stock performance. We extend the literature by additionally focusing on companies' post IPO ownership structure, in particular private equity capital engagement, to analyze IPOs stock...

Since 2008, a massive shift has occurred from active towards passive investment strategies. The passive index fund industry is dominated by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, which we call the ‘Big Three'. We comprehensively map the ownership of the Big Three in the United States and find...

We identify the power of institutional blockholders to influence management using previous occurrences of forced CEO turnover at other firms in the blockholders' overall portfolio. We create a “powerful blockholder linkage” measure that strongly predicts future forced CEO turnover. These...

We examine the role of non-venture private equity firms in the market for divested businesses, comparing targets bought by such firms to those bought by corporate acquirers. We argue that a combination of vigilant monitoring, high-powered incentives, patient capital and business independence...

We study the effect of investor horizons on a comprehensive set of corporate decisions. We argue that monitoring by long-term investors generates decision making that maximizes shareholder value. We find that long-term investors strengthen governance and restrain managerial misbehaviors such as...

We examine the effect of foreign institutional investors on firm innovation. Using firm-level data across 26 non-U.S. economies between 2000 and 2010, we show that foreign institutional ownership has a positive, causal effect on firm innovation. We further explore three possible underlying...

We study the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on shareholder value. We argue that long-term investors can ensure that managers choose the amount of CSR that maximizes shareholder value. We find that long-term investors do increase the value to shareholders of CSR activities, not...

Using NBER patent data and hedge fund holdings in U.S. firms during 1998-2006, we study the effect of hedge fund ownership on corporate innovation. We find that hedge fund ownership promotes both patent quantity and quality, even after controlling for endogeneity. This stimulating effect is more...