This paper introduces two simple betting mechanisms, Top-Flop and Threshold betting, to elicit unverifiable information from crowds. Agents are offered bets on the rating of an item about which they received a private signal versus that of a random item. We characterize conditions for the chosen...

We propose an instrument to measure individuals' social preferences regarding equity and efficiency behind a veil of ignorance. We pair portfolio and wealth distribution choice problems which have a common budget set. For a given bundle, the distribution over an individual's wealth is the same...

Drawing on the implementation of the compliance management guidelines issued by China's SASACs, we construct a quasi-natural experiment to examine the impact of the implementation of these guidelines on the investment efficiency of SOEs. The investment efficiency of SOEs is significantly...

Social networking site has become ubiquitous in just a few years. Their success depends on users' intention to adopt and willingness to continue investing their time and attention in this media in the absence of formal contract. This study investigates the formation of people's affective...

We propose an instrument to measure individuals' social preferences regarding equity and efficiency behind a veil of ignorance. We pair portfolio and wealth distribution choice problems which have a common budget set. For a given bundle, the distribution over an individual's wealth is the same...

We examine the dynamic adjustment of cash holdings of publicly traded Chinese firms over the period 1998-2006. The empirical evidences are supportive of the dynamic trade-off theory of cash holdings. Importantly, there is strong evidence to support asymmetric adjustments. That is, the...

Estimation of the covariance matrix of asset returns is crucial to portfolio construction. As suggested by economic theories, the correlation structure among assets differs between emerging markets and developed countries. It is therefore imperative to make rigorous statistical inference on...

In portfolio risk minimization, the inverse covariance matrix prescribes the hedge trades in which a stock is hedged by all the other stocks in the portfolio. In practice with finite samples, however, multicollinearity makes the hedge trades too unstable and unreliable. By shrinking trade sizes...

Motivated by a theoretical model, we examine for 43 countries whether it is policy or policy uncertainty that affects technological innovation more. Innovation activities, measured by patent based proxies, are not, on average, affected by which policy is in place. Innovation activities however,...

When a firm exercises discretion to disclose or withhold information (strategic disclosure), risk-averse investors command higher expected returns when expected cash flows decrease, producing a negative correlation between these expectations. Moreover, stock returns exhibit stronger reversal...