Monthly Archives: November 2021

Do firms redact information in their SEC filings to protect proprietary information or to conceal bad news?

By | November 30, 2021

Under US securities laws, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates and monitors the financial reporting and disclosure of SEC registrants (companies) with the aims of increasing corporate transparency and protecting investors. Nonetheless, companies’ interests are also considered under the securities laws, which allow companies to make confidential treatment requests to redact certain information from… Read More »

Australia’s Data Sharing Regime: Six Lessons for the World

By | November 29, 2021

Open banking is fast becoming a global phenomenon, promising to transform financial services by enabling the safe, swift sharing of personal data. The idea of open banking originated in Europe, and is gaining traction in the US, but Australia is well ahead of these countries and is now rolling out data sharing across other sectors… Read More »

The Future of Tort Litigation against Multinational Companies in the English Courts

By | November 18, 2021

According to a foundational precept of company law,[1] companies have separate legal personality and limited liability.[2] The distinct legal personality and limited liability of each entity within a corporate group is also recognized.[3] A parent company is normally not liable for the legal infractions and unpaid debts of its subsidiaries. However, the direct imposition of duty of care… Read More »

Earnings growth and acquisition returns: Do investors gamble in the takeover market?

By | November 15, 2021

A growing literature investigates how investors’ gambling behavior affects their investment decisions and asset returns. This literature shows that investors with a taste for gambling concentrate their trading in stocks with lottery-like payoffs, such as stocks with high volatility. In addition, prior studies show that in sports betting, such as racetrack gambling, bettors consistently over… Read More »

Is there underenforcement of corporate criminal law in Australia?

By | November 9, 2021

There is an important international debate on whether there is underenforcement of corporate laws that reduces law’s deterrent value. For example, American scholar John Coffee believes that there is a crisis of underenforcement of the law against corporations in the United States. Our recent research examines this issue in Australia by investigating prosecutions from 2009 to 2018 under Australia’s… Read More »

The Real Monopoly Is in the Boardroom

By | November 8, 2021

We have always thought of the problem of monopoly as a problem of size or of markets. We say that Facebook is a monopoly because it is too big, or because it is in the nature of networked markets to reward scale.  But what if the problem of monopoly were really a problem of firm governance?… Read More »

Does Stock Liquidity Shape Voluntary Disclosure? Evidence from the SEC Tick Size Pilot Program

By | November 4, 2021

The relation between corporate voluntary disclosure and stock liquidity plays an important role in our understanding of managers’ information supply incentives and market quality. Studies on the relation between voluntary disclosure and liquidity primarily explore how voluntary disclosure affects liquidity. This line of the literature suggests that voluntary disclosure is useful in shaping liquidity in that it alleviates information… Read More »

Recognizing Equity Crowdfunding Regimes as Key Drivers of Financial Inclusion and FinTech

By | November 2, 2021

Equity crowdfunding (ECF)—also referred to as securities crowdfunding or investment crowdfunding—is an alternative finance model that was projected to become the leading source of funding for start-up companies by 2020 ahead of venture capital. To emphasize its economic impact, in previous scholarship we estimated that in 2018 alone, over $400 million was raised through ECF from just four countries:… Read More »

Multinational Enterprises, Technology Transfers, and Robot Adoption

By | November 1, 2021

Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) are crucial players in the world economy. They shape global production through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), are responsible for about two-thirds of international trade flows, and are important transnational employers. Their activities are thus of primary interest both for academic economists and policymakers. From the host countries’ standpoint, FDI is frequently praised for… Read More »