We investigate regulations intended to stop managers from privately disclosing corporate information to analysts in a setting with enhanced potential to isolate regulatory effects: the European Union (EU) Market Abuse Directive (MAD), a common regulation implemented by member states with varying...

We examine the choice of issuance mechanism for 833 unseasoned equity issues (the choice between initial public offers (IPOs) and direct placements (DPs)) prior to exchange listing. Using unique Australian data and incorporating interrelated decisions, we find that corporate control concerns...

We analyze all hostile takeovers in the past ten years where the market capitalization of the target firm exceeded $1 billion and the identity of the financial advisor of the acquirer is known. Our analysis reveals that, in the majority of cases, at least one of the advisors for the acquirer...

In the Japanese initial public offering (IPO) market, initial first-day and one-year aftermarket returns are unusual, with a mean (median) of 0.417 (0.314) and −0.322 (−0.316), respectively. Our study relates this result to a globally popular book building pricing system that is blended with...

Better developed legal and political institutions result in greater availability of reliable firm-specific information. When stock prices reflect more firm-specific information there will be less stock price synchronicity. This paper traces the experience of China, an economy undergoing dramatic...

This study of initial public offerings (IPOs) carried out on the Berlin and London stock exchanges between 1900 and 1913 casts doubt on the received “law and finance” wisdom that legally mandated investor protection is pivotal to the development of capital markets. IPOs that resulted in...

This paper provides an overview of the economics of primary markets to be used in the development of a new Special Study on securities markets. The topics include initial public offerings, follow-ons, and exempt securities issuance. In addition, reasons for the prolonged decline in IPOs are...

The largest shareholders of issuing firms in Hong Kong are eligible to underwrite rights issues and open offers. We hypothesize that the largest shareholders as underwriters who possess more information are better than investment banks in certifying firm value. Our analyses show that the largest...

Public markets are transparent institutions, where disclosure is mandatory and order flow observable. We show that transparency can lead to insufficient information acquisition and inefficient investment. Our model links a firm's preference for public markets to the quality of disclosure...

We examine whether a shock to the enforceability of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) limited its ability to restrict the flow of private information between managers and investors. Prior work provides evidence that Reg FD reduced managers' selective disclosure of material information...