Category Archives: Financial Management

Foreign institutional investors’ certification and domestic minority shareholders’ mistrust

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Abstract

Using hand-collected data from China's split share structure reform (SSSR) program, we show that foreign institutional investors’ certification mitigates domestic minority shareholders’ mistrust of controlling shareholders’ reform plans and facilitates the implementation of the SSSR. Domestic minority shareholders cast fewer dissenting votes, complete the SSSR more quickly but with lower compensation, and achieve higher stock return reactions in reforming firms with higher foreign institutional ownership. Foreign institutional investors’ prestige is a key factor in aligning domestic minority shareholders toward seeking long-term payoffs. Our work reveals the positive role of foreign institutional investors’ certification in a salient reform of corporate governance.

Temperature trend and corporate cash holdings

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Abstract

We examine the causal impact of climate uncertainty on companies’ cash holdings using local temperature trends. We find a notable increase in cash reserves among companies in response to rising climate-related risks. We also identify two significant channels through which climate uncertainty influences firms’ cash management: heightened environmental enforcement risk and increased physical risk. Furthermore, we observe that the positive effect of temperature trends on cash holdings is more pronounced for financially constrained firms and those with a lower level of environmental protection awareness. External financing through equity and debt issuance, as well as cost reduction strategies involving research and development and selling, general, and administrative activities, represent viable avenues for firms to bolster their cash reserves. However, financially constrained firms are less inclined to build up cash reserves through debt financing. Our findings underscore the precautionary nature of corporate cash policies and shed light on how temperature fluctuations can significantly shape corporate behavior.

Unraveling the impact of female CEOs on corporate bond markets

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Abstract

Little is known about how executive gender shapes the inherent conflict of interest between shareholders and bondholders. Using a sample of almost 100,000 unique bond-year observations, this study investigates how the appointment of female chief executive officers (CEOs) lowers the default outlook. Our evidence indicates that bond yield and bond volatility are significantly lower after a female takes the helm at a firm. This executive gender effect remains highly statistically and economically significant across various robustness checks and after addressing endogeneity concerns. Female CEOs lower the default risk component of the bond yield but have no material impact on the liquidity component. Subsample analysis substantiates the conditional effect of female CEOs on bond yield and bond volatility. Our evidence indicates that female CEOs’ risk-averse attributes pass through the credit risk and information asymmetry channels.

Academic publishing behavior and pay across business fields

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Abstract

Academic finance faculty earn a premium relative to other business school faculty. We show that the rewards to publishing outside of the top journals (JF, JFE, RFS) are significantly lower in finance relative to a broader set of journals in other business school fields. Revealed preferences from a journal submission survey suggest these incentives influence behavior. We estimate a lower unconditional probability of a top publication in finance, which raises its marginal value, leading to higher compensation. The opportunity cost of academic finance versus industry is also larger relative to other departments. Our results complement a number of recent studies on the rise of finance industry wages and suggest a novel channel that raises the production costs of finance-educated workers.

Mutual fund performance and manager assets: The negative effect of outside holdings

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Abstract

We explore the relation between fund performance and the assets managed by the fund's managers that are outside the fund. Controlling for fund size, we find a negative relation between performance and the size of fund managers’ outside holdings, the number of other funds managed by a fund's managers, and the number of distinct fund categories managed by a fund's managers. This effect is driven by holdings that do not overlap with those held within the fund, and the effect's economic magnitude, while less than that of fund size, is comparable to that of fund family size and twice that of turnover. Endogeneity is addressed using fund mergers and recursive demeaning. Results suggest that manager responsibilities outside a fund significantly impact performance and that limited attention plays a role.

Currency flotation and dividend policies: Evidence from China’s central parity reform

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Abstract

Exploiting the 2015 central parity reform in China, we examine whether and how currency flotation affects corporate payout policies. The reform shifted China's currency regime from a crawling peg to the US dollar to partial flotation, significantly increasing its currency risk. We find that firms with high foreign currency exposures reduced their cash dividends postreform relative to firms with low foreign currency exposures. The dividend reduction is more pronounced for firms with less financial hedging or less financial flexibility before the reform. Firms display asymmetrical responses to foreign exchange gains versus losses. Specifically, while firms cut cash dividends when experiencing foreign exchange losses, they do not increase cash dividends when obtaining foreign exchange gains. A falsification test shows no changes in firms’ stock dividends that do not involve cash flows. Overall, our study shows that currency flotation, through increasing currency risks, dampens firms’ cash dividends.

What drives closed‐end fund discounts? Evidence from COVID‐19

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Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States on closed-end fund (CEF) discounts. I show that CEF discounts increased after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, while individual investor sentiment declined. Furthermore, CEFs with higher retail ownership had a larger discount increase, which suggests that individual investor sentiment is a potential contributor to CEF discounts. This finding seems less likely to be driven by rational channels or income-driven fire sales, as shown by further analysis. Overall, the results shed light on the CEF discount puzzle using a new setting.

Financial debt contracting and managerial agency problems

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Abstract

This paper analyzes if lenders resolve managerial agency problems in loan contracts using sweep covenants. Sweeps require a (partial) prepayment when triggered and are included in many contracts. Exploiting exogenous reductions in analyst coverage due to brokerage house mergers and closures, we find that increased borrower opacity significantly increases sweep use. The effect is strongest for borrowers with higher levels of managerial entrenchment and if lenders hold both debt and equity in the firm. Overall, our results suggest that lenders implement sweep covenants to mitigate managerial agency problems by limiting contingencies of wealth expropriation.

Does hedge fund managers’ industry experience matter for hedge fund activism?

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Abstract

We study whether fund managers’ industry experience is an important source of value creation in hedge fund activism. We find that the targets of industry-expert fund managers realize higher activism announcement returns and better operating performance, particularly when fund managers’ industry expertise is more valuable for targets. These targets also engage in more focused acquisition and divestiture activities in industries where fund managers have experience, allocate more employees to these industries, and cut investments more in the postacquisition period. The superior performance of targets of industry-expert fund managers is robust to controlling for the endogeneity concern and the attrition bias.