We find that past stock market variance forecasts excess stock market returns and that its predictive ability is greatly enhanced if the consumption-wealth ratio is also included in the forecasting equation. While the risk-return tradeoff is found negative if we use the latter as the instrumental variable for the conditional moments, the former suggests a positive one. We argue that the consump...

In the managerial myopia literature the firm always faces some agency problem or other market imperfection. It is unclear whether the myopic behavior found in these models is due to stock-based incentives or the model's other market imperfections. This paper points out that stock incentives do not lead to myopia unless they result in more emphasis on the short-term than would occur under an opt...

Available online 30 April 2015 This paper investigates cointegration relationships and Granger causality nexus in a trivariate framework among economic growth, inflation, and stock market development. Utilizing three measures of stock market development and employing a panel vector autoregressive model, we study 34 OECD countries over the time period of 1960–2012. Our novel panel-data estimatio...

We examine the stock option exercise decisions of over 50,000 employees at seven corporations to provide evidence on the distribution of price-relevant non-public information among employees. When option exercise (adjusted for other factors affecting exercise) is low, stock returns in the coming 6 months are 10% higher than when option exercise is high. The exercise decisions of relatively juni...

I present evidence of inefficient information processing in equity markets by documenting that negative information withheld by securities analysts is incorporated in stock prices with a significant delay. I estimate the extent of the withheld negative information based on the proportion of analysts who stop revising their annual earnings forecasts. This measure predicts negative earnings surpr...

This paper provides evidence that a firm’s stock price movements affect its customer demand. I develop a model in which customers learn about a firm’s product quality partially from its stock price. This learning induces feedback from the price to customer demand. Furthermore, the firm manager adjusts product launch decisions in anticipation of these demand shifts. Consistent with the model’s i...

Researchers have reported mispricing in index options markets. This study further examines the efficiency of the S&P 500 index options market by testing theoretical pricing relationships implied by no-arbitrage conditions. The effect of a traded stock basket, Standard and Poor’s Depository Receipts (SPDRs), on the link between index and options markets is also examined. Pricing efficiency withi...

This study investigates whether personal taxes are related to asset valuations. The effective tax rate of investment income fluctuated considerably since federal income taxes were introduced. The main result of the paper demonstrates that there is an economically and statistically significant relationship between asset valuations and personal tax rates. Stock valuations tend to be higher when t...

Corporate sports sponsorship is an important part of many companies’ corporate communication strategy. We take the example of major football tournaments to show that sponsorship indeed affects the sponsor’s (stock) market value. We find a statistically significant impact of football results (at an individual game level) of the seven most important football nations at European and World Champion...

This paper examines how control and ownership structure affect share repurchases in an emerging market where controlling families derive large private benefits. Whereas firms with concentrated ownership often pay cash dividends, firms with weak control rights often repurchase shares. The magnitude of repurchase increases with weak control rights, but decreases with strong foreign ownership. The...