A New Test of Signaling Theory

Signaling theories of the pricing of initial public offerings are based on an equilibrium which separates high from low quality companies. In empirically testing these theories one issue which needs addressing is how to identify high and low quality companies. This paper develops a new test of signaling theory where the success or failure of a company is the ultimate measure of high and low quality. On the basis of data from the Dotcom bubble we find that high quality firms were able to signal quality via retained equity and underpricing, but not via underwriter reputation