Many countries spend sizeable sums of public money on R&D grants to alleviate debt and equity gaps for small firms’ innovation projects. In making such awards, knowledgeable government officials may certify firms to private financiers. Using a unique Belgian dataset of 1107 approved requests...

We analyze the nature and causes of short-run underpricing for a unique sample of 591 Initial Public Offers (IPOs) issued on the London Stock Exchange for the period 1985-2003. We find significant differences between the 1998-2000 bubble years and the rest of the sample. Venture capitalists and...