This paper documents that underpriced firms substitute R&D spending with share buybacks to the detriment of innovation. To identify underpriced firms, I introduce a novel measure of non-fundamental price pressure induced by indirect exposure to industry-level shocks. This measure addresses...

This paper examines managerial response to widespread selling by mutual funds. We study the effect on share repurchases of liquidity-based price pressure, measured by mutual fund transactions caused by capital outflows. Firms whose shares undergo widespread selling by funds experiencing large...

We study whether firms increase share repurchases when their shareholders have short-term preferences. We base our analysis on economic theory that establishes that greater transparency about an agent's action increases the agent's career concerns and short-termism. We use a...

We show that mutual fund managers' trading experiences bias their future repurchasing decisions. Specifically, a fund is 17% more likely to repurchase a stock when it previously sold the stock for a gain rather than for a loss. Fund managers still prefer to repurchase stocks they sold for a gain...

The discount control mechanisms that closed-end funds often choose to adopt before IPO are supposedly implemented to narrow the difference between share price and net asset value, We find evidence that non-discretionary discount control mechanisms such as mandatory continuation votes serve as...

We analyze detailed monthly data on U.S. open market stock repurchases (OMRs) that recently became available following stricter disclosure requirements. We find evidence that OMRs are timed to benefit non-selling shareholders. We present evidence that the profits to companies from timing...

We construct a novel dataset of detailed monthly data on U.S. open market stock repurchases (OMRs) that became available following stricter SEC disclosure requirements in 2004. The data allow us to investigate the timing of OMRs. We find evidence that OMRs are timed to benefit non-selling...

Powerpoint presentation given at the Stanford-Yale Junior Faculty Forum in Summer 2011. Full paper available on SSRN at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1884171.We construct a novel dataset of detailed monthly data on U.S. open market stock repurchases (OMRs) that became available following stricter SEC...

This paper analyses the impact of the EU market abuse law on share repurchases. We find that the Member States' previous rules differed considerably, and therefore it can be said that the Regulation on share repurchases has provided uniformity as to the availability of a safe harbor for share...

This paper examines changes in corporate behavior around the 2003 modification to SEC Rule 10b-18, which mandates enhanced disclosure of repurchase transactions. Firms announce significantly fewer and slightly smaller open market repurchase plans in the enhanced disclosure environment. However,...