Commentary by faculty and affiliates of the Duke Law Global Financial Markets Center
Pressures to mandate corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions grow every day, with stakeholders increasingly demanding that firms act in a responsible manner. However, little is known about how firms may react to such external demands for CSR, and which practices may arise as a result. In our recent paper, we examine these issues, looking at a set of technological […]
The following is an edited comment letter that was submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, or Commission) on September 22nd for the invitation to comment on the proposal by the Commercial Energy Working Group to form an EEMAC carbon markets subcommittee.[1] The proposed stakeholder group would produce a report on principles for designing the derivatives […]
Among Central Bankers, the issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a topic of great interest. The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) has recently published a report showing that many central banks are conducting research and experiments and a small number are already deploying pilot projects. Research projects have been set up by European Central Bank (ECB), […]
In their seminal study, Jegadeesh and Titman (1993) document the existence of the momentum effect in stock returns. Using data from 1965 to 1989, they show that when stocks are ranked in deciles based on their immediate past returns, the past winners (the best performing stocks in upper tenth decile) continue to outperform the past losers (the worst performing […]
In the US, financially distressed firms use Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code to restructure their liabilities and business operations under the supervision of the bankruptcy court. Many of the Chapter 11 firms successfully reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy. Upon emergence, they often cancel old equity interest and issue new stock (i.e., post-reorg equity) to […]
The computers upon which we work all have operating systems that we generally ignore. We mainly deal with the apps that run on these systems. Email, ubiquitous as it is, is merely an app. Nothing works without the system in the background, and because it works so well, we tend to neglect it. The same […]
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are simply enterprises that raise money from the public with the intention of purchasing an existing business and becoming publicly traded in the securities markets. If the SPAC is successful in raising money and the acquisition takes place, the target company takes the SPAC’s place on a stock exchange, in […]
Private Equity (PE) has become a vital component of the financial system. At the end of 2020, global assets under management in PE funds that execute leveraged buyouts (LBO) mushroomed to $2.6 trillion. Despite its role as a vital source of capital in private markets that can potentially lead to greater employment and shared prosperity, […]
Self-regulatory organizations (SROs) play an enormous role in financial markets. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) oversees the brokerage industry, while the National Futures Association (NFA) covers the futures markets. Securities clearing firms, derivatives clearinghouses, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), and exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are all SROs. Modern […]
What are the causes and consequences of shareholder tax litigation? The annual frequency of shareholder tax litigation has nearly tripled in recent years, but little is known about why certain firms get targeted with this kind of litigation and how this litigation affects not only the sued firm but also its industry peers. Our recent paper examines […]