We test the interaction between COVID-19 governments' interventions, COVID-19- induced uncertainty, and the volatility of sovereign bonds. Using a panel-quantile approach and a comprehensive dataset of 31 countries worldwide, we document that containment and closure policies tend to amplify...

We examine the impact of CEO-related sexual misconduct on U.S. firms’ stock market value in the #MeToo era. Our findings suggest that investors react negatively to corporate sexual misconduct, meaning that misbehaving CEOs cause significant damage to their shareholders’ wealth. On average,...

From European integration to domestic politics to the development of the global economy, technocracy and private ordering have shaped economic behaviour. Such transformative private-driven forces of economic activity flourished through the promulgation of voluntary standards. In view of the...

Although social mood can motivate herding towards new industries, the extent to which regulators cater to social mood may affect that herding. We explore this issue in the context of the nascent cannabis industry by examining herding among the cannabis stocks listed in the US and Canada, where...

This study explores the survival of firms across countries and what factors contribute to their ability to withstand large-scale exogenous shocks, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Using corporate default risk as a measure of non-resilience, our empirical results from 97 countries reveal that...

How does futures trading affect spot price volatility? This paper uses a unique early-twentieth century natural experiment to test what happens when futures trading no longer exists. In 1903, futures trading in the Viennese grain market was banned. The permanency of this ban makes it ideal for...

We study the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on sell-side analysts' forecasts, and how it interact with the stock-market response to a firm's earnings news. We find that analysts tend to disagree more when faced with higher levels of EPU, and that their forecasts tend to be less...

Pump-and-dump schemes (P&Ds) are pervasive in the cryptocurrency market. We find that P&Ds lead to short-term bubbles featuring dramatic increases in prices, volume, and volatility. Prices peak within minutes and quick reversals follow. The evidence we document, including price run-ups before...

Do illegal insiders internalize legal risk? We address this question with hand-collected data from530 SEC investigations. Using two plausibly exogenous shocks to expected penalties, we showthat insiders trade less aggressively and earlier and concentrate on tips of greater value whenfacing...

We study the Chinese government's stock market bailout operation in 2015. We focus on the bailout's opaque nature and explore its unintended consequences in both asset prices and investor behavior. We find that: (1) the market overreacts to the bailout news under partial information, which leads...